So my Oct 2010 CR170 (22K miles) has let me down on two separate occasions - failed to start because of minimal charge left in the battery. No change in the pattern of use over the months and generally gets at least a good 6-7 miles 60mph commuting run each way, every weekday. (Once it failed to start in mid-journey after a stop and the other time first thing in the morning.)

Each time circumstances called for Skoda Assist and each time it jump-started easily first-time, with the battery checking out well and excellent alternator charging. Lights hadn't been left on and don't use any auxiliary power devices that might inadvertently have pulled down the battery.

So it's been in to be looked at all this week so far with messages apparently back and forth between the local dealer and SUK. Obviously a bit of a mystery as to what could - occasionally only - be pulling the battery right down. They've now I gather been instructed by SUK to change the starter motor - hopefully tomorrow.

I can't work out what the connection might be, unless, conceivably, there are some contacts on the starter that kick the power in and out after being triggered by the key/solenoid and these aren't always breaking the circuit correctly? But that's just a wild guess.

Anyone able to offer a better clue as to why the starter might be the culprit?

(The only other relevant fact, which may in fact be completely unrelated (certainly SUK don't seem to have picked up on it), is that the day/night sensor is temperamental. Sometimes for at least the first 10 minutes in the daytime, the sensor thinks it's still dark (night-view on Columbus) and vice versa at night. But only sometimes!

Edited 13 February, 201313 yr by prodata

Have you checked that the boot light goes out after shutting the lid? This has caused battery drain issues with other makes and can be due to a sticking switch.

During the colder weather I have noticed more issues with my yeti not starting immediately on the first turn of the key, sometimes having to hold it for a few seconds until he springs into life. Always started so far, but it is a concern after only a couple of days rest. Especially as non starting issues are the reason I decided to get rid of my old car.

Nothing plugged in, can't say I ever go for short journeys, and this sometimes happens after really good runs. any ideas?

Rockhopper may be along later, I know he had a problem with the battery going flat once or twice, and I think it was found to be a main relay was faulty or a bad connection. (I may be wrong)

You called M'lord?

I had/have problems.

Biggest one was leaving the video cameras on all the time. The Blackvue DR400 use more power than the previous DR300. I left the cameras on all night Friday and Saturday. I didn't use the car Saturday and Sunday morning with freezing temperatures the car would not start. Flat battery. I ficnt learn from my mistake and did it again a few weeks later. I have now learnt and always disconnect the cameras. I need to have some black boxes fitted which will automatically disconnect when the voltage drops to a certain value.

http://www.blackvuehd.co.uk/smart_power.php

When the temperature drops my car also struggles to start quickly, and can take several seconds to start. (With the video cameras disconnected). This morning it took quite a whole, and the temp was 10 degrees......

I must say it is worse if I don't use the car for a day or more.

I did have a main relay go funny on me, but SUK refused to replace and the dealer just cleaned up the contacts.

When Skoda Assist came out last year when a camera had run the battery down, I was told that the batteries that Skoda use are cheap and not very good quality. All part of keeping costs down for a value for money car.

If I keep the car I will put a larger good quality battery in its place, but not until the warranty runs out.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, just retrieved the Yeti from the dealer's complete with new starter motor. The explanation apparently was a fault in the old unit that - at least sometimes - was taking much higher starting current than it ought to have done and hence rapidly depleting the battery. I'm slightly surprised by this notion, but sounds like there was a to and fro with SUK who eventually decided that this was the problem. No idea whether or not they have had other units similarly afflicted but presumably there must be some sound basis for the approving the swapout.

The next few weeks will tell...

Incidentally, I meant to add to the original post:

Why can't battery voltage monitoring be added to Maxidot? I mean, if oil temperature is there (at least for some of us), which is kind of interesting as a parameter but really quite a long way down the priority list, then surely battery voltage - which can leave you outright stranded if the battery/electrics are starting to fail - would be a stronger candidate. Or is the argument that you're only likely to see it when the alternator is running and so it's not going to give you much clue about the resting state of the battery?

Why can't battery voltage monitoring be added to Maxidot?

is the argument that you're only likely to see it when the alternator is running and so it's not going to give you much clue about the resting state of the battery?

I installed a voltmeter on my bike when it seemed to develop a habit of trashing batteries. It does display the voltage across the battery terminals when you first turn the ignition on, but once the engine is running it shows the charging voltage from the alternator - unless the alternator has died, of course.

That's actually what I need on the bike: the RC36 is known for having a flaky voltage regulator which fails if it's allowed to overheat. I've installed a PC heatsink on the voltage regulator to try to avoid that happening, and I can glance at the voltmeter every so often to make sure the charging voltage isn't creeping up towards battery-frying levels.

I'm not sure whether it would be possible/practical to read the actual battery voltage separately from the charging voltage, at the same time.

I'm not sure whether it would be possible/practical to read the actual battery voltage separately from the charging voltage, at the same time.

Don't think it is possible.

You could use an app on a suitable mobile phone in conjunction with a bluetooth dongle in the OBD2 port to read various voltages. See:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/220667-skoda-yeti-tested-on-phone-app

The dongles can be purchased on ebay for about £10, and the app is about £3

Guess the point I was trying to make is that I'm surprised that there seems to be no way on a modern car of monitoring the health of the electrical system to get some early warning of a potential problem (perhaps other than a complete alternator failure) - which seems a poor design decision given that an eventual electrical failure can obviously leave you as stuck as any other major failure.

Maybe the crude approach of monitoring battery voltage wouldn't be the best option (though hybrids often have quite fancy circuits and graphics for monitoring voltage and current flows all over the place). But I can't believe that a cost-effective way of monitoring electrical health and presenting it to the driver via eg Maxidot is impossible - if you deem it worthwhile for oil temperature then surely to goodness it would be worthwhile for the electrics.

The does monitor the battery level. Mine gives a warning on the Columbus screen when its dropping towards a pre defined level thats needed for restarting the car succesfully and after 20 mins the car will shut down all aux power, only keeping the alarm powered I thought?!

During the colder weather I have noticed more issues with my yeti not starting immediately on the first turn of the key, sometimes having to hold it for a few seconds until he springs into life. Always started so far, but it is a concern after only a couple of days rest. Especially as non starting issues are the reason I decided to get rid of my old car.

Nothing plugged in, can't say I ever go for short journeys, and this sometimes happens after really good runs. any ideas?

Not trying to teach granny to suck eggs but...

When you start the car first thing each day the engine is obviously cold.

It has glow plug heaters to aid cold starting.

If you are not waiting for the warning light (the orange coil symbol) to go out before trying to start the car, it will struggle but start eventually.

Mine gives a warning on the Columbus screen...

Whereabouts on Columbus? Can't say I've noticed it but maybe I haven't spotted where to look.

Whereabouts on Columbus? Can't say I've noticed it but maybe I haven't spotted where to look.

Its a massive message - taking up the whole screen - you really cant miss it if it comes on. I took a photo last time it happened, i'll see if I can post it from the phone....

I usually sit in the car and await the arrival of friends on a fortnightly foodie. On this occasion, it was after a week of very cold weather, lots of short journeys and heating, heated seats, lights being on - first time id seen this come up but sure enough, shortly afterwards it killed the power to the headunit and 12v socket (where iphone was charging). WIth good battery condition, the sockets and head unit stays powered hence my conclusion that it must monitor the battery levels.

From an earlier thread of mine (Morning Bong) the conclusion was that the car does give a warning if the battery is low.

Personally I have a Ring Multi Socket with 3 LED's that show roughly how much charge is in the battery, plus have just oredered a plug in LED numerical voltmeter. A member has also provided a circuit diagram for a single tri-colour LED voltage sensor, but I don't think my soldering skills are good enough.

I usually sit in the car and await the arrival of friends on a fortnightly foodie. On this occasion, it was after a week of very cold weather, lots of short journeys and heating, heated seats, lights being on - first time id seen this come up but sure enough, shortly afterwards it killed the power to the headunit and 12v socket (where iphone was charging). WIth good battery condition, the sockets and head unit stays powered hence my conclusion that it must monitor the battery levels.

I'mpretty sure that this message comes up a set time after the unit has been on without the ignition on. I don't think it in any way measures battery voltage or capacity, just elapsed time. If you turnthe ignition on & immediately off again (without starting the engine) the message will reappear again after the same interval as the first time you saw it.

That's what I'd have assumed but I've never had it come up when I've had the head unit on when washing or working in the car before. Something tells me that you are right though, I'll keep an eye out for it in future. :-)

I'mpretty sure that this message comes up a set time after the unit has been on without the ignition on. I don't think it in any way measures battery voltage or capacity, just elapsed time. If you turnthe ignition on & immediately off again (without starting the engine) the message will reappear again after the same interval as the first time you saw it.

That is the only way that battery condition can be "forecast" with any certainty. Measuring the voltage with the engine not running won't tell us much as the difference between a fully charged battery and a practically dead battery is only about 0.6 Volts. 12.8V fully charged and 12.2V for just about dead. At freezing the battery will have lost half its power anyway so it is imperative that it is kept charged with an external charger if the car is not used much, especially in winter. The problem with cars these days is that the electronics - the computer stuff, the alarm etc. continue to work with the ignition off.

From this thread:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/266992-how-long-dvd-tv-on-before-battery-dead/

it looks like this message is common across the model range.