In the winter I used to top up my Mk2 Octavia's battery occasionally as I did quite a few short journeys with heated windows, heaters, lights all on.

 

I never removed the battery cables just connected my 8 amp charger across the battery terminals.

 

Can I do this with my MK 3 Octavia?

 

Handbook says OK if not a high power charger - is 8 amps high power?

 

Handbook also says don't connect the charger negative to the battery terminal but the engine block terminal if you have Stop/Start - any idea why?

Edited 22 May, 201610 yr by y Me

Have a look at your charger and see what its rating is, is the easiest answer.

 

But unless you have a smart battery charger such as a Ctek then I think your taking a risk anyway.

 

Or just don't top up your battery, even with high current draws your battery is still being charged by the alternator which powers all the electrics anyway when the engine is running, not the battery.

Edited 22 May, 201610 yr by SuperbTWM

I charge mine regularly.

 

dont connect straight across the battery, connect the positive to the battery and the negative to the stud on the firewall, just as you would if you were to do a jump start, i think there is details on the battery / firewall.

Your Skoda will have an Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) battery which needs charging in a slightly different way.

If your charger isn't AGM compatible I wouldn't use it, it's most likely a standard lead acid battery charger.

AGM batteries are very sensitive to being over charged which can damage the cells

Unless you have a low battery warning, I wouldn't bother charging it.

The battery management systems are very good these days.

 

If you need to, as xPower suggests make sure you have a suitable charger & as recommended in the manual connect the negative terminal to the charging point on the opposite side of the engine or suitable grounding eye.

Why pump the battery? I'm a bit old-fashioned and like to do things myself, tinker with car, etc, but I really don't see point in doing that.

In last decade I did not have to charge any of my cars, except of one situation, when it was left unused, outside for 2weeks in harsh winter...and it was a renault :p

In last 6 years I kept altogether 4 different Skodas outside and never had a single start-up/energy shortage problem. And I'm talking about Poland and Germany where winters are generally more severe than in UK.

 

As for the parameters, 8A is quite a lot for the task. People say that for AGM battery the short/preliminary charge current may go up to x0,25 of it's capacity value expressed in Ah. For support/final charging (which seems to be the case here), consider factor of x0,025. That gives you: 62AH>1.5A charging, 70AH>1,75A and so on.

Edited 23 May, 201610 yr by wlange

My last Octavia was 10 years old when I sold it and well into its second battery. It sometimes was hesitant to start in winter but never let me down.

 

I understand that on a new car battery management is improved so even with all the new, to me, electric gizmos I shouldn't have any problems so will leave well alone unless the car begins to tell me otherwise.

 

Thanks for all you input folks.

Edited 23 May, 201610 yr by y Me

"never tamper with a running system"

"never change a running system"

 

Those rules seldom fail, but being a itchy-handed engineer I get sometimes a reminder lessons of above...I'm a slow learner I guess

The other day I got "Low Battery" warning on maxi dot. I think reason is I don't use the car these day apart short trips for shopping. Checking the battery status on the maxi dot, shows the battery capacity 40%, therefore, I am going to charge it using a smart charger. For charging the advice is to disconnect the main cables from the battery during the charge process. However, I read somewhere to keep them connected for the battery management to be able to see the charging process and do not overcharge the battery. Which of them is true? 

I leave the car cables connected to the battery & the battery in place in the car. I have a C-tek? charger, & do the following:

 

Connect charger positive cable to battery positive

Connect charger negative cable to bayonet fixing on bulkhead behind battery

Plug charger into mains socket

Switch charger on

 

When the charger says its charged I just reverse the above.

 

 

My parking space is not close enough to charge the battery when it is connected 😪 

Is it possible to reset the battery management after it is recharged offline?

You cannot "reset" the battery management system, that really only gets done with installation of a new battery where coding is required via diagnostic like VCDS or OBDeleven, should be ok to remove it and charge it off the car. What charger do you have to charge it as if an AGM battery you need a specific charger for that type like a Ctek or Ring charger. 

 

I will warn you though, you will get numerous errors and dash lights when you first start up which should reset on their own except you will need to (whilst engine on and stationary,  turn the steering wheel full left lock and full right lock and the drive in a straight line for a bit to reset the steering to put that light out. 

@paulskiThanks for your advice! I am going to buy a Lidl smart charger. I have an EFB type battery which is fine to charge with in the normal mode (searched it in the forum). I have a VCDS if it can help to avoid the battery to be overcharged. So, do you think the battery management won't over charge the batter if I recharge it off the car?

Edited 3 December, 20214 yr by Vahids

Battery management will merely see a different state of charge after you charge it, off car. 

 

 I really wouldn't worry about it, and like I say don't worry about the dash lights they should all go out, and I would recommend that as you have VCDS, that you go in and check for fault codes as it will log some for sure and they can be cleared. 

Just had to charge mine its an efb battery i took it off the car and charged it in house for 24 hours till smart charger said it was full ,put it back on car this morn few errors popped up ,took car for a run ,turned steering lock to lock all cleared in a couple of mins all good now

@Mickvrs220Thanks for the information! I will do the same. Did you check what is the battery status in the maxi dot after it was charged?

1 minute ago, Vahids said:

@Mickvrs220Thanks for the information! I will do the same. Did you check what is the battery status in the maxi dot after it was charged?

No mines a 2016 vrs and i believe its not available in the maxidot ,smart charger said it were full anyhoo ,and you can tell ,car starts so much quicker and smoother ,battery is five years old and i do short journeys in the week ,so if it goes in next few months i will upgrade to a agm battery

I tend to use solar panel chargers that plug into the ODB port - for keeping the battery topped up.