Battery problem

[Janwill]

Anyone had problems with their battery

 

[Ootohere]

Welcome.

?

What is your issue, and how old is your battery if you are having issues>

People will have left lights on and had flat batteries, batteries will have required replacing as batteries do come time.

[Janwill]

Twice now the battery has been flat. The car is 2.5 years old. I just got it back from Skoda who said the problem is we are not using the car enough.

[Ootohere]

Maybe they are right, do you use it enough?

Maybe get a charger for when you are not using it if they are right.  Maybe a solar charger.

[pinkpanther]

Maybe consider one of the CTEK permanently attached charger's?

 

My local main dealer uses these for cars in the showroom, where batteries get flattened by constantly opening doors / bootblids (and not running the engine).

 

There is a flying lead which incorporates a visual indication of current battery status/charge level.

 

They are quite costly, but high quality.

Edited 31 October, 2017 by pinkpanther

[LightRain]

How long do you usually go between drives and how long are the drives? Do you do anything with the car while not driving it?

[theandywaite]

I've never had to replace a battery in a car before, but I replaced our Spaceback's battery earlier this year at around 3 years old.  This is after it went flat a few times with just side lights left on for a few hours while parked.

 

I put the blame for this on the fact it sat pre-registered at a dealer for 9 months before someone bought it.  I can't imagine all that sitting around did it any favours.

 

I replaced it with a high-end Bosch battery and it's been absolutely fine since.  We regularly park places and leave the side lights on with no issues.

 

 

[Janwill]

I think I will replace it, like you with a Bosch, we have not left the lights on nut do not use the car that often,

but even so, some people here leave their car all summer in the ame place as parking is a nightmare.

 

Thanks

[Janwill]

On 31/10/2017 at 19:39, Headinawayoffski said:

Maybe they are right, do you use it enough?

Maybe get a charger for when you are not using it if they are right.  Maybe a solar charger.

We use it once a week maybe, we can't use a charger as there are no electrics in the garage. Thanks

[Ootohere]

Sun or just daylight in the sky so maybe a Solar panel on the garage roof for the trickle charger, 

about 40 euro will get what you need.

[Janwill]

thanks but it is a garage block underneath flats so no good I am afraid but thanks

anyway, I am in the process of getting a quote for a Bosch battery as suggested

by another member

 

Jan

[LightRain]

Another alternative would be to get one of those lithium battery boost packs (similar to what was mentioned by pinkpanther). Keep it charged at home and when you need the car take it with you in case you need it. They're pretty small, light, reasonably priced and serve a useful purpose to get a car going if the battery is a bit weak.

[pinkpanther]

7 hours ago, LightRain said:

Another alternative would be to get one of those lithium battery boost packs (similar to what was mentioned by pinkpanther). Keep it charged at home and when you need the car take it with you in case you need it. They're pretty small, light, reasonably priced and serve a useful purpose to get a car going if the battery is a bit weak.

 

Maybe one of these: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/92728/best-mini-jump-starter-packs-2017

[LightRain]

1 minute ago, pinkpanther said:

Maybe one of these: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/92728/best-mini-jump-starter-packs-2017

Something like those yeah ... The only one I've heard of is the Genius Boost.

[pinkpanther]

Slightly alarmed to read of changing batteries in cars that are lightly used / barely 3 years old.

 

My old Mk I Octavia Combi lasted 12 years on the original battery (Varta) and I'm struggling to remember ever changing a battery on a car I'd owned that was less than at least 5 -6 years old.

 

Modern (smart) battery chargers will recondition even virtually dead batteries. A friend of mine regularly borrowed my Lidl cheapo charger (copy of a Ctek) to restore the battery on his E39 BMW. This car had some type of short and regularly completely flattened the battery. I'd previously thought completely discharged batteries could not be re-charged, but it seems with the advent of "smart" chargers this is no longer the case.

[pinkpanther]

7 minutes ago, pinkpanther said:

 

Maybe one of these: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/92728/best-mini-jump-starter-packs-2017

 

or even: http://www.costco.co.uk/view/p/energizer-lithium-polymer-7500mah-car-jump-starter-199996

[Janwill]

On 02/11/2017 at 11:23, Janwill said:

I think I will replace it, like you with a Bosch, we have not left the lights on nut do not use the car that often,

but even so, some people here leave their car all summer in the ame place as parking is a nightmare.

 

Thanks

Hi

 

I visited a Bosch garage who tested the battery twice, there is a fault on it and we were shoen the readings. We are going

next week to have a Bosch battery fitted. Thanks

[Janwill]

On 02/11/2017 at 12:26, Janwill said:

thanks but it is a garage block underneath flats so no good I am afraid but thanks

anyway, I am in the process of getting a quote for a Bosch battery as suggested

by another member

 

Jan

Hello

 

Prior to having battery fitted, the bluetooth was not working and phone not recognised, after new battery everything ok and the phone as there. The garage said the laternator was putting chrge in but the battery was not recognising it was fully charged, so the battery was getting weaker. The mechanic said it was nothing to do with low mileage, so hopefully problem solved.

[Janwill]

On 04/11/2017 at 13:11, Janwill said:

Hi

 

I visited a Bosch garage who tested the battery twice, there is a fault on it and we were shoen the readings. We are going

next week to have a Bosch battery fitted. Thanks

New Bosch battery fitted today and straight away the Bluetooth facility came up with the phone model showing, this was not

there on the journey to the garage, problem was battery was not registering when it was fully charged so the alternator keppt

charging, thus it was getting weaker. Thanks for your advice.

 

[RickTT]

not much to add.. but Mrs does very little mileage in her SE Sport Spaceback.. all short trips... just returned from a 3 week trip.. car fired up perfect on first turn.

 

Car is a MY16 with 10k miles on it near 10 miles...

 

battery has never drained before so condition is good..

[Janwill]

10 hours ago, RickTT said:

not much to add.. but Mrs does very little mileage in her SE Sport Spaceback.. all short trips... just returned from a 3 week trip.. car fired up perfect on first turn.

 

Car is a MY16 with 10k miles on it near 10 miles...

 

battery has never drained before so condition is good..

That just confirms what the Skoda garage said was wrong; low mileage should not affect the battery. Thanks for your comments