Starting failure on my wife's Focus had me checking the battery voltage on her car (confirming battery dead....), and while I had the meter out I checked my Superb.

After lying for a day/night the resting voltage was 12.01 Volts.....  I believe resting voltage should be around 12.6 - 12.7 and a reading near 12 is a battery thats on its way out....?

Its a 2014 plate and has start/stop.  The battery is a Varta 7P0 915 105 which I assume to be original.

Not had any issue with starting and no signs of a sluggish start etc.  I usually switch Start/Stop off as I don't like it so battery load is minimised.

Seems crazy to be replacing a battery that's barely 4 year old when my wife's Focus has lasted 10 years....

Tempted to hang fire for a while to see if any other symptoms appear.....anyone had any experience of short life on their Superb battery ?

Thanks

Edited 9 October, 20187 yr by TasMan

The battery management is not the same as a lead acid in that it is charged to the max all the time. Instead the battery is cycled a small amount so It just might not be fully charged. I would take a few more readings and make sure its consistently low before taking any action.

Appreciate the feedback, wasn't aware of that so will certainly take some further readings.  We will soon have our first cold snap up here and that often sorts out good batteries from marginal ones!

Read up on micro hybrids (type 1 and 2), EFB (enhanced flooded battery), AGM (advanced glass mat) and energy recovery in modern vehicles to understand why batteries are not always charged fully but at a lower level (in the case of Skoda 70-80% seems to be common).

 

A very rough guide shown here at 25 deg C for a rested battery (24hr), no loads taken, not even unlocking or opening the driver's door (fuel pump, lights and canbus modules all turn on). Varies with temperature, exact battery chemistry, battery age etc etc.

 

 

 

This morning the voltage was 11.8, still started ok, maybe not as keen as usual.  Will continue to monitor this week.

Happened to be near the local Skoda dealer today so nipped on for pricing a replacement...

£178.58+VAT + Fitting = £268.85

I will price up elsewhere for comparison....I could cut out the labour cost completely but not 100% sure if I could run into issues after disconnecting the power...?

Paying more for peace of mind and no hassle is occasionally worth the money....

That's expensive. I appreciate the stop/start functionality utilises a different battery set-up but £250+ sounds harsh when a regular Varta E44 can be had delivered for  little over £80.

You will need to recode the battery settings if the new battery is different from the original. The coding is on a 2d barcode sticker on the top of the battery.

 

Why not recharge the battery fully before you jump for a new one? It might be down because of your useage. EFB/AGM tolerate deep discharges far better than the old standard calcium lead acid batteries. And a good long (more than 24 hours, it takes a long time to properly recharge) may restore it to good health.

 

1 minute ago, silver1011 said:

That's expensive. I appreciate the stop/start functionality utilises a different battery set-up but £250+ sounds harsh when a regular Varta E44 can be had delivered for  little over £80.

 

Not suitable for start/stop equipped cars that use micro hybrid battery management.

Edited 24 September, 20187 yr by xman

Varta £140.95 delivered from Tayna batteries 
But as above I would give it a of car charge first.
And if nobody has VCDS beside you I could pop over and recode it for you.

The original wet 096 batteries on the Skodas Superbs are crap and lucky if they last 4 years 

I will price one up for you at Dingbro tomorrow when am in and see if I can get it cheaper

Edited 24 September, 20187 yr by DEL80Y
wrong place

Thanks @DEL80Y  That's a fair chunk of saving when you add vat to the dealer price......E39 looks a good battery and a bigger capacity than original fit.  4 year warranty is also better than 2 year dealer standard...!

Coding would be my problem, there is a guy local I will ask, but I appreciate the offer and may come back to you depending on what I do.

If doing a DIY swap on my Superb is there anything else apart from coding to watch out for, any issue with Start/Stop system ?  Radio code etc will be straightforward but knowing my luck something else will go to pot that I'm not aware of....lol !!

Cheers

3 minutes ago, TasMan said:

 

If doing a DIY swap on my Superb is there anything else apart from coding to watch out for, any issue with Start/Stop system ?  

Nope a 10mm spanner and a 13mm socket and ten minutes of your time-- job done.

The coding as above is to tell the ECU charging system that a new battery is fitted, what  make it is and what Amp it is and also a serial number 

When I done mine (Wet) I changed coding to Varta and the amp and adjusted serial number by 1 as the Wets don't have serial numbers on them

So, I have arranged to get my battery swapped over next week and coded in while getting some other work done, wasn't much more on the price so made sense.  Just decided to go with a new battery as I can't afford to be caught out and its getting towards an age where these seem to show up problems on the Superb.

Battery has arrived from Tayna at a huge saving to Skoda supply prices…

I phoned up the dealer to get my radio code just in case it is needed to be told that things have ‘changed’ and they now need to plug the car into diagnostics and the charge will be £50…?  Anyone else had this ?  Seems like a licence to print money if you ask me….   

I am hoping the code isn’t required, and is retained in the modules.

47 minutes ago, TasMan said:

I phoned up the dealer to get my radio code just in case it is needed to be told that things have ‘changed’ and they now need to plug the car into diagnostics and the charge will be £50…?

 

Not required, the code is only required if the radio/nav unit changes its car. As long as it is VIN coded to your car's VIN, you can freely disconnect the car's battery any number of times, it will always come back online properly (unless its memory would somehow be corrupt, but then you have a faulty device)

On 09/10/2018 at 13:27, vborovic said:

the code is only required if the radio/nav unit changes its car

 

For the reference and for those of you who've never seen the code page - this will appear after the boot logo/splash screen only if the unit changed the car or if it somehow lost its VIN coding:

 

 

The original radio/nav card with the code looks something like this (the data is purposely blanked):

 

Thanks for this information, very useful.  I will just need to see how it goes when the battery is swapped.  Still really frustrating that my Skoda dealer are saying diagnostics plug in and a £50 charge is required to give me a code which probably should have been with the car's document wallet. 

1 minute ago, TasMan said:

Still really frustrating that my Skoda dealer are saying diagnostics plug in and a £50 charge is required to give me a code which probably should have been with the car's document wallet

 

You can buy the code on ebay for some 20 GBP (there are people out there who have connections), the only thing that is required is the device serial number.

Radio or bcm must not be the original unit if it asks for a code after battery changed

Edited 11 October, 20187 yr by xman

1 minute ago, xman said:

Radio or bcm must not be the original unit.

 

Regarding what?

13 minutes ago, xman said:

Radio or bcm must not be the original unit if it asks for a code after battery changed

Thanks, 99% sure its the original unit, will find out on Monday when the battery is swapped

Battery swapped and coded in no hassles, radio fired up straight away   Had to reset the time and had a flick through maxidot to make sure everything was as it should.

After a few flat battery mornings on my superb , I've discovered the glove compartment light stays on now and again so I've remove the bulb

45 minutes ago, terrytowelling said:

I've discovered the glove compartment light stays on now and again so I've remove the bulb

 

Are you sure the culprit isn't the micro switch, rather than the flat battery?

On ‎16‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 09:27, vborovic said:

Are you sure the culprit isn't the micro switch, rather than the flat battery?

HAHA. I think he was suggesting that after investigating following flat battery events he discovered it, I don't think he is suggesting the flat battery was the cause.

G

Edited 9 January, 20197 yr by FlyingSpanner
Typos

16 hours ago, VWGDT said:

 

The battery manager is the small box on the battery body earth cable. 

 

 

The small box on the earth is just a current shunt, the management will be done in the ECU.

 

Good informative post though 

Edited 21 October, 20187 yr by SuperbTWM