I know a few people who dislike the automatic stop start feature

 

For people who have leased vehicles and don't want to mess....

 

https://www.kufatec.co.uk/shop/en/diagnostic-tools/kufatec-diagnostic-coding-dongle/volkswagen-audi/coding-interface-disable-start-stop

Is that all it does, If so Carista is probably better value.

I've used it on our VW so would imagine it can be used on the Skoda.

Is this what  is called” ironical “ paying £££ for a piece of equipment to disable a piece of equipment that cost £££ to put on a car to save £££ on fuel consumption?

Simply disconnect a plug on the battery negative terminal and all is ok.

It disabled the Stop start and energy recuperation, but you do not need it since stop start is not functioning anyway.

There is an error on the Gateway module but nothing serious. The Alternator still does its job and fills the battery, no errors on dashboard and infotainment. Done this to my Fabia, and no problems for more then a year now.

50 minutes ago, Sad555 said:

Is this what  is called” ironical “ paying £££ for a piece of equipment to disable a piece of equipment that cost £££ to put on a car to save £££ on fuel consumption?

Think stop/ start is more to do with reducing emissions rather than save a few pence, not £££’s of fuel.

Bit of both by the figures quoted for better economy and reduced emissions .

1 hour ago, krigl said:

I've seen this on other sites ,if you un plug that the battery dosn't charge properly pluss the altanator will just go full tilt ,not a good idea

Obviously someone that makes this claim did not investigate properly what unplugging this connector actually does to the voltage levels in car. And no the alternator does not go full tilt, the system is smart enough, even tho it is a VW product...

 

If this connector is plugged IN, then the energy recuperation is active and alternator voltages go up to around 15-16V to charge the battery quicker. Obviously this is not the case the whole trip the car makes, most of the time it stays at normal voltage levels around 14V, it is the coasting to a stop or downhill drive that actually rises these levels up to 16V.

 

If you UNPLUG the connector, these voltages are around almost 14 to 14.5V mark, the normal voltage for filling up a battery. This is constant even for above mentioned downhill drive for example.

 

All this can be logged using VCDS or OBD11.

On another note... Even now, when I have this connector disconnected, the alternator still is able to compensate for voltage drops due to higher power consumption, for example if I turn on the heated rear screen or mirrors. If you log the voltage levels and display them on a graph, in this case you can see a slight drop of voltage when you turn the heated rear screen on, then it quickly compensates and the alternator rises the voltage back to appropriate level.

 

I am not forcing anyone to do this, just sharing my experience so far.

If this is true, this is a game changer for me 

Nice trick Krigl, thanks!

I would suggest, that both ends of this tiny connector also gets wrapped in some insulating electrical tape to prevent corrosion since it is exposed to water, salt and all other stuff that gets into an engine bay if left un-protected.

This is the only error in Gateway module as a resoult of diconnecting the connector. 

The first graph shows the mentioned drop in voltage on rear window heater turn on, the second one is from normal driving. 

Edited 7 November, 20187 yr by krigl

It would be much less detrimental to disable start/stop using VCDS rather than risking damage to your battery.

My fabia would not accept it that way, using SW. 

No mater what i did. 

 

If batery would be affected it would surely died already in a year's time, especialy if it has a power hungry DSG gearbox like my car has.

 

DSG needs a good batery and charging system to work the mechatronics unit and the 60 bar oil pump inside it. 

51 minutes ago, krigl said:

DSG needs a good batery and charging system to work the mechatronics unit and the 60 bar oil pump inside it. 

 

Not really, the gearbox is only in use when the engine is running therefore its running from the alternator, not the battery. You can only ever draw current from a battery if the voltage drops below that of the battery, which never happens unless you put a massive load on it. Even the heated windscreen in your screenshot above only took the voltage down to 13.65 ish

 

My main concern would be that the BMS knows when the battery is full and stops charging it, it will even let it discharge to a point and cycle it slightly before charging it again. With the current sensing capability gone it can no longer do this so just reverts to charging it whenever the engine is running although at a lower voltage than it may do normally.

 

I'm sure it will probably be fine, in fact, by not using the start/stop function you are probably saving your battery if anything

Alternator itself is not suitable nor it is capable of serving appropriate power to a power drain on startup current spikes of any kind of load activation, this is why the battery is there, to eliminate this. The alternator in consequence of this then tries to compensate and raises its voltage and current generation capabilities to reach required levels for sufficient operation of system and recover the recharge operation of battery. This kind of system is old and reliable and it simply works. The start stop and BCM and every other crap they put above this is just a upgrade to serve emissions and so on. In case of failure of any kind, the system reverts to old principles of operation (fail safe) as it is the case in most things these days just to be on the safe side.

 

Gearbox electronics and even pump starts beforehand to pressure the system and be prepared for vehicle operation. Then you have lights and infotainment and numerous other electronics modules that are alive even with no engine running. And even during engine run time these consumables demand high load on whole system. Count in the parasitic load of few systems that are always active even when the car is in the "sleep" mode when not in operation. Batteries in modern car take a huge pounding from consumables, and frankly speaking I do not believe that they ever reach a 100% filled state.

 

My 2010 VW Polo does not have the stop start system neither the BCM module and it still does its job and the battery is in top condition even after 5 years. Magic I tell you...

 

I would gladly like to continue this argument, but I see no point of this yet again.

 

All I wanted to achieve with the evidence I presented (a very rare case on any forum, loads of talk but no proof) is confirmation of the fact that a car power management system can take care of itself even if something is not connected in this case. If it would be a problem I am sure that even I would get a STOP or EML light or a spanner on MFD to inform me of my catastrophic doing to the poor car.

 

Case closed for me.

12 hours ago, krigl said:

My 2010 VW Polo does not have the stop start system neither the BCM module and it still does its job and the battery is in top condition even after 5 years. Magic I tell you...

 

Your 2010 polo uses a totally different battery chemistry so it does not require any extra care in the form of battery management like an AGM battery does so i'm not even sure why you have mentioned it

 

As I said, I don't think what you are doing is ideal but it will probably be fine.

 

I didn't know we were arguing, its good to discuss opinions and views

 

 

Are AGM batteries a totally different chemistry? I thought they were just a lead acid battery with the acid a bit 'glooped up in some glass matting' and a tougher outer shell?

 

9 minutes ago, Wino said:

Are AGM batteries a totally different chemistry? I thought they were just a lead acid battery with the acid a bit 'glooped up in some glass matting' and a tougher outer shell?

Ok, maybe 'totally different' was a bad choice of words, but what I am getting at is the characteristics of charging are very different.

 

They way I understand it is that it is possible to overcharge and kill an AGM battery whereas a normal flooded batter you can just float charge it all day long and it will be quite happy. 

 

 

That connector is for the main battery current sensor which is the most important part of the battery management system, allowing it to track and assess battery state of charge and battery health. It is a fundamental component required to manage stop/start and energy recovery, so called micro hybrid system.

 

I am surprised that disconnection doesn't throw a fault but it makes sense that stop/start and energy management/recovery would probably be disabled and default to conventional voltage regulation. The battery management system will adopt whatever the voltage limits are appropriate for the battery type, provided of course the battery is coded correctly.

 

There will be a hit in fuel economy and performance as energy recovery / load shedding during acceleration is disabled, more noticeable with dsg as that integrates better with the micro hybrid system. The brakes will be used that bit more too, so slightly higher wear of discs/pads. Emissions will be affected as well, of course.

 

https://www.yuasa.co.uk/info/technical/micro-hybrid-hybrid-vehicles-explained/

Edited 8 November, 20187 yr by xman

Don't suppose there will be but is there any way of stopping the steering wheel movement from restarting the engine?  Not a big deal but like to rest hands/arms on wheel and can't much if I don't want engine to restart. 

I can assure members that this hack also works on a Mercedes C Class CGI petrol and an 2015 Slk with no Eml, the voltage from the alternator ranges from 13.8 to 14.2 volts, the only issue with the Merc is brake hold is lost which is no great loss. The expensive AGM battery is only required for stop start and regeneration, as these don't work with this hack a standard battery is all that is needed, enjoy. 

 

 

Edited 11 December, 20187 yr by Bobclive2