Battery drain when parked up

[Gyp]

I'm starting to get a weird sense of deja vu,

 

One of the reasons I parted with my Yeti was that the battery drained after a few days not being used and I was always nervous that the car wouldn't start when I needed it.

 

Now I've found myself working away from home a bit so the car will sit unused for a week, my new (new in May 18) Superb is doing the same. 

 

I first noticed it 6 weeks or so ago. One weekend I do a round trip from Gloucestershire to North Yorkshire - about 450 miles over 2 days so the battery should be really charged. Park up that Sunday.

 

Go to car the following Saturday, grab the door handle, nothing.

 

Open with the remote, get in and the interior lights don't go on.

 

Get a message on the screen to tell me that the battery is nearly empty so the infotainment is switched off.

 

Car starts and runs OK and is then fine in daily use.

 

Work away for a week, come back to the same, and again this week.

 

In the Yeti I ended up connecting a CTEK battery monitor so I could monitor it on my phone and knew to leave the car on a trickle charge if I was leaving it. Tracking down the problem was complicated by the car having a few electrical modifications (DAB radio & antenna, xtra charging points etc) which I'm sure the dealer would blame before blaming the car. The Superb is completely standard at least, but I don't want to end up doing the same with the Superb and chargers.

 

Before I head off to the dealer and point at it and frown, has anyone else had a similar problem? The missus wants 2 weeks in the sun this coming summer, and I don't want to spend the entire time worrying if the car will start when I get back to the airport.

 

 

[Gizmo]

Never had a problem leaving mine at the airport parking for a fortnight. 

 

When I was leaving my car all week at work I bought a large solar panel battery charger that went in the windscreen.

I would have been happy with it just maintaining the level of charge, but when tested over a week it would charge a very old flat battery back up to 12v. 

[Gyp]

29 minutes ago, Gizmo said:

Never had a problem leaving mine at the airport parking for a fortnight. 

 

When I was leaving my car all week at work I bought a large solar panel battery charger that went in the windscreen.

I would have been happy with it just maintaining the level of charge, but when tested over a week it would charge a very old flat battery back up to 12v. 

 

I'm hoping that I don't have to resort to a solar charger but I'll keep it in mind

[Gizmo]

Sorry should have said the charger was for my old car. 

 

The MK3 has always been fine. 

[unclerichy]

We had this very issue with my wife's 16 plate Fabia (bought from new) - constant KESSY failure, battery warnings, unable to start the car etc. Had Skoda Assist out three time during one two week period at one point as we couldn't open/start the car. Dealer blamed it on not being driven enough (wife is disabled so only makes the odd trip).  However it first started not long after she bought it and after a 100 mile+ trip. Over the 2 1/2 years we had it it must have gone to the dealer every couple of months and the response from the dealer was the same. They tried to blame the hard-wired dashcam (on an ignition-only fuse...), and her scooter hoist (only powered when you pressed the up/down buttons).  I politely explained how electricity works...

 

I also bought a CTek smart charger to keep it topped up but the problems/dash warning would pop up within 24 hours of taking it off charge. Dealer said we didn't have the 'right kind of charger' and only a special Skoda one would work *cough* bullocks *cough*.

 

We made a diary of mileage, usage, battery level etc. and took it to them to show when we'd experienced the issue and how soon after being used. They ignored that and said "you don't drive enough" (again).  We took it to a battery specialist who performed some diagnostics and agreed that something was wrong but couldn't identify exactly what it was.  The battery itself had lost more capacity than it should have despite it being relatively new.

 

At this point we'd had enough so handed it back under her PCP agreement and bought a new Honda Jazz. Funnily enough that seems quite happy to sit unused for long periods.

 

I don't do high mileage in my Superb (about 14 a day over a 4-day working week) and I've left it for over a week at a time on occasion and it's always fired up first time with no errors and no delays in stop/start kicking in.

 

Moral of this story - keep hassling your dealer.  Though unless their diagnostics says "yup, there's a problem" they are unlikely to be interested. You could drive in with the engine on fire and they'd deny it if their diagnostics said "engine ok"   I suspect that the Fabia had an issue with the battery monitor so the alternator never completely charged the battery.

[xman]

For information: MY18 1.4tsi SEL Superb 59Ah Exide EFB battery.

 

Standby current (car locked/unlocked) measured at 10-11mA, rising to around 50mA  briefly for a few seconds every few minutes. An estimated 0.25 - 0.3Ah drain per 24 hours.

 

Car battery management (Superb iii is a micro hybrid) appears to keep my battery charge level at around 80% target.

 

Should be able to go well beyond a month stood.

 

Only unknowns are how resilient EFB batteries when never fully charged or deep discharged during stop/start and how good the battery management is at measuring/tracking state of charge (SOC) and heath of charge (HOC)

 

Over time small measurement errors could accumulate and lead to a lowered battery charge target so I reckon a full external recharge from time to time is probably a good insurance policy.

[Gyp]

15 minutes ago, xman said:

For information: MY18 1.4tsi SEL Superb 59Ah Exide EFB battery.

 

Standby current (car locked/unlocked) measured at 10-11mA, rising to around 50mA  briefly for a few seconds every few minutes. An estimated 0.25 - 0.3Ah drain per 24 hours.

 

 

How are you measuring it?

[xman]

19 minutes ago, Gyp said:

 

How are you measuring it?

 

Thurlby lab power supply set at 13.45v. Connected to battery +ve terminal and chassis charge tab. Left to fully charge, can take up to 36 hours and current drops to a minimum and stable at 10-11mA. This figure will include battery self discharge. Mine is a new car, low mileage so battery is in good condition. An old or knackered battery may have appreciably higher self discharge current.

 

 

Edited 16 December, 2018 by xman

[Speedman]

In my view battery going as flat as described in the original post has to be a fault (or something left plugged into USB or 12v sockets?). I have fitted a dashcam with parking mode and have been monitoring battery voltage with a voltmeter to ensure dashcam cuts off before battery gets to flat (as it is meant to do). Even with the dashcam plugged in (which constantly monitors to detect impact/movements) the battery voltage barely drops over a 24h or even 36h period without the car being used. How well have they looked into the fault - has to be either battery not charging fully, battery not retaining charge or something draining it.

[Fatso]

My Superb needed a new battery at 15 months old. It was fine until I left it parked up for 3 days and then I had to use the keyfob to open my car (I have KESSY) and it wouldn't start at all, just random messages on the dashboard that various systems were unavailable and that the battery needed charging. Rather unhelpfully it suggested I go for a drive to charge the battery up.

 

I'm sure I've seen posts on here about batteries needing replacing quite early on Superbs before.

[Ivan8192]

On 16/12/2018 at 09:10, Gyp said:

Before I head off to the dealer and point at it and frown, has anyone else had a similar problem? The missus wants 2 weeks in the sun this coming summer, and I don't want to spend the entire time worrying if the car will start when I get back to the airport.

 

 

 

I couldn’t start my car about six weeks ago. Had gradually seemed like it was taking a little longer/laboured to start.

 

Phoned Skoda Assist (i.e. the AA), had the option of AA person straight away or proper Skoda Assist person about an hour later. Chose the latter. The guy did a complete battery check, took lots of measurements to demonstrate the battery was dodgy (so he’d be paid for the warranty claim) and changed the battery. Been fine ever since.

 

Coincidentally, I was speaking to someone else on the phone whilst this was going on and that person said his dad had to have his battery changed on similar age car (67 plate) the week before. Mentioned it to the Skoda Assist guy, he “couldn’t possibly comment” but had changed a lot of similar batteries recently and I’d had his last one in that size.

 

Anyway, if you have the option of staying at home when you think the battery is pretty discharged, I’d definitely say get Skoda Assist to come look at it. 

[Gyp]

9 hours ago, Speedman said:

In my view battery going as flat as described in the original post has to be a fault (or something left plugged into USB or 12v sockets?). I have fitted a dashcam with parking mode and have been monitoring battery voltage with a voltmeter to ensure dashcam cuts off before battery gets to flat (as it is meant to do). Even with the dashcam plugged in (which constantly monitors to detect impact/movements) the battery voltage barely drops over a 24h or even 36h period without the car being used. How well have they looked into the fault - has to be either battery not charging fully, battery not retaining charge or something draining it.

 

I've been very good not to mess with the Superb and there's nothing left plugged into my 12V/USB sockets, nor have I added any other circuits

 

[Gyp]

12 minutes ago, Ivan8192 said:

 

I couldn’t start my car about six weeks ago. Had gradually seemed like it was taking a little longer/laboured to start.

 

Phoned Skoda Assist (i.e. the AA), had the option of AA person straight away or proper Skoda Assist person about an hour later. Chose the latter. The guy did a complete battery check, took lots of measurements to demonstrate the battery was dodgy (so he’d be paid for the warranty claim) and changed the battery. Been fine ever since.

 

Coincidentally, I was speaking to someone else on the phone whilst this was going on and that person said his dad had to have his battery changed on similar age car (67 plate) the week before. Mentioned it to the Skoda Assist guy, he “couldn’t possibly comment” but had changed a lot of similar batteries recently and I’d had his last one in that size.

 

Anyway, if you have the option of staying at home when you think the battery is pretty discharged, I’d definitely say get Skoda Assist to come look at it. 

 

The battery on my Fabia had a dead cell from new, so even after a good charge it appeared to be a battery in need of charge, and I've had a battery die a lot earlier than expected on my Octavia. I did replace the battery on the Yeti with thebiggestmotherofabatterythatwillfitplease but the drain issue persisted

 

If it's a duff battery then that's not too bad, but I don't want to live with another long term untraceable electrical fault. I'm worried that buying the car rather than leasing it may have been a bad move

[Ivan8192]

5 minutes ago, Gyp said:

If it's a duff battery then that's not too bad, but I don't want to live with another long term untraceable electrical fault. I'm worried that buying the car rather than leasing it may have been a bad move

 

If you call out Skoda Assist, they’ll have to stick around until they’ve found the issue, or at least acknowledged an issue, got you a courtesy car and taken it to a dealer 

[Gyp]

3 minutes ago, Ivan8192 said:

 

If you call out Skoda Assist, they’ll have to stick around until they’ve found the issue, or at least acknowledged an issue, got you a courtesy car and taken it to a dealer 

 

I can't really call out skoda assist until it fails though, and I don't fancy leaving it for a fortnight to wait until it won't start.

 

Not until summer when it's cycle/motorcycle/MX5 weather

[Derek_Mac]

13 hours ago, Fatso said:

My Superb needed a new battery at 15 months old. It was fine until I left it parked up for 3 days and then I had to use the keyfob to open my car (I have KESSY) and it wouldn't start at all, just random messages on the dashboard that various systems were unavailable and that the battery needed charging. Rather unhelpfully it suggested I go for a drive to charge the battery up.

 

I'm sure I've seen posts on here about batteries needing replacing quite early on Superbs before.

 

 We're just getting battery in our 16 month old Superb replaced under warranty due to it suddenly deciding it didn't have enough power to start the car.

  The garage told us that Skoda have been having 'issues' with batteries manufactured by Moll.

[Ivan8192]

9 hours ago, Derek_Mac said:

 

 We're just getting battery in our 16 month old Superb replaced under warranty due to it suddenly deciding it didn't have enough power to start the car.

  The garage told us that Skoda have been having 'issues' with batteries manufactured by Moll.

 

Mine was by Moll. The new one is Varta (Johnson). Same capacity/CCA/type though.

[Gyp]

I've checked and it's a Banner battery.

 

Car's booked in with Skoda for checking in the New Year

[Gyp]

I've connected my CTek sensor.

 

Not entirely convinced that what it's telling me it's accurate, but the trend isn't good

 

I'm going to do 200-300 miles over the next couple of days so I'll see how well it charges

Edited 26 December, 2018 by Gyp

[D402]

I'm getting slow cranking, frequent 'Manoeuvre Braking not available' faults and occassional 'ACC not available' faults on start up these cold mornings so I measured the battery voltage after the car had stood overnight; ignition off 12.3V, ignition on 12.0V, minimum voltage during cranking 9.6V, engine running 14.4V.  Despite the low voltage, stop-start still works normally.   The car is used daily for at least a 20 mile commute.

I took it in to the dealers last week.  They tested the battery and found some 'low battery voltage' faults recorded but couldn't find anything actually wrong so charged the battery and advised me to come back if the problem returned.

[Gyp]

9 hours ago, D402 said:

I'm getting slow cranking, frequent 'Manoeuvre Braking not available' faults and occassional 'ACC not available' faults on start up these cold mornings so I measured the battery voltage after the car had stood overnight; ignition off 12.3V, ignition on 12.0V, minimum voltage during cranking 9.6V, engine running 14.4V.  Despite the low voltage, stop-start still works normally.   The car is used daily for at least a 20 mile commute.

I took it in to the dealers last week.  They tested the battery and found some 'low battery voltage' faults recorded but couldn't find anything actually wrong so charged the battery and advised me to come back if the problem returned.

 

I expect I'll get the same response.

 

I fully charged (ctek charger) and it only took 5 days to get to the point where KESSY had powered off.

 

 

 

[BriskodaJeff]

Just to give the dealer an idea of what you expect / demand from your car if you're showing them this thread. My L&K is 18 months old and laden with more electrical gizmology than you can shake a stick at. I parked it up before Xmas and came back to it 19 days later. It started first time with no perceptible increase in crank time. I don't see why you guys would expect any less. Good luck with getting it sorted. 

[Gyp]

6 minutes ago, BriskodaJeff said:

Just to give the dealer an idea of what you expect / demand from your car if you're showing them this thread. My L&K is 18 months old and laden with more electrical gizmology than you can shake a stick at. I parked it up before Xmas and came back to it 19 days later. It started first time with no perceptible increase in crank time. I don't see why you guys would expect any less. Good luck with getting it sorted. 

 

I leave my BMW for 6 months at a time. Starts first press of the button.

 

Checking the manual, it does suggest "If the vehicle is not used for longer than 3 to 4 weeks, then disconnect the negative terminal  or charge the battery constantly with a very low charging current." which doesn't seem too unreasonable, but I'd expect to only have to do that in fairly extreme conditions.

[Gyp]

I'm starting to feel somewhat stupid.

 

As planned, a few weeks ago, the Superb went into the dealer to try and resolve the problem. They spent about an hour and a half with the car and gave it a clean bill of health.

 

They did however disconnect the little bluetooth OBDII dongle that was plugged in under the dash. I'd transferred it across from the Yeti when I changed cars and completely forgotten about it.

 

They asserted that the presence of the dongle meant that not all of the car electronics powered down when switched off. I thought that was rubbish, but as it was a non standard part in the car, couldn't argue and decided to see how things went.

 

I've left the OBDII dongle out

 

...and things have gone fine. Battery drain how is significantly lower than it was before.

 

Of course this possibly means that  one of the most annoying "problems" with the Yeti that lead me to sell it wasn't a problem at all...

[D402]

After being checked by the local dealer, mine behaved itself for a few weeks including a spell of really cold weather. Now though, it's behaving very randomly. Yesterday it was fine for cold starts first thing and coming home in the evening, then only just managed to start after a 20 mile drive and short stop. Long, slow cranking and 'Manoeuvre Braking not available'  warning again this morning. It's as if it sometimes doesn't charge while driving. Any thoughts?