replaced the battery in my Rapid

[_N_]

Does anyone use a charger like Ctek or similar to top up their battery from time to time?

 

Last week, I had my battery go flat. Actually, the car has been showing "Service Now" for some time, I figured that they forgot to reset the service indicator while I was at service last time, I was going to go to the service when I had some time, but last week I went for a short drive, the car was outside at above freezing temperatures, it started fine, I went to a shopping centre for a few hours, went to start the car, the engine turned over twice and didn't start. After that it turned only once and then the engine wouldn't turn any more - typical flat battery. The battery is five and a half years old.

The car is usually in a garage, so being outdoor at colder temperatures must have caused the battery to drop in capacity enough for the car not to start. I started it with jumper cables hooked up to another car, drove it home (10 minute drive), keeping rpm higher than usual to charge it. Parked it in the garage, next day is started without issues, but I went straight to the dealer to see if they can test the battery. Of course, they were busy and told me that I would have to wait half a day, I figured I'll just buy a new battery.
Now for the interesting part, my 1.2 TSI, without Start-Stop, had a 36Ah, 175A DIN, 300A battery (1S0 915 105). A new battery of the same spec would cost around 115EUR, but in their catalog Skoda had an original 44Ah, 200A DIN, 360A for 75EUR (model JZW 915 105 C). I asked why is the better battery cheaper, they said that if they were to service the car, they are only allowed to put in an exact replacement battery, but I can put in any battery I want. So I purchased the 44Ah battery, put it in and I don't have "Service Now" coming up every time I start the car, so the old battery must have been getting old. Is five and a half years normal for a car battery to die? I have a feeling that on my previous cars the battery last longer.

 

The new battery is slightly longer, so the heatshield does not fit on it, I attached the old heatshield and fixed it in place with cable ties. A new one would cost 25EUR, which is too much - do I even need it? Some say that heat from the engine and especially the turbo can reduce battery life?

 

For the past few days I've read up a lot of stuff about car batteries and I see that some recommend to perform a top up charge on monthly basis to perform "desulphation" of the car battery, with something like a Ctek. This charger costs like a new battery, is it worthwhile getting one? Does anyone top up their battery with a charger?

I don't drive my car often, I walk to work, but it's driven on a highway often, so I reckon that the battery gets charged during those drives.

Lastly, I reckon that if they put in something a bit larger than a 36Ah battery, it would last longer, because if it lost a bit of capacity due to cold weather, it would still start. I can't believe that a 36A battery is enough for a car like this.

[MickA]

I had my battery replaced at less than 5 yrs old.  The car threw up strange codes and went into limp mode, the battery was diagnosed as low on power, so it had degraded. Must add I don't drive mine much as quite a few short journeys. I do keep it topped up with an Aldi special battery charger for those periods where it will stand unused for say 3-4 days.

[amwphotos]

Never top up my battery, even if I leave the car undriven, although I do have an old charger in the garage just in case.

[_N_]

13 hours ago, MickA said:

I had my battery replaced at less than 5 yrs old.  The car threw up strange codes and went into limp mode, the battery was diagnosed as low on power, so it had degraded. Must add I don't drive mine much as quite a few short journeys. I do keep it topped up with an Aldi special battery charger for those periods where it will stand unused for say 3-4 days.

 

Ok, so it seems that topping it up didn't help in extending its life past 5 years. It probably doesn't hurt to top it up, but it doesn't seem to extend its life either. I guess that the alternator does a good job of charging the battery and top up might only be required if the car will stayed parked up for a while.

[camelspyyder]

Longest mine has been parked up is about 5 months. No charger but it started first go.

 

 

Edited 2 January, 2019 by camelspyyder

[MickA]

8 hours ago, _N_ said:

 

Ok, so it seems that topping it up didn't help in extending its life past 5 years. It probably doesn't hurt to top it up, but it doesn't seem to extend its life either. I guess that the alternator does a good job of charging the battery and top up might only be required if the car will stayed parked up for a while.

 

Just to clarify, I only started with the maintenance charger after I'd had a new battery fitted, the original battery that came fitted with the car had never received a charge from an outside source, must have been around 4 yrs 6 months oldish when it was found to be low on power. It would start the car but wasn't enough to keep the cars system from throwing up fault codes. Tech guy I used (my local garage) has seen this sort of thing before with VAG group cars, he pointed straight to the battery but he did look at the throttle position sensor first, the TPS fault codes were coming up.

So with a car sitting in the garage unused,  that battery had failed at 9 yrs old in winter (an MX-5) and now my SEAT not really getting the daily use it should I decided when winter comes both cars will need there batteries maintained if stood for a considerable time unused.

I think with the SEAT a factor in the premature death of the battery could be it with it standing in a dealers compound from new (in winter months) before I eventually bought it, can't be good for a battery.

[AngryViking]

Hi,

 

My Rapid sits in the garage for months, connected to a CTek charger/maintainer.

 

No problems with the battery so far. Starts fine if left outside over weekend in -22 degrees Celsius.

 

Deactivated the start-stop system with VCDS as soon as I got the car, as start-stop systems literally kills batteries a few car electricians told me.

 

Battery that's in my Rapid is a Banner 90Ah.

 

[MickA]

^^^  Mine has stop/start but I don't use it much.

[_N_]

From what I've read, the model of Rapid with Start-Stop has something like a 70Ah battery, whereas the one without it has a 36Ah battery - that's quite a difference, I understand that Start-Stop drains the battery more, but it also means that the larger battery is more tolerant to colder weather for example, especially if you don't Start-Stop often?

I was thinking about getting a Ctek charger to top it up from time, just wasn't sure if it was worth the effort.

 

Another thing I noticed now with a new battery, the headlights are brighter. Before, they weren't as bright and were more yellow, I remember driving at night and thinking that something is not right, I even checked the bulbs etc, but in the end it was all related to the battery - I thought that the alternator powers the lights while the car is on, why would a new (or old) battery have an impact on headlights? I'm going to check the voltage with the engine running tomorrow to see how much is the alternator giving, what are normal values for the 1.2 TSI?

[_N_]

Just checked today, the new battery is 12.7V.

I started the car, went for a half an hour drive and at the end, checked the voltage while in idle and it was 14.14V, I increased the rpm and it went up to 14.27V - so it seems that the alternator is ok?

[MickA]

Just to say, the guy I took my car to when I had problems said various electrical componants receive power signals from the battery, if these signals and maybe lowered power signals when received it can throw up fault codes.

I'm no big techy, far from it but I couldn't understand why my EPC and traction control lights were showing on the dash and also the car went into limp mode. Stop the car switch off the ignition and upon restart all was well. This happened three times, the first time there must have been around six weeks gap before it happened again. The fault code for the TPS (throttle position sensor) was a red herring, that was fine, I also had the engine management light appear once too.

 

Strange happenings indeed but all sorted with a new battery. There must be a situation where the cars electrical systems detect low voltage and decide to tell you by means of some nice pretty lights on the dash, not all related to the problems........I told you I'm not that up on these techy things.

 

[silver1011]

Over 5 years isn't bad going for a battery. But just like fuel economy there are lots of external influences on it's life, so comparing battery life with other owners isn't going to yield any useful comparisons.

 

Things like coming / leaving home headlights will ultimately shorten a battery's life. Leaving the light switch on 'On' or 'Auto' so that they come on before the engine is started etc. Lot's of short journey's won't help either.

 

The best way to preserve battery life is to turn off as much electrical load before turning off the engine, and not turning anything electrical on until the engine is running.

 

My 8 year old Superb with 160,000 miles (258,000 km's) is on it's original battery.