Evening,

 

I'm just picked up my 2018 Octavia 1.0 two with stop/start. I'm noticing that it very very rarely wants to activate with the reason of high power consumption. 

 

I have none of the obvious stuff running (radio/AC/mirror heaters/rear windscreen heater) but it still tells me the power consumption is high. 

 

I've done a bit of reading through the search function and it looks like the battery could be the culprit. I have a EFB 59Ah battery and it sits on 12.9V on idle (according to MySkoda app - I know it's probably not the most accurate).

 

I understand this is the weaker of the stop start batteries. Is this likely to be the culprit? Do I have a leg to stand on to ask the dealer to replace it if it's not 'fit for purpose'? 

 

Many thanks 

M

Oh dear. My mistake, it is 14V at idle. 

12.9V must have been engine off. 

I also have a 1.0 SE Octavia with stop start.  Performance is mixed.  Quite often, the engine will stop then re-start straight away as if it had changed its mind about switching the engine off.  As with you, I don't have high usage stuff switched on at the time.  At other times, it either doesn't work at all or works perfectly well.  I'm still under warranty but don't think that my dealer will be particularly interested.  No doubt they will say it is working normally.  However, the stop start on my previous Fabia was even worse.  It didn't work most of the time.

Thanks for the reply!

Yeah it seems very strange, would you mind having a look at the type of battery you have?

57 minutes ago, mrmo12 said:

it sits on 12.9V on idle

 

With a Stop/Start engine the alternator doesn't always work. 😮

If the battery was at 12.9 Volts then the BMS  ( Battery Management System ) would think the battery doesn't need charging.

It will come on when you brake but it will charge at a higher rate, about 15 volts.

So a Stop/Start battery will not normally be fully charged by the car so there is capacity to be charged.

 

Thanks AG Falco

mine works well. At the lights, everything off - or not - it generally stops providing the outside temperature is warmer than -5 or so.

 

 - Bret

3 minutes ago, brettikivi said:

mine works well. At the lights, everything off - or not - it generally stops providing the outside temperature is warmer than -5 or so.

 

 - Bret

Hi Bret,

Could you tell me what kind of battery you have?

Thanks

The stop/start system not working would be a bonus for me. It'd saving me having to turn it off manually.

( Long post alert!) 

 

Assessing battery performance and stop start operation isn’t as easy as associating the battery construction type with others showing performance issues. There are a number of factors affecting when stop start cuts in such as cabin temp difference between heater setting vs actual temp and outside temp,  engine temperature, steering input, foot movement on pedals, for example, as well as vehicle history and usage pattern. 

 

Measuring battery voltage accurately isn’t that straightforward on a vehicle, alternator charging phases switch in and out for fuel efficiency and the operation of multiple electrical consumers suppress the true voltage. All of this skews the reading you get between 12.2v and 14v.  Ideally the battery should be disconnected for a few hours to stabilise before it is performance tested in an open circuit condition with something like a Midtronics tester. Otherwise there is too much interference getting in the way. 
 

You say you have recently picked it up. Did you get it from a dealership and do you know how long it sat there before you bought it? Reason I ask is that if it was there for 5 or 6 weeks or more without being run for a few hours or did not have any sort of battery care procedure applied (periodic checks and recharging), the voltage can decay to a point (around 12.2v or below) where permanent internal damage occurs and some loss of capacity results but the battery will partially recover when recharged. This damage can be just enough to deny stop start functionality but still support cold starts and running. The battery needs to be disconnected and stable for a few hours/overnight to get a decent assessment done if this is the case. 

 

Edited 2 January, 20206 yr by BigEjit

^^ to add to this, my car has an aux heater but the vast majority of its time on the road is on the motorway between here and Helsinki, either the airport or the office. That's around 57 minutes to the Airport, 1h20 to the office. Or on a longer run up north; they're around 4h each. This essentially means - along with the fact that I tend to run the aux only for as long as it needs, and even then only before a longer trip - that the battery is in about as good a condition as it can get at three years old. I don't use it much around town or for short trips. 

 

Yes, adding 1C inside on the climate will bring the start / stop off. Yes, it does matter what temperature it is outside. Yes, sometimes it doesn't stop the engine, even if I've just rolled to a stop and everything is warm; a minute or two later, it will stop again. In the morning, if the car is warm - oil heading towards 50C and water at 80+, then it will stop again at the lights three minutes away. If it's not warm, it will not. 

 

I used to find it an irritation. Now I see it as an inducement to simply drop the car into neutral and pull the handbrake at any traffic light.  I don't like the behaviour after a stall, but that's a different story.

 

 - Bret

Thanks for the reply guys.

 

Interesting point regarding it being sat at a dealership. I bought it from an Arnold Clark VW garage where it's last service was done in July (with the same mileage as what I picked it up with).

 

It makes sense that the battery may have decayed since then. 

 

I'm not too bothered by the start stop not working (it would be nice to know it's there though) but I am worried if the battery is shot! 

 

I've got it booked in to a Skoda dealership to have a look at a vertical line of dead pixels so I will ask them to check the battery too.

 

M

I eventually got my EFB battery changed a month within the expiry of the 3 year warranty. Iirc it took 4 visits for it to be fixed. Get the fault on the record and persist. Mine indicated high power consumption all the time. 

1 hour ago, gregoir said:

I eventually got my EFB battery changed a month within the expiry of the 3 year warranty. Iirc it took 4 visits for it to be fixed. Get the fault on the record and persist. Mine indicated high power consumption all the time. 

 Hi there, good to see that the sorted it for you. Did they change it for another EFB? Hopefully it doesn't take 4 visits though. Would you mind telling me which dealer did it for you? I'd like to mention it to my one when I drop it off. 

Thanks

M

10 hours ago, mrmo12 said:

I'm not too bothered by the start stop not working (it would be nice to know it's there though) but I am worried if the battery is shot! 

The frequency of how often stop start works is a good indicator of battery health. If it activates within a few minutes of a cold start first thing in the morning, it’s pretty good.

 

If after 30 mins run time it’s NOT been triggered at least once In traffic, I’d start to question how good the battery is. 
 

In your case, if your vehicle has been parked up as part of Dealer stock for a few months with very little care taken, I’d ask them to replace with a new one if they have no records of it being checked and you have some sort of warranty or Sale of goods act behind you. (They probably don’t have records and will have to test it). 
 

The measured CCA (cold crank amps) Vs the label rating is key. A test with a Midtronics should return a value higher than the label rating at room temp and 12.72v. The label shows cca at -18’C. If the test result show a lower cca rating for 12.72v, the battery is on its way out and is unlikely to improve much.

 

The battery you are likely to get from a Skoda dealer will probs be the same as what you currently have.  It will be perfectly ok if you do reasonable average annual miles. Otherwise up-spec to AGM from higher spec cars, they take more abuse. 

4 minutes ago, BigEjit said:

The frequency of how often stop start works is a good indicator of battery health. If it activates within a few minutes of a cold start first thing in the morning, it’s pretty good.

 

If after 30 mins run time it’s NOT been triggered at least once In traffic, I’d start to question how good the battery is. 
 

In your case, if your vehicle has been parked up as part of Dealer stock for a few months with very little care taken, I’d ask them to replace with a new one if they have no records of it being checked and you have some sort of warranty or Sale of goods act behind you. (They probably don’t have records and will have to test it). 
 

The measured CCA (cold crank amps) Vs the label rating is key. A test with a Midtronics should return a value higher than the label rating at room temp and 12.72v. The label shows cca at -18’C. If the test result show a lower cca rating for 12.72v, the battery is on its way out and is unlikely to improve much.

 

The battery you are likely to get from a Skoda dealer will probs be the same as what you currently have.  It will be perfectly ok if you do reasonable average annual miles. Otherwise up-spec to AGM from higher spec cars, they take more abuse. 

 

The Arnold Clark that I got it from has told me that if Skoda say the battery is poor, then they'll replace it. 

However, if when Skoda test it, they find that the battery is done, then they're likely to change it first aren't they? 

I may ask them to upgrade it if possible. 

I do around 9-10k a year but more often than not the daily miles are about 10-20 miles, it's only at the weekend that we boost it a bit to 30 then theres a trip to each of our parents (150 miles total) once a month. 

I don’t know if Skoda will automatically change it. Discharge damage is abuse rather than a manufacturing defect which isn’t normally a warranty issue. It would be at their discretion. But if they say it’s done and refuse to change it, get the test results it in writing (a copy of the Midtronics print out will be perfect along with a work statement on dealer headed paper) and head on over to AC.

 

Your annual mileage is perfect! No probs sticking the same battery back in, likely to get 10 years service out of it on that duty cycle.  

To up-spec the battery, you’d probs have to pay the difference. You might not get any benefit from doing that, though. 

 

Ideally, the best battery test will be an overnighter with it disconnected and then tested first thing in the morning. No point recharging it, if you’ve done the miles you suggested these past few weeks, it should be at its best already.
 

Looking for CCA reading approx 10% or higher than 640A EN spec at +17’C (ref photo of label in first post) and 12.72v for a good battery. Slightly less if voltage is lower. 
 

Hope this all helps!

1 hour ago, BigEjit said:

The frequency of how often stop start works is a good indicator of battery health. If it activates within a few minutes of a cold start first thing in the morning, it’s pretty good.

 

If after 30 mins run time it’s NOT been triggered at least once In traffic, I’d start to question how good the battery is. 
 

In your case, if your vehicle has been parked up as part of Dealer stock for a few months with very little care taken, I’d ask them to replace with a new one if they have no records of it being checked and you have some sort of warranty or Sale of goods act behind you. (They probably don’t have records and will have to test it). 
 

The measured CCA (cold crank amps) Vs the label rating is key. A test with a Midtronics should return a value higher than the label rating at room temp and 12.72v. The label shows cca at -18’C. If the test result show a lower cca rating for 12.72v, the battery is on its way out and is unlikely to improve much.

 

The battery you are likely to get from a Skoda dealer will probs be the same as what you currently have.  It will be perfectly ok if you do reasonable average annual miles. Otherwise up-spec to AGM from higher spec cars, they take more abuse. 

 

The Arnold Clark that I got it from has told me that if Skoda say the battery is poor, then they'll replace it. 

However, if when Skoda test it, they find that the battery is done, then they're likely to change it first aren't they? 

I may ask them to upgrade it if possible. 

I do around 9-10k a year but more often than not the daily miles are about 10-20 miles, it's only at the weekend that we boost it a bit to 30 then theres a trip to each of our parents (150 miles total) once a month. 

21 hours ago, BigEjit said:

Otherwise up-spec to AGM from higher spec cars, they take more abuse. 

 

If you go from EFB to AGM then you need to tell the car, read this first:-

https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/index.php?threads/how-to-retro-fit-a-bigger-capacity-battery-to-a-mk7-golf.320084/

 

Thanks AG Falco

 

5 minutes ago, AGFalco said:

 

If you go from EFB to AGM then you need to tell the car, read this first:-

https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/index.php?threads/how-to-retro-fit-a-bigger-capacity-battery-to-a-mk7-golf.320084/

 

Thanks AG Falco

 

 

Ah great info!

 

I'm hoping that if Skoda see that the battery is done, I'll try and get them to replace it with one that is better! But it sounds like my mileage should be enough for the current battery (it might just be that this own is done).

On 03/01/2020 at 10:30, mrmo12 said:

Thanks for the reply guys.

 

Interesting point regarding it being sat at a dealership. I bought it from an Arnold Clark VW garage where it's last service was done in July (with the same mileage as what I picked it up with).

 

It makes sense that the battery may have decayed since then. 

 

I'm not too bothered by the start stop not working (it would be nice to know it's there though) but I am worried if the battery is shot! 

 

I've got it booked in to a Skoda dealership to have a look at a vertical line of dead pixels so I will ask them to check the battery too.

 

M

 

As a minor point, if car was serviced in July and sat around, why is it saying it needs an oil service & an inspection service so soon? 

Edited 6 January, 20206 yr by Kental
Added

1 minute ago, Kental said:

 

As a minor point, if car was serviced in July, why is it saying it needs an oil service & an inspection service so soon? 

 

Annoyingly, when they serviced it in July they've just done a 12 month/10k miles interval. 

 

The inspection, when I've done the maths, I believe is 24 months/20k miles since the manufacture date (May 2018).

 

 

On another note; they are going replace my screen for the deal pixels. 

 

With my battery, they've tested it and the battery is a bit low but not dangerously. So they're going to put it charge over night and are confident that it'll sort itself out. So hopefully get start/stop sorted!  

 

The suberb estate courtesy car that I have is incredible. It's a SE L but it must have all the bells and whistles added on top of that too. 

Maybe one day...

19 minutes ago, mrmo12 said:

 

Annoyingly, when they serviced it in July they've just done a 12 month/10k miles interval. 

 

The inspection, when I've done the maths, I believe is 24 months/20k miles since the manufacture date (May 2018).

 

 

On another note; they are going replace my screen for the deal pixels. 

 

With my battery, they've tested it and the battery is a bit low but not dangerously. So they're going to put it charge over night and are confident that it'll sort itself out. So hopefully get start/stop sorted!  

 

The suberb estate courtesy car that I have is incredible. It's a SE L but it must have all the bells and whistles added on top of that too. 

Maybe one day...

 

10k miles is 16k km so unless you have done nearly 4000 miles since you've had it then it still looks odd.

1 hour ago, Kental said:

 

10k miles is 16k km so unless you have done nearly 4000 miles since you've had it then it still looks odd.

The amount of distance is km is actually miles. Which would add up to around 20k total mileage/ 10k since service for the inspection and around 10k mileage since service for oil service.

 

The number of days also match up.  

On 03/01/2020 at 18:45, mrmo12 said:

 Hi there, good to see that the sorted it for you. Did they change it for another EFB? Hopefully it doesn't take 4 visits though. Would you mind telling me which dealer did it for you? I'd like to mention it to my one when I drop it off. 

Thanks

M

 

15 hours ago, mrmo12 said:

The amount of distance is km is actually miles. Which would add up to around 20k total mileage/ 10k since service for the inspection and around 10k mileage since service for oil service.

 

The number of days also match up.  

Another EFB battery. Working fine. Bristol Street Motors, Chesterfield. 

1 minute ago, gregoir said:

 

Another EFB battery. Working fine. Bristol Street Motors, Chesterfield. 

 

May I ask your annual mileage.

 

The garage have charged my battery over night and tested it again this morning. It has come back as defective. They'll be replacing the battery with another EFB.