Hi,I am thinking of getting a  AA 1.5 amp 6v / 12v battery charger maintainer to keep the battery topped up while the car is not being used much due to the virus lock down.

Car is Karoq 2ltr TDi 4x4 DSG. What are your thoughts, not had to charge a battery for years.😀

Lidl and Aldi sell good basic chargers for £12.99, which I use to simply top up the 12V batteries powering  my shooting club's clay pigeon traps. An Optimate charger is possibly a better but more expensive solution, which I use to keep my car and motorbike batteries in good health and it can be used to read and restore their condition. 

Not a problem with the Karoq but beware, Lithium batteries as fitted to some motorcycles, have special requirements regarding chargers. 

 

tom

You shouldn’t need to charge the battery. 
 

Aslong as you don’t have anything left on or plugged in the car will go into hibernation reducing battery load to the absolute minimum. 

Just find an excuse to go for a drive every 2 weeks

Thanks for the reply's , I have it sorted.

Hi,I just bought the Ctech MX5 smart charger for my Skoda Karoq 1.5 SEL DSG in Business grey which I bought new in January this year. Since lockdown I only use once a week for a local shopping trip

so thought I would get a smart charger to charge and maintain the battery, this charger was recommended by the dealer Rainworth Skoda.Put it on yesterday left it plugged in overnight and it was finished by this morning all good. £72 from Amazon.

Do you disconnect the battery whilst charging?

4 minutes ago, CreamBun said:

Do you disconnect the battery whilst charging?

No,   I got the AA trickle charger off Amazon for £26, Positive clipped to positive terminal and Negative clipped to the tab on the bulkhead because you will have stop/start ! and that will be ok.

Thanks for that. I have a C-Tek intelligent charger which should be fine for topping up. Could you explain the reference to stop/start?

RE stop start it's just what I have found on here and in the hand book. If the car has stop start you must connect to the tab near the Neg terminal NOT the terminal it's self.

Ah thanks. I wasn't aware of that.

This is the tab behind the battery where you connect the negative clamp (Manual, Fig.325 - brightened).

 

 

Edited 13 April, 20206 yr by agedbriar

Many thanks for the clarification.

Many thanks CTEK  MSX 5 on order and now I know how to safely connect it - after being parked up for a month I had the low 12volt battery message appear when I ventured out for a short essential shopping trip.

8 hours ago, Gomezz said:

RE stop start it's just what I have found on here and in the hand book. If the car has stop start you must connect to the tab near the Neg terminal NOT the terminal it's self.

 

Thanks for bringing that up - you learn something new on here every day. I found the relevant page in the manual and saw that the connection advice also serves for jump-starting from a donor car ..... but what connections are used if the Karoq is to be used as the donor for a flat battery of another car.

 

Just as an aside, if you have the MySkoda app on your phone, the home page shows the battery voltage at that time, just below the % of fuel remaining. At least this is what I believe it to be ( someone correct me if I'm wrong). Mine currently (no pun) shows 14.9V

3 hours ago, StEdmund said:

..... but what connections are used if the Karoq is to be used as the donor for a flat battery of another car.

 

I believe the negative battery post is to be avoided with any external connection, due to the apparent sensitivity of the battery monitoring sensor connected to that battery post.

You will again induce a current spike on connection completion, only in the opposite direction.

 

Edited 13 April, 20206 yr by agedbriar

4 hours ago, StEdmund said:

 

Thanks for bringing that up - you learn something new on here every day. I found the relevant page in the manual and saw that the connection advice also serves for jump-starting from a donor car ..... but what connections are used if the Karoq is to be used as the donor for a flat battery of another car.

 

 

Connect it up as if you are charging it or jumping it. One lead on the positive and the other lead on the Chassis ground so it does not bypass the current monitoring sensor.

 

The idea is so the car knows the state of charge of the battery and connecting straight to the battery bypasses the sensor.

Edited 13 April, 20206 yr by SuperbTWM

12 hours ago, SuperbTWM said:

 

Connect it up as if you are charging it or jumping it. One lead on the positive and the other lead on the Chassis ground so it does not bypass the current monitoring sensor.

 

The idea is so the car knows the state of charge of the battery and connecting straight to the battery bypasses the sensor.

 

So, just to get this straight, if the union is between, say, my Karoq (with stop/start) and my wife's B-max (with stop/start) then the connections are pos terminal to pos terminal and 'ground to ground' regardless of which car is donor/recipient i.e. the neg battery post is never used? Thanks

That is what I would do yes. If you apply the same logic from a car that requires charging or a jump start, you would think a donor vehicle would also need to be wired in that configuration. 
 

Then each car knows the amount of power that has been lost or gained. 

 

If you are in any doubt, contact Skoda, it would be interesting to see what they say. 
 

 

23 minutes ago, StEdmund said:

 

So, just to get this straight, if the union is between, say, my Karoq (with stop/start) and my wife's B-max (with stop/start) then the connections are pos terminal to pos terminal and 'ground to ground' regardless of which car is donor/recipient i.e. the neg battery post is never used? Thanks

When jump starting the +ve and -ve leads are connected to the good battery terminals, the +ve lead is connected to the +ve terminal of the dead battery and the -ve connected to the -ve point on the bulkhead as per the owners manual.

46 minutes ago, Kenny R said:

When jump starting the +ve and -ve leads are connected to the good battery terminals, the +ve lead is connected to the +ve terminal of the dead battery and the -ve connected to the -ve point on the bulkhead as per the owners manual.

 

 

I also found that page in the owner's manual - but it doesn't answer half of my question .............. i.e. what happens if my Karoq is the DONOR vehicle?

Edited 14 April, 20206 yr by StEdmund
grammar

18 minutes ago, StEdmund said:

 

I also found that page in the owner's manual - but it doesn't answer half of my question .............. i.e. what happens if my Karoq is the DONOR vehicle?

You connect as quoted. Jump leads connected to battery terminals of good or current giving battery as Skoda call it, and connect to battery +ve of discharged battery and to -ve point on bulkhead or to engine earth point if it’s not a Start/ Stop vehicle your starting.

1 hour ago, Kenny R said:

You connect as quoted.

 

 

I cannot see anything quoted in the manual about the situation where the DONOR i.e. 'good' battery is the one on the Karoq and I am trying to assist the driver of a car with a dud battery - it's possible that you have a different edition.  Next time I'm in at the dealer's, I'll ask them as suggested by SuperbTWM above.