I'm sure many of us are in this position but tomorrow I'm going to disconnect the negative terminal of my battery, as per my owner's manual instructions, as it's been 4 weeks since I've driven it.  I don't have a driveway so constant trickle charging isn't an option.  I have a one year old Octavia Estate 2.0 TSI 245 DSG with KESSY and the Amundsen.

 

What settings will I lose if I disconnect my battery?  The manual says it will affect power windows, time settings, and a couple of things I don't have.  Is that it, or can I expect to lose settings for driver personalisation, radio, phone, KESSY etc.?

 

thanks

 

None if you do it quick enough.

 

Only thing which happens is the first time you drive the car, it will throw up errors like no front assist, abs not working etc. Stop the car, start it up and drive off again and it should be fine.

 

But (and it's a big but), you do need to have the serial number of the battery updated on the ECU. Otherwise you'll run into problems later.

2 hours ago, tunedude said:

But (and it's a big but), you do need to have the serial number of the battery updated on the ECU. Otherwise you'll run into problems later.

OP isn't planning on changing the battery, just disconnecting the battery for the duration of the lockdown and refitting the same battery, so this doesn't apply.

forgive me, I've totally misread that

I changed my battery last weekend due to the old one being knackered and obviously disconnected it for a while (quick isn't really possible with the annoying battery cover and inaccessible clamp for anyone with adult sized hands).

 

Anyway, when I reconnected there were a number of errors, something like a dozen on OBDEleven.   Some were due to 'low voltage' on the old battery so could be cleared though once the new battery was in.

Parking sensors, steering controls, ESP all errored and wouldn't clear until I took it for a drive.  I assume it just needs to see the inputs vary and recalibrate.

I think I got it down to half 7 sat on the drive clearing them, but a few remained until I drove it.

 

The clock somehow remembered the date but took the time back to midnight, which made no sense to me.  

 

All the radio stuff stayed on there, bluetooth settings etc.

 

It was largely a whole bunch of sensors that have a little fit because suddenly they forget they've ever been used before, but soon recover.

 

I need to do another scan and see what still remains.

 

I don't think clearing the errors with OBDEleven of vcds is a requirement by the way, more a nice to have.  They'll clear as live faults anyway, just show as a non-cleared log of a fault until somebody clears it.  So the error lights will go off the dash but it may cause minor confusions for somebody down the line IF they are chasing a similar fault.

 

The thing that you'll likely need to remember about disconnecting the battery is you may find it tricky to get back under the bonnet to reconnect it.  May be wise to take the plastic cover off the bonnet release handle before you do it (and while you can open the passenger door) so that you can pull the handle without the central locking working.

Another thread suggested you can get into the passenger door by taking the cover off but on inspection I can only see that the drivers one come off.  

 

Edited 19 April, 20206 yr by Alex-W

Thanks. Sounds like a PITA!

It's not terrible.

Ultimately most errors disappear from the dash/infotainment once you drive the car.  Oh and reset the tpms.

 

I was more annoyed about the access on the battery.  They could have used a top clamp and made it far easier.

I near shat myself when I disconnected mine to change the steering wheel. Every dash light was on...all cleared when I drove the car a few mile, restarted. Cleared the remaining codes in OBD11,  altho not necessary.

Its my experience that garages only have trouble removing the clamp, no problems with (not) refitting it.

 

It was only when I tried to remove the original battery from the Yeti (the newest Skoda I have had) that I realised the others with battery boxes had once had clamps fitted.

 

Doing the upgrade to retrofit a battery box to the Yeti instead of the cardboard joke they now fit I found the secret is to remove the front part of the plastic box before removing the clamp and battery, same in reverse for refitting.

 

Speed is not however an issue for the electrical system, you will get fault code city if the voltage is removed for a second, indeed the normal voltage drop while an older serviceable battery cranks the engine without any apparent strain is enough to throw them up.

On 18/04/2020 at 21:31, CheersDrive said:

I'm sure many of us are in this position but tomorrow I'm going to disconnect the negative terminal of my battery, as per my owner's manual instructions, as it's been 4 weeks since I've driven it.  I don't have a driveway so constant trickle charging isn't an option.  I have a one year old Octavia Estate 2.0 TSI 245 DSG with KESSY and the Amundsen.

 

What settings will I lose if I disconnect my battery?  The manual says it will affect power windows, time settings, and a couple of things I don't have.  Is that it, or can I expect to lose settings for driver personalisation, radio, phone, KESSY etc.?

 

thanks

 

Did you actually disconnect the battery? If you did what symptoms did you get?

I have just invested in a cheap smart charger (6A max) and am in two minds whether to connect it straight onto the battery or disconnect the battery first. The Battery is a Varta 59 AH 640 CCA EFB. I have painful memories of cooking an alternator on a Fiat 35 years ago but don't want to run into even more trouble if this is generated by disconnecting the battery before charging. At the moment the car is starting with no problems. I take it for a 15 minute drive every week.

Just charge the battery while connected.  

6 hours ago, Alex-W said:

Just charge the battery while connected.  

Same, no problem. I use a CTEK via the cigarette lighter socket.

9 hours ago, Robbydazzler said:

Did you actually disconnect the battery? If you did what symptoms did you get?

I have just invested in a cheap smart charger (6A max) and am in two minds whether to connect it straight onto the battery or disconnect the battery first. The Battery is a Varta 59 AH 640 CCA EFB. I have painful memories of cooking an alternator on a Fiat 35 years ago but don't want to run into even more trouble if this is generated by disconnecting the battery before charging. At the moment the car is starting with no problems. I take it for a 15 minute drive every week.

I changed my mind at the last minute.  Decided I want it working and ready to go in case of emergencies rather than rely on my partner's older car, so I will now use it say every fortnight to get the shopping in, but I'll make sure it gets at least 20 minutes run on the way. Hopefully that'll keep it alive. I like the sound of these solar chargers though.

I have had so much conflicting advice as to whether I could charge the battery  while it is still connected to the car that I posed the question to Seat customer service and got the following reply (my car is a Rapid clone)..............Thank you for your patience awaiting my response.

Whilst I appreciate the need to look at options to keep your battery charged in your SEAT Toledo whilst it isn’t in use, SEAT Customer Care are not technically trained, so I am only able to offer advice found in the owners' handbook.

If you do wish to use a charger and need to disconnect the battery then this will result in the media unit asking for the radio code, which due to security purposes can only be obtained by connecting your vehicle to special diagnostic equipment in one of our SEAT Retailers.

I apologise I am unable to confirm if you can charge the battery whilst i is still connected or may need to disconnect it to do so.

Thank you for taking the time to contact SEAT UK..................So helpful !!!!!!

17 minutes ago, Robbydazzler said:

If you do wish to use a charger and need to disconnect the battery then this will result in the media unit asking for the radio code, which due to security purposes can only be obtained by connecting your vehicle to special diagnostic equipment in one of our SEAT Retailers.

I find that hard to believe, for well over 10 years VAG radios have remembered the VIN of the vehicle they are first fitted to and don't ask for the PIN code unless they detect they are fitted to a vehicle with a different VIN.

 

I would ask on a Toledo owners forum rather than rely on very suspect advice from a self confessed non-technical person at SEAT UK.

I disconnected my battery to charge in the house, it was probably off for about 48hrs.

 

No settings were lost on the car, and it just threw up a few steering errors when I reconnected it, cleared by simply turning the steering to full lock at either side, and driving it for less than 500m.

I am also involved in another very similar post to this one so my apologies to anyone following both for the repeated comment below............. I bought a cheap as chips 3 stage intelligent charger with a max output of 6 amps. At present I have no confidence in it at all and hence I will take the disconnect the -ve terminal before connecting the charger to the battery method. I would imagine that I will get a lot of  warning lights when I reconnect the battery but they will disappear after I drive the car?  If I wasn't such a lazy sod I would have bothered to a have read of the Owners manual earlier. Having condescended to do this I got the following advise concerning battery charging......"Only in the case of "fast charge" : disconnect both battery connection cables (first the negative terminal then the positive" ....and......"When charging with a low current ( e.g. with a small battery charger), the battery does not normally have to be disconnected. The instructions of the battery charger manufacturer must be followed".....and...." Use a current equivalent to or lower than 10% of the battery capacity to fully charge the battery"....and...."Before "fast charging" the battery however both battery cables must be disconnected".....and.... "Fast-charging a battery is dangerous and requires a battery charger and special knowledge . Fast charges should be performed by an official technical service". ......and.... "The following functions will either be inoperative or will not work properly after disconnecting and reconnecting the battery.  Clock . Multifunction display data is deleted.". There is no mention of connecting the -ve terminal of the charger to an earth point rather than the battery terminal in the case where the battery is left connected to the car although it does advocate this when jump starting the car.

I plug a ctek mxs 7 into my Octavia cigarette lighter socket every 2 weeks to top the battery up to full. 3rd one was today as I topped it up when it looked like things might kick off.

 

The misses car which gets driven daily still (short journeys) , gets a similar charge but using battery leads every 2-3 weeks and is also fine.

 

Buy a charger you’re confident in and make life easy, or just don’t bother would be my advice. 
 

No point spending money on something you’re worried about using.