Battery change

[zenith707]

In the recent months I've barely been driving more than 10-20 miles per journey, averaging maybe 5, but even on the shorter runs I'm ensuring I drive a few extra miles so tick the battery over.

 

But it took an extra few seconds to start this afternoon. Battery is reading between 11-11.9v with engine off and 12v when running, and between 12-13v when driving (although not sure of the accuracy of that). 

 

A quick google tells me I'm lucky to get it started without fuss and so I think a battery replacement is probably wise. It's a 66 plate 2.0tdi so battery likely 4 - 4.5 years old. 

 

I don't fancy fitting myself as I'm of the understanding something needs to be coded for the stop/start system to work properly? All of my previous cars have been without this so it's new to me. 

 

Had a look online and Halfords seems the most reasonable with mobile fitting available as well.

 

Has anyone had this 096AGM fitted in their Octavia without issue? https://www.halfords.com/motoring/batteries/car-batteries/halfords--096agm-start%2Fstop-agm-12v-car-battery-5-year-guarantee-548638.html

 

Anyone who's had to replace their battery: what are the things you need to reset yourself after fitting?

[ords]

Do some searching on this site. There are so many threads. Some ppl advise to tell the car its got a new battery, others say it's not needed.

[ajw1100]

Spooky, I had the same 096AGM fitted today at Halfords. Changing is quite straightforward just a spanner job. The fun came after fitting as the battery needed coding into the car, seems if not coded the car thinks it still has the old dodgy one.

Oh, by the way the mobile fitting that they advertise does not include the time it is fitted which varies between £3.50 to about £15 I think in the evening. I thought about a morning fitting but that was £7.50 and as their branch was only a 10 min drive away took the car to them.

Okay, the battery was fitted and coded in, the dash lit up like it was a Christmas tree, all warnings lit, chap kept pushing buttons on his coding tool and cleared a few but some still remained. Did it again and said "All sorted" I got in and saw some errors still showing, back he came and tried again, no change. Another guy comes over to help him. "Try this, clear the faults then turn the steering full lock both ways, even if some faults are still showing, then remove the key" Then I got in and started the car and no faults appeared, so off I drove. Got home still fault free.

The guy said he had no idea why the steering turning  lock to lock seemed to work but he had done it on other VAG cars with the same problem and it worked.

 

I had asked my Skoda dealer to fit an AGM battery but when I checked they had fitted an Economy EFB one so that one will be going back, they had kindly matched the Halfords price of £184 fitted but fitted a lesser class of battery with only a 2 year warranty, Seems Skoda do not supply an AGM so that was why they fitted the EFB. I asked how much would the battery they had fitted would cost without the price match, £219.00 fitted was the reply! You do the sums..........

[zenith707]

1 hour ago, ajw1100 said:

Spooky, I had the same 096AGM fitted today at Halfords. Changing is quite straightforward just a spanner job. The fun came after fitting as the battery needed coding into the car, seems if not coded the car thinks it still has the old dodgy one.

Oh, by the way the mobile fitting that they advertise does not include the time it is fitted which varies between £3.50 to about £15 I think in the evening. I thought about a morning fitting but that was £7.50 and as their branch was only a 10 min drive away took the car to them.

Okay, the battery was fitted and coded in, the dash lit up like it was a Christmas tree, all warnings lit, chap kept pushing buttons on his coding tool and cleared a few but some still remained. Did it again and said "All sorted" I got in and saw some errors still showing, back he came and tried again, no change. Another guy comes over to help him. "Try this, clear the faults then turn the steering full lock both ways, even if some faults are still showing, then remove the key" Then I got in and started the car and no faults appeared, so off I drove. Got home still fault free.

The guy said he had no idea why the steering turning  lock to lock seemed to work but he had done it on other VAG cars with the same problem and it worked.

 

I had asked my Skoda dealer to fit an AGM battery but when I checked they had fitted an Economy EFB one so that one will be going back, they had kindly matched the Halfords price of £184 fitted but fitted a lesser class of battery with only a 2 year warranty, Seems Skoda do not supply an AGM so that was why they fitted the EFB. I asked how much would the battery they had fitted would cost without the price match, £219.00 fitted was the reply! You do the sums..........

Nothing is ever straightforward is it... 

 

If I book this i hope they send out someone who knows what they're doing ...

[Breezy_Pete]

If they'd just driven a lap of the car park all those warnings would've gone out on their own, without all the faff.

[Westbury63]

2 hours ago, Wino said:

If they'd just driven a lap of the car park all those warnings would've gone out on their own, without all the faff.

Great advice. Systems just need to reset themselves and all will be well.

[StuartB]

I had the very same battery fitted at a Halfords Autocentre a couple of months ago and it wasn't a good experience. First off, they fitted a different battery with a lesser rating and warranty instead of this one with the 5 year warranty. They didn't tell me they had done this, but I made a point of checking under the bonnet before leaving the premises and found out. When I complained about this, I also asked about coding the new battery to the car and found that they failed to do this, despite this being a part of their 'standard' installation service - probably because the lad who fitted it was new in the job and didn't know how. As I replacing a non-AGM battery with an AGM, I was keen to get this done to avoid any issues with battery charging.  

 

They did eventually sort this out and gave me a discount on the job, but it didn't give me any confidence in their service capability.

[zenith707]

4 hours ago, StuartB said:

I had the very same battery fitted at a Halfords Autocentre a couple of months ago and it wasn't a good experience. First off, they fitted a different battery with a lesser rating and warranty instead of this one with the 5 year warranty. They didn't tell me they had done this, but I made a point of checking under the bonnet before leaving the premises and found out. When I complained about this, I also asked about coding the new battery to the car and found that they failed to do this, despite this being a part of their 'standard' installation service - probably because the lad who fitted it was new in the job and didn't know how. As I replacing a non-AGM battery with an AGM, I was keen to get this done to avoid any issues with battery charging.  

 

They did eventually sort this out and gave me a discount on the job, but it didn't give me any confidence in their service capability.

Well I haven't ordered yet, going to next week at some point. Hopefully that won't be the case as it'll be a mobile fitting. 

[ScoutCJB]

On 28/01/2021 at 08:13, Wino said:

If they'd just driven a lap of the car park all those warnings would've gone out on their own, without all the faff.

 

Yup - Thats standard protocol if you've had a flat battery or swapped it.

 

16 hours ago, zenith707 said:

Well I haven't ordered yet, going to next week at some point. Hopefully that won't be the case as it'll be a mobile fitting. 

 

I swapped my battery like for like (didnt re code anything) and in the year or so of ownership before selling I didnt have any issues.

[ahenners]

096AGM is a perfect replacement, likely an upgrade if anything as most seem to have an EFB from factory. That Halfords is allegedly a rebranded Yuasa which is a great battery brand. I would always advocate coding as that is what "should" be done. Halfords may be able to code, I know AA were able to when they came out to me and replaced mine.

[Michael56]

On 27/01/2021 at 16:05, zenith707 said:

In the recent months I've barely been driving more than 10-20 miles per journey, averaging maybe 5, but even on the shorter runs I'm ensuring I drive a few extra miles so tick the battery over.

 

But it took an extra few seconds to start this afternoon. Battery is reading between 11-11.9v with engine off and 12v when running, and between 12-13v when driving (although not sure of the accuracy of that). 

 

A quick google tells me I'm lucky to get it started without fuss and so I think a battery replacement is probably wise. It's a 66 plate 2.0tdi so battery likely 4 - 4.5 years old. 

 

I don't fancy fitting myself as I'm of the understanding something needs to be coded for the stop/start system to work properly? All of my previous cars have been without this so it's new to me. 

 

Had a look online and Halfords seems the most reasonable with mobile fitting available as well.

 

Has anyone had this 096AGM fitted in their Octavia without issue? https://www.halfords.com/motoring/batteries/car-batteries/halfords--096agm-start%2Fstop-agm-12v-car-battery-5-year-guarantee-548638.html

 

Anyone who's had to replace their battery: what are the things you need to reset yourself after fitting?

Hello Zenith 707,  last year (January 2020)  i purchased an Octavia mk3 1.4 tsi combi (2014) and soon afterwards the stop/start system stopped working with a red warning light and a message on screen staying on etc. I had a look at the battery (an original Moll EFB 59Ah) with a 2014 manufacture date, so it was obviously expiring. I did try manually charging it up but it didn't make any difference, problem remained. I purchased online a Halfords 096 AGM 70Ah as recomended by them as a replacement when i input my car reg. no. I paid them to fit it in their store carpark (i've always fitted batteries myself) but recent modern cars with stop/start charging technology should have new batteries registered in with a handheld battery registering tool (OBD2 scanning tool). Now when the Halfords man did mine, he removed the old EFB then put in the new AGM then sat in drivers seat, plugged in his registering gadget under the dash and on the screen of this tool he switched the battery chemistry type EFB to AGM which tells the onboard charging system the correct chemistry type of battery and from there onto the Registering new battery screen and press the go button. This erases the charging history values it's compiled from the old run-down battery and tells it a new battery has been installed to start afresh. Now this Halford's registering scanner can't input the uprated capacity of the new battery ie. 59Ah to 70Ah. They are only good for registering like-for-like ie. same size/capacity. Halford's will say it doesn't matter and some auto-techs one can find online will say similar, while others will say it does matter. One needs to put this question in the google search box to try and find answers. I find my battery doesn't get charged up full enough, when i've used a volt meter across the terminals about 2 days after a 1 hour engine run, driving to the supermarket click&collect leave engine running and coming home again, i find 12.25/12.3v eng. not started only opening the doors mirrors pop out amount of power used. Also the SOC % figure where the car clocks is will show 60 maybe 70%. I've never seen it higher than 80% , this i've read from Skoda/VW forums. I think the car charging system thinks it's got a new 59Ah to charge not a 70Ah, maybe the difference isn't large enough to matter but i would still like it to be correct. I know a professional VCDS scanner can get into the car system to make these adjustments. I've been looking online for an affordable OBD2 scanner to buy for home use but have not found one yet that can do the necessary battery adjustments other than just new registration. Sorry this reply is long winded, i feel like it's turned into a book ! I would love to hear any replies to this book.

[Michael56]

Forgot to mention in my post above i mostly drive with the stop/start switched off otherwise the battery ends up more flat, particulary in London stop/starting all the time.

The website below gives some reading into this subject.

 

 

https://stevesorensenmechanical.com.au/blog/battery-registration-and-programing/

 

[classic]

My understanding is that a higher ah battery means it has more storage capacity. It is still a 12 volt battery and the battery management system on the car will use voltage as the measure for state of charge. On more old school cars this job was done very simply and successfully by the voltage regulator. 
Fitting a 70ah in place of a 59ah means your battery could keep cranking the engine for longer and/or more often before needing to be recharged.

With stop start it can do more frequent restarts before the system disables the stop start to keep the battery at sufficient charge.

If the car is seeing your battery at 60,70%, and never goes above 80% that is probably what it is happily maintaining it at, and would be the same regardless of the ah of the battery. This will enable it to have the ability to use the alternator to put charge into the battery when slowing down or on overrun down an incline. This is marketed as regenerative braking in the brochure. If you drove down the Gottard Pass in Switzerland then checked the state of charge it would probably be 95%.

In addition, I may be wrong, (I don’t have vcds but have looked into getting it and researched what it can do), but I don’t think even vcds gives the option to change the ah of the fitted battery.

I believe if coding the battery using vcds it would only ask for the new manufacturer, part number and serial number.

Edited 30 January, 2021 by classic

[Kenny R]

It is normal for the battery to only be charged to 80% to allow some capacity for the alternator to dump energy during overrun.

[PetrolDave]

1 hour ago, classic said:

In addition, I may be wrong, (I don’t have vcds but have looked into getting it and researched what it can do), but I don’t think even vcds gives the option to change the ah of the fitted battery.

You're wrong there, battery Ah is one of the parameters that can be set/changed in the BMS.

[Michael56]

Hello AJW100,

what other members had said about driving up the road normal speed turning left and right around corners is correct after new battery registration. This will clear any stop/start error messages/lights etc. The only warning message/light that probably will remain is for the tyre pressures, just press the car button on the Infotainment screen and look for the Tyre Pressure Monitoring system, it will ask you if the pressures are correct, just press the set button to clear the warning msg. Other similar Skoda's will have maybe more things fitted to the car more warning messages/lights that i don't have that may need to be reset by the driver through the Infotainment screen.

Before a battery is disconected in the engine compartment it's a good idea to connect a back-up 12v battery somewhere to continue the supply in order to retain the window convenience one-touch open/close memories and whatever other convenience memory stuff is in the car. I used the cigar lighter socket that's in the boot which stays live when the engine is off to plug in a 12v battery. This is purely only to keep the car convenience system memories inplace whilst old battery is disconected and new battery fitted in and connected up again, then un-plug back-up battery. One can get a battery saver pack which has a plug that fits into the OBD socket under the dash, it does the same thing keeping the memories powered up.

If no back-up battery is used the convenience system can get lost (windows/sunroof etc) not permanently just temporarily until driver resets it all again.      When trying to reset the convenience one-touch opening/closing windows, one has to reset each window, sometimes the one-touch can fail to one or more windows. The windows will still go up/down but you got to keep your finger on the button, somehow the one-touch coding gets lost/corrupted/scrambled, where it goes i don't know. might need to be coded in again using a scanning/diagostic tool or some other way of putting it right again.   Best thing i know is to use a back-up battery and not risk getting any memory problems. How to reset the one-touch windows can be found in other members posts elsewhere in this forum.

[ords]

4 hours ago, Michael56 said:

Hello AJW100,

what other members had said about driving up the road normal speed turning left and right around corners is correct after new battery registration. This will clear any stop/start error messages/lights etc. The only warning message/light that probably will remain is for the tyre pressures, just press the car button on the Infotainment screen and look for the Tyre Pressure Monitoring system, it will ask you if the pressures are correct, just press the set button to clear the warning msg. Other similar Skoda's will have maybe more things fitted to the car more warning messages/lights that i don't have that may need to be reset by the driver through the Infotainment screen.

Before a battery is disconected in the engine compartment it's a good idea to connect a back-up 12v battery somewhere to continue the supply in order to retain the window convenience one-touch open/close memories and whatever other convenience memory stuff is in the car. I used the cigar lighter socket that's in the boot which stays live when the engine is off to plug in a 12v battery. This is purely only to keep the car convenience system memories inplace whilst old battery is disconected and new battery fitted in and connected up again, then un-plug back-up battery. One can get a battery saver pack which has a plug that fits into the OBD socket under the dash, it does the same thing keeping the memories powered up.

If no back-up battery is used the convenience system can get lost (windows/sunroof etc) not permanently just temporarily until driver resets it all again.      When trying to reset the convenience one-touch opening/closing windows, one has to reset each window, sometimes the one-touch can fail to one or more windows. The windows will still go up/down but you got to keep your finger on the button, somehow the one-touch coding gets lost/corrupted/scrambled, where it goes i don't know. might need to be coded in again using a scanning/diagostic tool or some other way of putting it right again.   Best thing i know is to use a back-up battery and not risk getting any memory problems. How to reset the one-touch windows can be found in other members posts elsewhere in this forum.

It tells you in the manual how to reset the one touch operation. No coding needed.