Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

Great stuff.  Did you notice what volts showed before you selected with the mode button? 

 

I'll just put you're not suppose to have it in the engine bay with bonnet closed before someone else does.  With the extension cable a plastic bag might cause condensation a medium sized plastic box with holes in the sides for the cables might be better.  The extension plug could have a 3-amp fuse in it and plugged into a suitably protected socket for outside use.

 

If for some reason it doesn't get to 'FUL' in that 28 hours or whatever time then charge again ASAP to get the battery fully charged.

 

Once you have got the battery fully charged dependant on how the battery has previously been affected and your car and battery use you shouldn't need to recharge the battery too regularly but better to recharge it a bit sooner than late say at 12.3v.

 

I'm not a fan of Amazon and I've never found them to be the lowest price when I've looked but better to have the charger than not.

 

Hopefully your battery will be on 'FUL' well before the 28 hours then you can fully use your car.  The battery is designed to be used with the car discharging and charging it so you don't need to leave a charger on it after it's fully charged.

 

All the best.

 

8 hours ago, nta16 said:

Once you have got the battery fully charged dependant on how the battery has previously been affected and your car and battery use you shouldn't need to recharge the battery too regularly but better to recharge it a bit sooner than late say at 12.3v.

It was sitting at around 12.5/12.4 so clearly not great. Just checked and its at 14.6v now so I think not long until we are at full.

 

I had a look around and taking into consideration the delivery speed I think £35 is reasonable.

 

I did use an outside socket and the bad was in a way that air could get in easily but no water.

I will keep it out the bonnet from now on, had not really thought about any danger like that.

 

Will update tonight after the drive home.

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

On 26/01/2023 at 17:03, WillRB said:

It was sitting at around 12.5/12.4

That might have been the reading after you'd selected the mode.

 

 

On 26/01/2023 at 17:03, WillRB said:

I had a look around and taking into consideration the delivery speed I think £35 is reasonable.

Yes fair enough, a little extra to save hassle and waiting, £30 eBay, often a day or two for delivery but not promised or guaranteed, worth looking at when not so much of a distress purchase item.

 

 

On 26/01/2023 at 17:03, WillRB said:

I will keep it out the bonnet from now on, had not really thought about any danger like that.

Listen if you've been sensible and I know of someone who used to do such more than once without incidence.

 

 

Car wise, you did follow the 'Owner's Manual' and Ring 'User Manual' and connect the charger negative to the car's body negative point.

 

I'm still hoping less than 28 hours for 'FUL' and for something perhaps after your first drive or two. 😄

 

Edited 8 February, 20233 yr by nta16
spelling

21 minutes ago, nta16 said:

That might have been the reading after you'd selected the mode.

it may have been but was fluctuating and settled at this figure.

 

22 minutes ago, nta16 said:

Car wise, you did follow the 'Owner's Manual' and Ring 'User Manual' and connect the charger negative to the car's body negative point.

yes threw it on the negative terminal of the battery. Only joking. looked at the owners manual and attached at the described location just above the battery at the back.

 

30 minutes ago, nta16 said:

Listen if you've been sensible and I know of someone who used to do such more than once without incidence.

 

I do try to be, was just being cautious with people coming up to the car and fiddling around with it. so tried to hide everything. 

exactly what is the issue apart from the obvious electrical short or fire

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

1 hour ago, WillRB said:

exactly what is the issue apart from the obvious electrical short or fire

Those really, the heat perhaps to the charger and battery, gassing from battery, sparks.  Have a look at this guide, though there seems to be some debate about some pulsing. - https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/know-how/car-battery-conditioners-and-trickle-chargers-everything-you-need-to-know/

 

As with lots of things - and I'm not referring to any safety matters now - there's a lot of information, advice, opinions and 'rules' some of which cannot be broken, others that might be able to be bent, some more than others.  Any company offering public advise will obviously have to allow for all readers with what they put.  Some will have a commercial concern to the subject so might have more of a slant to a certain direction.

 

Is it done yet?  🤣

 

19 minutes ago, nta16 said:

Is it done yet?  🤣

Yes!!! just finished so pretty much spot on 24 hours with the 6A one. very happy now!!!

 

20 minutes ago, nta16 said:

Those really, the heat perhaps to the charger and battery, gassing from battery, sparks.  Have a look at this guide, though there seems to be some debate about some pulsing. - https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/know-how/car-battery-conditioners-and-trickle-chargers-everything-you-need-to-know/

 

As with lots of things - and I'm not referring to any safety matters now - there's a lot of information, advice, opinions and 'rules' some of which cannot be broken, others that might be able to be bent, some more than others.  Any company offering public advise will obviously have to allow for all readers with what they put.  Some will have a commercial concern to the subject so might have more of a slant to a certain direction.

Very interesting read, but yeah it does make sense, didn't know about the gasses being released.

18 minutes ago, WillRB said:

Very interesting read, but yeah it does make sense, didn't know about the gasses being released.

I release more dangerous gasses (quantity)  They are fairly well sealed for life, and the days of boiling batterys is rare (not heard of anything recently)

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

17 hours ago, WillRB said:

Yes!!! just finished so pretty much spot on 24 hours with the 6A one. very happy now!!!

Great, well done.  For no good reason I later thought it might stretch to 24 hours, don't let it get that low again as that has put a bit of a dent in it that will stay but now you're aware of the situation so can keep on top of it more.   Let us know how the car is after a couple of drives.

 

 

17 hours ago, WillRB said:

Very interesting read, but yeah it does make sense, didn't know about the gasses being released.

Yeah I was giving the answer, as I often do, as a generality so that when you deal with another vehicle battery charging you don't only think of it in the term of this battery in this car.  I'm so used to sealed batteries until I was reminded I forgot to check the electrolyte level on an old battery, one cell was 'dry' so I wasn't too surprised when it became my second failure to resuscitate.

 

As you have a Yuasa battery if you want to here's their generally H&S. - https://www.yuasa.co.uk/info/technical/health-safety/

 

On 27/01/2023 at 13:14, nta16 said:

Great, well done.  For no good reason I later thought it might stretch to 24 hours, don't let it get that low again as that has put a bit of a dent in it that will stay but now you're aware of the situation so can keep on top of it more.   Let us know how the car is after a couple of drives.

Hi sorry for the late reply, had quite a busy weekend. The car is perfect. I have had no warnings pop up or any errors so can't complain. I think I should be able to charge the car every Saturday at work for about 8 hours which should be enough to counter a week of draining it especially if if the weather warms up and I do lots of longer drives.

 

On 27/01/2023 at 13:14, nta16 said:

Yeah I was giving the answer, as I often do, as a generality so that when you deal with another vehicle battery charging you don't only think of it in the term of this battery in this car.  I'm so used to sealed batteries until I was reminded I forgot to check the electrolyte level on an old battery, one cell was 'dry' so I wasn't too surprised when it became my second failure to resuscitate.

 

As you have a Yuasa battery if you want to here's their generally H&S. - https://www.yuasa.co.uk/info/technical/health-safety/

This is really good to know, thanks!

 

Going back to @nta16and @varooommentioned about a battery change, I found this video and left me with no questions: How To Replace and ADAPT a VW or Audi Battery

As I said i'm not ready to upgrade or change the battery yet but unless you think otherwise this video is quite good?

Would you say the OBDeleven device he used was good and a good investment?

Edited 29 January, 20233 yr by WillRB

I think I only mentioned charging, getting a jump pack if you're unsure of the health, and last was to possibly check battery is adapted in correctly if possible.

 

Seems like the weekend top at work is your best bet, and it sounds like it's behaving much better now, so you shouldn't worry too much.

 

Best of luck for the future.

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

On 29/01/2023 at 16:22, WillRB said:

the car every Saturday at work for about 8 hours

Hopefully  you shouldn't need to top up the battery every weekend but it does depend on your driving and battery electric 

consumption and how much the battery has already had the a*rse kicked out of it.

 

 

On 29/01/2023 at 16:22, WillRB said:

I found this video

I've put a hyperlink to one of his videos before, he's very good considering he's from USA which often seems to be on a different planet to the rest of us on planet Earth but ignore the Optima battery and bear in mind if you change to an AGM battery VW call it "Fleece" for 'coding'. 

 

With my wife's 2015 Fabia Mk3 the only thing that needed resetting/synchronising after battery disconnect was the time of day clock but I've no idea about later cars.

 

I've no idea about OBDEleven or VCDS but not being into maths or computer programing I find what I've seen of the VCDS to be very "legacy" historic type of ugly system presentation but I don't know it might be much better for overall more in depth use and more accurate in programing than others but just for telling the VW computers you've changed the battery so as not to upset them or need to give a sacrificial offering I don't know.  The German marques particularly seem to love to make things very awkward so you are under their command, which other systems are allowed to carry out the menial task of battery replacement 'coding' I've not investigated but other systems can do it.

 

I've not  - now be sitting down for this and have a hanky to dab your eyes - got a "smart" phone or devices (I know I'm a caveman, but the mobile phones of the 1980s ****ed me off enough with their lack of reception that we're been back to for a while now) so I've no idea of the details but I've seen others mention that VCDS Lite(?) does a lot and you can have it on a "smart" (awwl, the irony) phone for reasonable cost.

 

You'd get better information and a much less biased view than mine from going to, and perhaps posting in, the following. -  https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/23-diagnostics-amp-vcds/

 

I usually agree with varooom but not about getting a jump pack, to me that's like as some say "preparing to failing", coming from the old farts with old over-priced cars called "classic" that some have  a car full of 'just-in-case' spare parts I'm all for prevention over cure, don't let your battery get that bad, charge or change before then.

 

See how you feel after the next proper drive or two.

 

Good luck.

 

Edited 8 February, 20233 yr by nta16
spelling

On 29/01/2023 at 21:13, nta16 said:

Hopefully  you shouldn't need to top up the battery every weekend but it does depend on your driving and battery electric 

consumption and how much the battery has already had the a*rse kicked out of it.

I guess there is no harm in doing so. only takes about 2 minuets to set up anyway.

 

On 29/01/2023 at 21:13, nta16 said:

I've put a hyperlink to one of his videos before, he's very good considering he's from USA which often seems to be on a different planet to the rest of us on planet Earth but ignore the Optima battery and bear in mind if you change to an AGM battery VW call it "Fleece" for 'coding'. 

yes the vid was good which is nice. 

 

On 29/01/2023 at 21:13, nta16 said:

I've not  - now be sitting down for this and have a hanky to dab your eyes - got one a "smart" phone or devices (I know I'm a caveman, but the mobile phones of the 1980s ****ed me off enough with their lack of reception that we're been back to for a while now) so I've no idea of the details but I've seen others mention that VCDS Lite(?) does a lot and you can have it on a "smart" (awwl, the irony) phone for reasonable cost.

This is so funny hahaha, but yeah, I know there are loads of very very very cheap OBD readers that work of an advert filled app. I guess they can be useful to get some basic stats from your car to show and maybe to give you fault codes but that's about it.

 

On 29/01/2023 at 21:13, nta16 said:

I usually agree with varooom but not about getting a jump pack, to me that's like as some say "preparing to failing", coming from the old farts with old over-priced cars called "classic" that some have  a car full of 'just-in-case' spare parts I'm all for prevention over cure, don't let your battery get that bad, charge or change before then.

That's what I am trying to aim for, charged it this pervious Saturday and it took about 4/5 hours to top up so plenty of time. 

 

Anyway thanks @nta16 @varooom @ords for all the help, really appreciated! 

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

No harm in topping up the battery each weekend if required, and if it takes 4-5 hours then it was needed.  I've found some "smart" chargers can more fully charge than others well at least on a battery that is very, very low (or "dead" to many).  General advice seems to be to not let the battery get below 12.3V (at the battery posts a few hours after parked up and allow for variance if using a very cheap multimeter) though Banner Batteries put it at 12.5V.

 

If the charger goes into maintain / float after full you don't need to worry about it and you might as well leave it connected for as long as possible or reasonable.

 

Be interesting to see how many more years you get out of the battery (you can never fully recover early injury(ies)), VWSkoda want us to renew at 5 years, but then many won't even get that far.

 

Good luck and all the best.

 

On 08/02/2023 at 14:57, nta16 said:

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

No harm in topping up the battery each weekend if required, and if it takes 4-5 hours then it was needed.  I've found some "smart" chargers can more fully charge than others well at least on a battery that is very, very low (or "dead" to many).  General advice seems to be to not let the battery get below 12.3V (at the battery posts a few hours after parked up and allow for variance if using a very cheap multimeter) though Banner Batteries put it at 12.5V.

 

If the charger goes into maintain / float after full you don't need to worry about it and you might as well leave it connected for as long as possible or reasonable.

 

Be interesting to see how many more years you get out of the battery (you can never fully recover early injury(ies)), VWSkoda want us to renew at 5 years, but then many won't even get that far.

 

Good luck and all the best.

 

Just update for anyone curious. 

 

I've had no issues with my battery since, everything works. and a quick top up every week or two does the job. I past my 6A charger to a friend and got myself the 4A, charging takes about 4-6 hours regardless of the duration between charges if it was a week or 2. Even in more colder weather now it's been faultless.

 

I had to revive a car last week which was dead of a friend, as the charger is not super powerful it did take about 10 min of charging to be able to have enough power to disarm and unlock the car and turn the alarm off which was quite embarrassing. after this I left the car to charge over night at all was good in the morning.

 

links for anyone interested

 

4A: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ring-Automotive-RSC806-Battery-Charger/dp/B082VBV2Z9/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=ring%2Bcar%2Bcharger&qid=1678061464&sprefix=ring%2Bcar%2Bch%2Caps%2C101&sr=8-3&th=1

 

6A: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ring-Automotive-RSC806-Battery-Charger/dp/B082VB9H19/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=ring%2Bcar%2Bcharger&qid=1678061464&sprefix=ring%2Bcar%2Bch%2Caps%2C101&sr=8-3&th=1

 

8A:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ring-Automotive-RSC806-Battery-Charger/dp/B087ZGVK6L/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=ring%2Bcar%2Bcharger&qid=1678061464&sprefix=ring%2Bcar%2Bch%2Caps%2C101&sr=8-3&th=1

 

As other people have said the 4A is good enough and will be best for the long term health of your battery. 

Did your original electrical/electronic issues go away after installing the new battery ?

My MY2019 VRS245 has similar "very intermittent" issues - mostly as seen on Amundsen MIB2 unit, the rest of the car works fine.

 

When things are going wrong, the MIB2 unit has a grey backround (intead of a colourful/red one exampe the Radio stations)

No start/stop, no park assist or rear view camera, MIB2 will soft restart, disconnect phone bluetooth, "remember your phone" and various function not available messages.

This will go on in a loop for a while & it will recover at some point.
It will normally also recover if engine switched off & restarted.

I can't say if its temperature, wet weather or battery related, its seems quite random.

 

@Moorwen you might be better starting a new thread of your own, certainly check the state of charge of the battery (a full battery is about 12.7V) and check the battery and main body earth connectors are all secure.

 

If the car battery is in a low state of charge you might need to use an appropriate battery charger and maintainer to fully recharge the battery as just driving the car as you usually do might not be enough to fully recharge the battery.

 

The fault might also be other, plugging in a scan tool would help to see what it shows, a battery in a low state of charge can throw up all sorts of error codes and warnings and so can bad connections or other faults.

 

Checking the connections to the car battery and body earth are secure is quick, easy and free and if the battery state of charge is low fully charging the car battery will do no harm and may help.

 

Edited 17 March, 20233 yr by nta16
missing word

15 hours ago, Moorwen said:

Did your original electrical/electronic issues go away after installing the new battery ?

My MY2019 VRS245 has similar "very intermittent" issues - mostly as seen on Amundsen MIB2 unit, the rest of the car works fine.

 

When things are going wrong, the MIB2 unit has a grey backround (intead of a colourful/red one exampe the Radio stations)

No start/stop, no park assist or rear view camera, MIB2 will soft restart, disconnect phone bluetooth, "remember your phone" and various function not available messages.

This will go on in a loop for a while & it will recover at some point.
It will normally also recover if engine switched off & restarted.

I can't say if its temperature, wet weather or battery related, its seems quite random.

 

Had the exact same issues as you described pretty much, invest in a charger and see if the problems go away before committing to a new battery as I managed to avoid this with the charger.