I was advised at my last service that my battery was only holding 59% charge, sometimes having to crank the engine for 10-15 seconds before it would start. It is the original Varta battery so has done well.

 

Q - Does a new battery (AGM) need to be programmed to the car with VCDS or is there another method than can be used ?

 

Yes, coding is required. Technically you're coding the car to the new battery though. Nothing in a battery to put information into.

 

If you fitted another AGM battery of the same or very similar Ah capacity, the car will sort itself out soon enough though.

Edited 19 September, 20232 yr by Breezy_Pete

Is it continually  cranking at normal speed during those 10-15 seconds or slowing down?  Any battery warning messages?  In normal operation the battery will only be charged to no more than 80%.

1 hour ago, ords said:

Is it continually  cranking at normal speed during those 10-15 seconds or slowing down?  Any battery warning messages?  In normal operation the battery will only be charged to no more than 80%.

The speed of the cranking does slow after 10seconds.

 

As the use of the car has changed over the last 3 years from being used daily (10-13k a year) to once/twice a week (4-5k a year), don’t fancy going away for 16days and not being able to start it.

 

I was contemplating a like for like swap, 70Ah AGM from either Bosch, Varta, Lucas etc.

51 minutes ago, Led VRS said:

The speed of the cranking does slow after 10seconds.

 

As the use of the car has changed over the last 3 years from being used daily (10-13k a year) to once/twice a week (4-5k a year), don’t fancy going away for 16days and not being able to start it.

 

I was contemplating a like for like swap, 70Ah AGM from either Bosch, Varta, Lucas etc.

I'm still on the original battery, also Varta. I've dropped from 20k a year to about 1500 miles a year. If I do not need to use the car, I'll start it up after 4-6 weeks. Usually starts on the button, but sometimes cranks for up to 5 seconds. 

 

i don't have power in my garage, so charging is out of the question.

I believe my battery is original, never issues starting it, but the start/stop rarely works now, and my cruise control generally shows the speedo with an exclamation mark when starting after being sat for a day or more (which i've hopefully worked out correctly is the battery voltage dropping slightly too low for its liking). The car does ~10k per year, mostly >25 mile journeys.

 

After looking up the cost of a new one, I'm going to make this one last as long as it can!

Edited 19 September, 20232 yr by micro

My battery on my petrol gave me no warning signs at all that it was about to go, I just came out of work one day and found it wouldn't even crank. Ironically it was similar time of year, just as colder weather starts to drift in. I, like you, only do 5-6k a year.

 

Coding, yes, from what I understand (and I'm often wrong) it's because the cars 'smart charge' and the car 'learns' various things about the battery. Even the Skoda dealership recommended coding.