I was taken into hospital at the end of August and have only just returned home after major open heart surgery (not much fun I can assure you). I'm not allowed to drive until 27th December, 6 weeks after surgery.

 

This means my Kamiq Monte Carlo 1.5 TSI has sat unused in the garage for over 3 months now, will be 4 months before I can go out in it again.

 

I know cars these days with stop/start have heavier duty batteries, and I'm remembering my 5 year old Yeti started without any problems after sitting for 3 months during lockdown a few years back.

 

I've been out to the garage and the keyfob still unlocked it and the dash lit up with the usual display (needed to get my coat and fleece off the back seat, it was summer when I went into hospital!).

 

Should it start OK? Reluctant to try it now as that will take juice out of the battery when I can't drive it anywhere to recharge it.

 

Hello Simon, I hope you are recovering well from your operation.

4 months sitting idle not ideal for battery life, especially as temperatures are dropping.

Are you able to borrow a charger from anywhere? Otherwise, worth considering purchasing a reasonable smart charger - occasional use of one can usefully extend battery life.  

Edited 5 December, 20241 yr by Warrior193
Greeting

Get it on a smart charger now, it'll then be ok when you can drive. It's just a case of opening the bonnet and connecting up. Use the earth point by the battery (on the Kamiq it's above battery on the firewall/wing area) for the negative, positive straight to the positive battery post.

Hope the recovery is going well, take care.

Thankyou for your replies. I did buy a smart charger back when we had the lockdowns but found I didn't need it for the Yeti I had at the time. It will still be in a box in the garage somewhere. At least with the guidance above I know where to connect it. Should I connect the earth connection first?

 

No heavy lifting or pushing allowed at the moment, so I'll have to get someone to help me as the car will need pushing forward partly out of the garage before the passenger side door can be opened far enough to pull the bonnet release. I know thats a safety feature but its a pain in the wotsits when you keep the car in a small garage!

 

Cheers,

 

 

Good morning Simon, connection order of charger clamps is not important - but ensure negative clamp is to the flat tag on the firewall bulkhead - not the battery terminal, make sure the connection is good by scraping the clamp against the tag a little.

Absolutely no harm in starting the engine, rather than pushing, to move the vehicle back a bit.

Agreed, the positioning of the hood release on RHD vehicles is a serious fail by VAG.  

Good advice above, if it'll start then don't get pushing it, no harm will be done.

Yes same problem I have, can't get the bonnet up when I'm parked in the garage, my last car, a SEAT was the same, needed the passenger door open to release.

If your Kamiq is like mine, left a few days without use (in colder weather) it may sound a little slow to turn over but does burst into life easily. I've checked my battery, it has said it's fine, just needs a charge or more use to get it charged.

I use one of these for checking, below link. Up until earlier this year, now sold, I had an MX-5 laid up during winter, handy to have battery meters, chargers etc.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/372436652444?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=vrAwd99DT4i&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=PjrX0wOKTfG&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

There is the option of charging through the 12 volt socket, with a suitable adaptor, if unable to open the hood for access to the battery.

Completely unnecessary, a battery in decent condition will easily start a car in the winter after not having been used for a while.  I work 4 on and 4 off and even when it’s minus 3 my car (and all my previous cars) have started with no issues after 4 days without use.

 

A few years ago I had an Audi A3 which was 3 years old, and it still started with no issues in the winter after having been sat unused for nearly 4 months.  It was a particularly cold winter btw.

 

If your battery is half decent you don’t need fancy chargers or meters etc……but it’s your money I suppose🤷🏻‍♂️
 

Things have moved on since the 70s and 80s folks😂

Edited 6 December, 20241 yr by carefree

In the 70's and 80's there was zero parasitic current draw when a vehicles ignition key was removed and the doors closed, ZERO! You could leave a car as long as a motor factor would leave an unsold battery on the shelf 6 months to a year.

 

A "few" years ago with your A3, (how many years was a few?) things had changed as you said, the radio and instrument panels were drawing current to maintain the time settings, the intruder alarm would have been active all that time also powering the untrasonic sensors, the central locking module would have had the RF recieving module powered up waiting to recieve a signal from the keyfob.

 

Todays vehicles draw 200ma plus for up to 20 minutes with Canbus modules talking to each other before hopefully finally going to sleep, you are lucky if the parasitic drain is less than 40ma, they are getting worse especially the keyless entry ones, even my towing relay draws 15ma a lot less than the 35ma of the previous ones but significant enough to halve the autonomy of my battery.

 

You only have to watch people collecting their cars from airport car parks after a fortnights holiday to see just how many have to be jump started, the operators have multiple jump starting carts moving around the lot 24/7.

 

If I go away for more than a week I keep a spare charged battery in the vehicle, I may not need it for a month but I am not taking any chances, the aftermarket radio alone is capable of keeping the whole Can network and all the controllers awake if it doesn't sign off, indeed any of the controllers could, in that case the battery would be flat in days.

 

Your vehicle restarting after a 4 day shift pattern does not mean you can say that the OP is taking completely unnecessary precautions when his vehicle will be standing unused for 4 months!

We leave ours for around 2 months at a time as we live over half the year in France. Always starts without issue on our return.

Edited 7 December, 20241 yr by sussamb

@sussamb what time of year is that and in what sort of ambient temperatures? 

Various. Just got back this week after 2 months away.

The OP,s car has sat unused for 3 months not 2, garaged. 

 

@carefree  Things have moved on in 5 years, and 10 -20 years, Skoda fit as cheap batteries as they can get away with.

Skoda is not Audi which matters also. 

Edited 7 December, 20241 yr by Ootohere

The problem is that these modern vehicles start so easily in 1/4 turn that we never get to feel a battery ageing through slower cranking, a battery with very little reserve capacity will start the vehicle as good as when it was new but the autonomy (dont know the correct term in English) can drop from the 2 months of sussamb to 2 days for a car used each and every day without the owner knowing.

 

I know that my battery has years of starting life left for my driving regime, I also know it lost capacity through leaving the sidelights on overnight once as witnessed by my electronic load tester, I doubt that it would last 2 months on standby but its possible (I have a switch to disconnect the voracious towing relay) equally it may not last 2 weeks, the reason I load a spare battery if leaving it unused away from home for a long period, which doesn't really happen these days.

 

The OP is being very wise in his precautions and he should not be influenced by those who probably have stronger batteries and who extrapolate 4 months from 2 months or 4 days.

 

Most of our vehicles have smaller batteries fitted than the battery tray can accommodate, an 027 instead of an 096 for instance, when replacing a battery it costs very little more to go up to the larger size which will gain autonomy and perhaps extend the life.

Stick a Halfords battery charger on it, start it up and get it tested at your local garage.

 

It should be alright, but as JR says, stuff has moved on now. Our 2011 A3 was left for 3 months on the drive and did another 3 years on that battery, but that was a nice Bosch battery and the car had relatively few electronic things going on. My 2020 vRS had a perfectly healthy battery, until I left the doors open when deep cleaning it for a day, and was left with a virtually dead battery.

 

Best suggestion is to trickle charge it, fire it up and see. 

On 05/12/2024 at 14:11, RallySimon said:

Should it start OK? Reluctant to try it now as that will take juice out of the battery when I can't drive it anywhere to recharge it.

 

You will not need to drive it, leaving it idling for 15 minutes will fully recharge it even if it was discharged, in reality a lot less time than that but you might as well let the engine warm up and the oil circulate properly.

 

There is one elephant in the room regarding how long the battery will last on standby (I remembered the word!), this is a 2023 vehicle, stop-start if I am not mistaken so it will likely have been parked up with only 80% charge and running the engine as I suggest will only achieve the same.

 

Would those who reckon it will start after 4 months because their car does after 4 days still be as confident if they knew it only had 80% state of charge?

22 hours ago, J.R. said:

In the 70's and 80's there was zero parasitic current draw when a vehicles ignition key was removed and the doors closed, ZERO! You could leave a car as long as a motor factor would leave an unsold battery on the shelf 6 months to a year.

 

A "few" years ago with your A3, (how many years was a few?) things had changed as you said, the radio and instrument panels were drawing current to maintain the time settings, the intruder alarm would have been active all that time also powering the untrasonic sensors, the central locking module would have had the RF recieving module powered up waiting to recieve a signal from the keyfob.

 

Todays vehicles draw 200ma plus for up to 20 minutes with Canbus modules talking to each other before hopefully finally going to sleep, you are lucky if the parasitic drain is less than 40ma, they are getting worse especially the keyless entry ones, even my towing relay draws 15ma a lot less than the 35ma of the previous ones but significant enough to halve the autonomy of my battery.

 

You only have to watch people collecting their cars from airport car parks after a fortnights holiday to see just how many have to be jump started, the operators have multiple jump starting carts moving around the lot 24/7.

 

If I go away for more than a week I keep a spare charged battery in the vehicle, I may not need it for a month but I am not taking any chances, the aftermarket radio alone is capable of keeping the whole Can network and all the controllers awake if it doesn't sign off, indeed any of the controllers could, in that case the battery would be flat in days.

 

Your vehicle restarting after a 4 day shift pattern does not mean you can say that the OP is taking completely unnecessary precautions when his vehicle will be standing unused for 4 months!

As I’ve said, I left said Audi A3 for 4 months a few years ago during a bitter winter.  It started first time and I never once had an issue.  You can talk about battery drain and the various things that will draw power all you like, fact is the modern battery cannot be compared to those in the 70s or 80s.  Fact.

 

Your battery drain will be offset by the advancement in battery technology, therefore a half decent battery SHOULD see you ok if your car isn’t used for a while.  Not rocket science🙄

Edited 7 December, 20241 yr by carefree

17 minutes ago, carefree said:

Your battery drain will be offset by the advancement in battery technology, therefore a half decent battery SHOULD see you ok if your car isn’t used for a while.  Not rocket science🙄

 

Indeed, its false science!

 

A battery of a given AH rating will lose cell voltage at a given rate for a given discharge, you cannot change the rules of physics to suit your misguided belief.

 

You are the only person to be talking about 70's or 80's batteries (using "fact" twice for emphasis), I spoke of the zero standby current drain which has not existed since those days.

Alright alright, not constructive!

 

I think the point you are both trying to make is that whilst battery tech has advanced significantly (EFB/AGM), the amount of drain on the battery has also increased significantly.

 

Whereas 20 years ago the alarm might have simply monitored the doors, wheel or whatever, now there’s all the interior monitoring, plus the plethora of electronics. I would reckon the average Skoda now has near to 80/90 microcontrollers, all of which drain the battery. Not to mention, despite being beefier, start/stop batteries take more of a beating.

 

That said, the battery in my girlfriends Fiat survived 2 months without a start, and that was with a dash cam on parking mode always turning on, etc.

 

OP you should be okay. If you’re concerned cranking will kill the battery, stick it on a charger for a few hours before you turn the key/press the button. Generally if it’s low, the car will tell you when you click it to ignition 1.

 

Stop/start batteries only 'take a beating' as you put it if you allow them too, plus the system puts more strain on starter motor etc,  it's why i always switch it off before I drive off!

1 hour ago, sussamb said:

Stop/start batteries only 'take a beating' as you put it if you allow them too, plus the system puts more strain on starter motor etc,  it's why i always switch it off before I drive off!

My 8 year old Moll EFB still testing at 80% - despite stop/start always being used would suggest that this function does not give the battery a 'beating'

An idling engine produces emissions - for zero MPG.

 

Battery tech has enabled greater AH and CCA in a given battery size, it might have decreased the self discharge rate on certain chemistrys, longevity is certainly not what it was 10 and 20 years ago even on the factory fitted batteries which are made to a higher standard than the exact same battery on the aftermarket.

 

What has not changed and cannot change is the laws of physics, a battery is an energy store, if parasitic consumption (which is far higher on modern vehicles) drains 25ma over 40 hours then 1 Ampere hour of reserve capacity will be removed from the battery whether it be EFB, AGM Li-ion or whatever, the same today as it was 10, 20 or 100 years ago.

 

@carefree I am not trying to come across as clever, when I see misinformation that could be to the detriment of a contributor seeking advice I challenge it, you of course are free to disagree but the nature in which you do so is not in keeping with the mutual support shared on this forum,

 

Edited, I see the post in question has now been removed so I have deleted my final words requesting a refrain.

Edited 8 December, 20241 yr by J.R.

1 hour ago, Warrior193 said:

My 8 year old Moll EFB still testing at 80% - despite stop/start always being used would suggest that this function does not give the battery a 'beating'

An idling engine produces emissions - for zero MPG.

 

Same here warrior still on my 8 year old original moll battery too ,now we have said that our batteries will pack in now 😂

 

12 hours ago, Occy245 said:

Whereas 20 years ago the alarm might have simply monitored the doors, wheel or whatever, now there’s all the interior monitoring, plus the plethora of electronics. I would reckon the average Skoda now has near to 80/90 microcontrollers, all of which drain the battery

 

That can be seen by the huge spark at the battery terminal when you reconnect a battery, its so intense that in the past it would have been a 100% sign of a short circuit from a failed alternator diode, it really goes against the grain for me to maintain the contact against all my common sense.

 

Said alternator diode failure would flatten a battery in hours and when a Canbus module plays up (example aftermarket head unit) stopping the other controllers from going into sleep mode the same occurs.

25 minutes ago, J.R. said:

Battery tech has enabled greater AH and CCA in a given battery size, it might have decreased the self discharge rate on certain chemistrys, longevity is certainly not what it was 10 and 20 years ago even on the factory fitted batteries which are made to a higher standard than the exact same battery on the aftermarket.

 

What has not changed and cannot change is the laws of physics, a battery is an energy store, if parasitic consumption (which is far higher on modern vehicles) drains 25ma over 40 hours then 1 Ampere hour of reserve capacity will be removed from the battery whether it be EFB, AGM Li-ion or whatever, the same today as it was 10, 20 or 100 years ago.

 

@carefree I am not trying to come across as clever, when I see misinformation that could be to the detriment of a contributor seeking advice I challenge it, you of course are free to disagree but the nature in which you do so is not in keeping with the mutual support forum shared on this forum, please refrain from the insults.

Allow me a little semantics - but all secondary batteries (including lead-acid) don't really 'store' energy as such - they generate energy by a reversable chemical reaction.

These types of battery will all exhibit a degree of self-discharge, even on open circuit, in addition to any quiescent connected load.  

Edited 8 December, 20241 yr by Warrior193
added information