Cinch engineer visited as promised. Couldn't find anything out of spec with either the battery or alternator. Although didn't put a charger on to boost the storage.

Other than visiting a main dealer not much else I can do. But prior to that I've a couple of lengthy runs (100miles each way) so will have a see if that makes a difference when compared to the short ones I've being doing.

7 hours ago, Gowna said:

Cinch engineer visited as promised. Couldn't find anything out of spec with either the battery or alternator. Although didn't put a charger on to boost the storage.

Other than visiting a main dealer not much else I can do. But prior to that I've a couple of lengthy runs (100miles each way) so will have a see if that makes a difference when compared to the short ones I've being doing.

My less than a year old battery (and car) would makes a very big meal of trying to reach 85% SOC (don't even mention 100%), you can see below that it took 7.5hrs (smart charging) to get a tiny increases in SOC by 2% and a usable battery charge increase of 1AH, the battery energy counter shows a increase of a average of 2.8A over 7.5hrs, 0.37A per hour. My M.meter, in series with the charger showed a charging rate of < 0.2A for the majority of the 7.5 hr charging period. Also, later, on a 25 minute non stop run under varying driving conditions, the DVM showed that the charging voltage never went higher than 13.4V even on overrun and spent most of its time charging at 12.8V.

Maybe a "smarter" smart charger than mine would get the SOC up to 100% eventually, if so, I'd like to see it confirmed by someone with VCDS.

MAS16744-IDE01836 12-volt battery-Battery current -8.825 A

MAS16744-IDE01839 12-volt battery-Battery charge status 75 %

MAS16744-IDE01841 12-volt battery-Battery internal resistance 7.4 mOhm

MAS16744-IDE01842 12-volt battery-Usable battery charge 26 Ah

MAS16744-MAS06086 12-volt battery-Total re-charge 592.4 Ah

MAS16744-MAS06087 12-volt battery-Entire energy throughput 598.1 Ah

MAS16745-IDE01843 Quiescent current management-Battery voltage at rest 12.5 V

After a further 7.5 hrs charging at 12.7, occasionally 13.4V. Charger is a Ultimate Speed ULGD 5.0 C1, (a 5.0A charger)

MAS16744-IDE01836 12-volt battery-Battery current -6.729 A

MAS16744-IDE01839 12-volt battery-Battery charge status 77 %

MAS16744-IDE01841 12-volt battery-Battery internal resistance 7.4 mOhm

MAS16744-IDE01842 12-volt battery-Usable battery charge 27 Ah

MAS16744-MAS06086 12-volt battery-Total re-charge 594.3 Ah

MAS16744-MAS06087 12-volt battery-Entire energy throughput 599.0 Ah

MAS16745-IDE01843 Quiescent current management-Battery voltage at rest 12.5 V

Edited 13 hours ago13 hr by Johngerard

On 30/09/2026 at 10:14, Warrior193 said:

A few trips only of the length you describe may very well not restore the battery charge sufficiently, given the predominant use.

Unfortunately, the smart charging alternator strategy does not appear to recognise intermittent vehicle use and adapt the strategy to bring battery SOC to a higher level - overriding strategy seems to be fuel saving.

IMO, current VAG smart-charge strategy can lead to increased plate sulphation through persistent low SOC unless the vehicle gets regular long runs along with substantial energy micro-recuperation.

My Octavia has a similar use to yours and I use a Ring smart charger occasionally to maintain battery health. I do this at 2-monthly intervals during winter - and approx. 4 to 6-monthly intervals during warmer part of the year (whenever SS stops operating consistently)

Works for me as my 10-year old Moll EFB still tests at almost 90% healthy.

Which model of Ring charger do you use? There looks to be plenty different ones to chose from.

It's a RSC608, but I think this model was updated a few years ago.

13 minutes ago, Warrior193 said:

It's a RSC608, but I think this model was updated a few years ago.

How long do you leave the battery on charge at each 2 month charging interval?, does it display the charging voltage and if so do you leave it charging until the voltage falls to some known/recommended level?.