Potential flat battery

Beagles

Member
Hello all,

I've potentially fallen into the lockdown-not-enough-car-use-probably-too-low-remaining-charge-in-battery camp. Although the issue may lie elsewhere.

Upon turning the keys in the ignition earlier, the car gave a weak turning over sound and then stopped. All the internal electronics appeared to come on totally fine (although I imagine it takes more battery power to start an engine than to display the colour DIS).

At least a trickle charger is very probably going on the to buy list this evening. Car was last driven (without issue) between 2 and 3 weeks ago.

Didn't have much time so didn't try really anything. Any suggestions as to what to check later when I get a chance?
 
Do you know what age the battery is? A battery conditioner/charger should give you an idea after an over night. If the battery is 5 or more years old I'd definitely be chucking a new one in. Once they really die, especially in cold weather they never really recover in my experience.
 
Hello all,

I've potentially fallen into the lockdown-not-enough-car-use-probably-too-low-remaining-charge-in-battery camp. Although the issue may lie elsewhere.

Upon turning the keys in the ignition earlier, the car gave a weak turning over sound and then stopped. All the internal electronics appeared to come on totally fine (although I imagine it takes more battery power to start an engine than to display the colour DIS).

At least a trickle charger is very probably going on the to buy list this evening. Car was last driven (without issue) between 2 and 3 weeks ago.

Didn't have much time so didn't try really anything. Any suggestions as to what to check later when I get a chance?
Hi Beagles,
Battery output is effected by low temperatures markedly , the car needs a minimum of 12.4 volts to operate the can-bus system effectively.
I use a Novo charger/ conditioner available from Amazon etc quite reasonably.
Hth
Keith.
 
Hello all,

I've potentially fallen into the lockdown-not-enough-car-use-probably-too-low-remaining-charge-in-battery camp. Although the issue may lie elsewhere.

Upon turning the keys in the ignition earlier, the car gave a weak turning over sound and then stopped. All the internal electronics appeared to come on totally fine (although I imagine it takes more battery power to start an engine than to display the colour DIS).

At least a trickle charger is very probably going on the to buy list this evening. Car was last driven (without issue) between 2 and 3 weeks ago.

Didn't have much time so didn't try really anything. Any suggestions as to what to check later when I get a chance?

Agree with the recommendation of the CTEK charger above - I've got two - a trickle and a slightly bigger version that has battery reconditioning among its features that sorted out a couple of tired batteries before Christmas. There wasn't much price difference between the two so the bigger one definitely worth it. Subsequently I also cleaned the starter earth on both cars (one Tdi, one AUA) and they've never looked back, even during the big cold-snap a couple of weeks ago.

Secondly, if you've got colour DIS, change the display to battery voltage - I imagine that the numbers will be very weak. New battery may be necessary, but if the earth hasn't been cleaned then this can also accelerate perceived battery failure.
 
So, I'm unsure of the age of the battery. I think it may be the original battery. Picture below. Let me know if you think I should purchase a new battery (the answer is probably yes).

The DIS says the voltage is currently at 10.4V so that's definitely an issue!


IMG_20210301_192134.jpg
 
I think you're right, not a bad innings!
Replacement is on its way from the nice people at Tayna.
 
So, I'm unsure of the age of the battery. I think it may be the original battery. Picture below. Let me know if you think I should purchase a new battery (the answer is probably yes).

The DIS says the voltage is currently at 10.4V so that's definitely an issue!


View attachment 76989
Date stamp should be on negative terminal, looks original fit mine was around 17 years old when it started to suffer in the cold weather!
Hth
Keith.
 
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