Flat Battery

[juniorbanks]

So after an eventful trip to Argos at the weekend it appears my car is off to VW for some TLC.

Every day i drive the car for 10 minutes each way to and from the train station and have not had any problems until i got back a week ago from being away for 2 weeks. Friday night the car failed to start up first time but did on the second. Then Saturday, drive to Argos no problems. Got back in the car turned the key, electrics came on turned the key fully and the electrics went crazy flashing at me (one flat battery) 3 Hours later after a visit from the AA (who said the battery is ok) and a long drive i was back on the road.

Now its struggling again. I can only think its not charging the battery properly. Before i book this in @ VW does anyone have any ideas ... looking at you RW

oh and I'm pretty sure Nasher drove past me ... psshh thanks for stopping

[Shaun]

Well lets see what VW find, if they don't find anything my thinking is your just not giving the car a chance to charge the battery, you will have the fan on and lights etc etc and then leaving it for 2 weeks was the final straw for the poor battery, when i was fitting my folding mirrors i ran the battery down too, you will be surprised just how easy it is to kill the battery on a modern car.

Every now and again i use a battery conditioner (Link below) to keep mine in tip top condition as like you i do quick short journeys.



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[RW1]

Have the same problem. Your journeys are too short to charge the battery properly. Maintenance free batteries are slower to charge than older top up units. They assume a charge level which reflects your driving habits, so if its 10 mins all or most of the time, the general charge level will be low. A few starts in this condition and the charge will be even lower.

I invested in a low current charger and just hook it up every so often to bring the battery back to a higher operating charge level.
http://www.sciroccocentral.co.uk/forum/ ... 497#p66497" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[skippy]

Yes - agree with all the comments, it could also possibly be a faulty alternator but unlikely. I think there may have been some warning on the dash if the battery was not receiving a charge properly. The DRL's don't help matters in that the headlights come on as soon as you switch on the ignition.

I was on holiday in Cornwall recently and a chap with an 08 Honda suddenly found it would not start in the morning, having driven 380 miles the day before. The culprit - the interior light was left on overnight and completely drained the battery!

[juniorbanks]

Thanks Shaun & Chris i think one of those will be a wise investment !! It started today ok but i did run it for a 40 min drive last night, will see tonight what its like as its only done 10 minutes with lights on etc this morning. How often should i look to be using the battery charger, once a month?

Skippy thanks for the input but since the problems i have nothing running on the car, electric mirrors set to neutral, stereo off, air con off, DRL's deactivated and still its running down, i am having to double my drive home to get it to start in the mornings.

In regards to the fault, all the electrical mods i have on the car have been on there since spring, in fact the last was the RNS update that Shaun helped me with. At first i thought maybe this was sucking power but the AA tested and when the engine is initially switched off there is a pull of 5amps, which drops to 3 and then after a few minutes to 0.00. So it can't be something sucking it dry, i can only think like above all the short trips with lights on are not helping.

[RW1]

Mine makes a random tone noise through the door speakers indicating the Battery Management module is about to shed electrical loads to preserve the battery. I guess yours wasn't doing this. Its a good indication that the battery has got to around quarter charged level. At that point I hook up the charger. (Most of my trips are 15 minutes long, twice a day.) See here about what happens in the Controller 09 diagnostics. (Bottom of the post - Diagnostics Check with VCDS)

In the winter period where it seems to be worse due to the lower temperature and and what charge the starter takes out of the battery, I hook up the charger about once a month unless there's been a long trip over 1 hour of continuous driving without stop/starting the engine. In which case I just do a quick voltage check across the battery terminals to check the "nominal charge level".

The other point in winter, especially down at -10'C to -20'C, the charge level needs to be kept up towards the top level as the battery may freeze in the more discharged state.

The lights being on does not really matter. The alternator is powerful enough to cope with that and charge the battery. It is the low maintenance battery that is the restriction and how much charge it accepts while the Scirocco is being driven. A short 10 minute drive will do hardly anything to put charge back into the battery that the starter has removed. So over a prolong period of time (couple of months) the battery gradually reduces "its nominal charge level" to the point its discharged enough not to start the Scirocco.

C.

[aesmidz]

I've had my car 2 weeks now, and had a flat battery twice, its been into the VW dealers to be checked and they say its ok!!

they tell me the driving lights draw 20Amps tho' I have requested them to be disabled, but they won't do it!

[Cuprabob]

If the driving lamps are each 55W then each lamp will draw less than 5A so don't know where they get 20A figure?

[aesmidz]

8 lights on at rear 2 number plate. 3 each side rear. Front side lights. Headlights. And dashboard lights too!,

[RW1]

The alternator is still man enough to cope with that electrical load at 140amps output, plus you have a larger battery on the diesel, something like 72 AmpHr.

C.