Dying battery 3.5 years old??

[ColinStone]

Yesterday I got the low 12v battery warning and drive the car to charge. Checked battery and was 12.4v. Started and alternator output at 14.8v.
Battery now 3.5 years old. Car doesn't get used every day. During winter a solar panel attempts to keep battery topped up but car only used weekly for a fairly short shopping trip. During summer battery removed and use a charger on it every couple of weeks.
From forums, it seems that these EFB batteries don't have a very long life and 3.5 years is already pretty good. I guess it is gently dying.
Not convinced about going up a size - just takes more charging. But a CTEK Stop/Start charger would probably help.
And EFB vs AGM??
Off to Halfords to whack their meter across it.

 

[golfdave]

My car gets used one a week...sometimes twice a week & others once every two weeks....

BUT I do a minimum of 32miles on mixed back roads & main 60mph roads....

I still have to use a CTEK trickle charger & I have one that does AGM & acts as a 12V supply to enable me to either remove the battery when fitting a new one, or to use the supply when doing loads of VCDS to save the cars battery...


AGM is safer than EFB....EFB is halfway design between normal & AGM..all details in my thread here:-

https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7926

 

[IWMTom]

Yesterday I got the low 12v battery warning and drive the car to charge. Checked battery and was 12.4v. Started and alternator output at 14.8v.
Battery now 3.5 years old. Car doesn't get used every day. During winter a solar panel attempts to keep battery topped up but car only used weekly for a fairly short shopping trip. During summer battery removed and use a charger on it every couple of weeks.
From forums, it seems that these EFB batteries don't have a very long life and 3.5 years is already pretty good. I guess it is gently dying.
Not convinced about going up a size - just takes more charging. But a CTEK Stop/Start charger would probably help.
And EFB vs AGM??
Off to Halfords to whack their meter across it.

My car was built August 2014 and is still on the original battery without any problems - did the TSI have a different one to the TDI?

 

[Finglonga]

Mine lasted 4 years but used to get the low battery warning for a while before it failed suddenly, no slow cranking just would not crank at all. Got an AGM from Halfrauds using my trade card as it saves you a fair chunk on the price.

 

[ColinStone]

Halfords checked battery - CCA capacity 434A down from original 640A. Still OK but next winter will probably finish it. I'll use a charger more often.

 

[golfdave]

Euro car parts …& wait for their ever changing offers...

 

[ColinStone]

Bought a Ring SmartCharge RSC612 with Battery Analyser. £67. Lots of charging options and 4 analyse options. On CCA test came up with 70% and 440A, which is pretty close to the £1600 Halfords tester. Also has start voltage drop test and alternator test.

 

[ColinStone]

Well, battery down to 11.7v after being parked for 6 days. Reckon that is it, time to splash the cash on an AGM.

 

[ColinStone]

I replaced the battery at end Aug with a Yuasa AGM and recoded using VCDS. As the car sits in a garage for days at a time, I connected a solar panel to the boot cigarette lighter connection, always live.
Yesterday got a low 12v warning, which surprised me and voltage at 11.9v. So on charger today.
Also measure charging voltage with engine running. 13.5v increasing to 14.8v on overrun, which I guess is the Bluemotion recuperating more energy when slowing down.
Also noticed that engine wouldn't rev above 4000. Engine was cold, so just wonder if that is ECU protection before engine has warmed up??

 

[Navi]

I would be happy with 3.5 years. Mine barely made it to 2 years. Covered under warranty though, so that was nice lol.

 

[Jdm owner]

I'm on my second battery, not a daily used car they do like a run in the colder weather.