Replacement battery. Mk6 GTI

Unobeat · Post by **Unobeat** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 7:59 am

Belix wrote:Another OEM battery has died on me. Really not impressed with them, especially at R3700 odd. Perhaps they have all been Oxide, not VARTA, will have a good look and see what the current one is. Just over 2 years an OEM battery. So now to decide on whether to get economy replacement from VW or something else...

Wow
That is rather a premature failure.
Wonder what could have caused it.

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Belix · Post by **Belix** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 8:04 am

Can only assume since the car is not garaged, only under a carport, the temperature fluctuations kill them. Still I would expect more, especially if they are Varta.

VW Economy R 1421.00 61AH
VW Standard R 3813.00 61AH

ICE King · Post by **ICE King** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 9:31 am

Belix wrote: ↑Mon Nov 12, 2018 7:51 am Another OEM battery has died on me. Really not impressed with them, especially at R3700 odd. Perhaps they have all been Oxide, not VARTA, will have a good look and see what the current one is. Just over 2 years an OEM battery. So now to decide on whether to get economy replacement from VW or something else...

Somethings definitely wrong , they should last much longer. Do you drive you car daily?

Also see aftermarket radios not being connected correctly and killing batteries in the 6 specifically.

Unobeat · Post by **Unobeat** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 9:37 am

Belix wrote:Can only assume since the car is not garaged, only under a carport, the temperature fluctuations kill them. Still I would expect more, especially if they are Varta.

VW Economy R 1421.00
VW Standard R 3813.00

My Varta 680 battery lasted a good 4 years before it died.
It died because the main cable from battery to alternator was faulty and undercharging.

Car was not garaged and parked outside with not carport and there was a point were the car stood for 8 months.

All I did was just give the battery a good charge every few days.

At the time of needing to replace the battery I did it have enough funding and just got a 652 Sabat Unit.

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Belix · Post by **Belix** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 9:55 am

ICE King wrote:
Somethings definitely wrong , they should last much longer. Do you drive you car daily?

Also see aftermarket radios not being connected correctly and killing batteries in the 6 specifically.

Daily driver. No freeways though, 12km of morning and afternoon traffic.
Freeways only on weekends or holidays

Abnormal wrote:I had an OEM Exide. Now I have an OEM Varta.

How do you tell this? Can't see any manufacturer logo anywhere

One difference I see between economy and original is economy is Oxide only 300A and 18kg vs 330A 16.6kg for original.

Belix · Post by **Belix** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:03 pm

OK seems you can tell the manufacturer from the "BEM" code on the battery, on the first part of the code. So the last one was a VARTA at least...
VA0 - Varta
TU3 - Oxide
I just can't seem to get the dropdown menu under gateway to show anything...

ICE King · Post by **ICE King** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:34 pm

12kms is not much, even worst as Traffic driving doesn't really help as at idle the alternator will generate only enough power to maintain the voltages , even so if you drawing more power(lights on etc...) at idle , your battery will actually be draining

Best you check it out with a voltage meter to see whats happening.

The code is on the actually battery by the negative terminal , usually there's another code (4 numbers) which will tell you it's manufacture date as you could've bought it 2 years ago but was already a year on the shelf.

You have a aftermarket radio?

ICE King · Post by **ICE King** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:39 pm

Note a fully charged battery without any draw is +-12.5v , with alternator should see 14v+(will get slighty higher voltage and stronger amps once the rev's climb)

My buddy has a 6 as well , since he doesn't drive it much , he puts it on charge now and then , The 6 has alot of electronics ,

Belix · Post by **Belix** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 1:15 pm

To make it worse, I have two stops in the morning, so three starts on the way in to work.
Yeah, have heard varying stories about this - from the car only providing enough charge to run the electronics, with very little overhead to charge the battery....to the alternator in modern cars being smart enough to provide juice when the battery needs to be charged. Suppose it can't hurt to charge it once a month or so provided its a smart charger...
Radio is OEM.

ICE King · Post by **ICE King** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 1:27 pm

Get a meter then monitor it over a month , If you notice that the battery voltages is actually dropping over the month since you bought it even though you driving it,then you actually not driving it enough then give it a charge every now and then provided nothing is draining the battery and you alternator is working fine.

Doubt the alternator can be that smart , not while it's being driven by engine speed but I stand corrected.

Perfect , radio out as a possibility

Belix · Post by **Belix** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 7:59 pm

Damned if I can get to the adaption menu option in VCDS.
Open VCDS, open module, go to 19-Canbus, select long adaption, click dropdown box and select battery information/replacement. Well I don't have this dropdown!

This ross-tech video shows three options: https://youtu.be/IJAScg6JrYI
1. Battery Regulation module - Address 61. Don't have this module so that's out.
2. Canbus module - Address 19 --> long adaption, click on dropdown box. I have no dropdown options here!
3. UDS. Mine is CAN so not an option.

Maybe the canbus module I have is too old?

VAG Fan · Post by **VAG Fan** » Tue Nov 13, 2018 8:34 am

I am astounded by the stories of "OEM", "coded" batteries and fancy management systems, and yet the batteries don't seem to last particularly long. I didn't even know of these systems until I read this thread.

In my Mk 1 GTS, I twice got 7 years of service life from batteries (once a Dixon, once an Exide), and in my Audi 500 SE, I actually got 9 years from an Exide. It would probably have lasted longer, but the car is standing a lot these days and being drained by its aftermarket alarm system. My Fox has also clocked 5 years on at least one battery. I do a 12 km commute, often interrupted by at least one stop.

Makes the cynic in me wonder if the new tech is really serving any purpose, other than fleecing the consumer.

Post by **Howie-WP** » Tue Nov 13, 2018 12:56 pm

@Belix, perhaps you have to invest in an "inteligent" type charger to help fully charge battery every so often. Short commutes and stop starts will stress the battery. Must be happening in your case.
Main deal is modern cars have way more electrical load compared to older cars. Also not sure what to make of the whole "coded' battery drama.....

rodga · Post by **rodga** » Tue Nov 13, 2018 7:07 pm

Get an optimate 4. It's can compatible. (whatever that means. It says so on the box lol.)

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chibadd · Post by **chibadd** » Sat Nov 17, 2018 8:02 am

I bought a Varta from Deltec 74Ah. No issues. I didn’t do any coding either with VCDS.