Think I'm due a new battery

obewan

obewan

Senior member
 End of A590 cul de sac (South Cumbria)
Just checking with you knowledgeable people

Over about a week now I've have had a few 'bongs' and different warning symbols on the dash
Always on first start up - 3 x Car on lift, 2 x Power steering and 1 x battery. All yellow warnings and the cars starts fine
The warnings are gone on subsequent starts and the 'Check control' has no warnings

A search on here reveals that this all points to the battery on the way out
Its the original so is 6+ years old
I've taken a voltage reading first thing and I'm only getting 11.61V :cry:

Couple of questions
On various web sites the battery listed for my car is not as per the original in terms of Ah (70 to 80/95) and CCA (760 to 800/900)
I'm fairly sure this makes no odds
Also reading posts by Ph001 suggests that by not getting it registered is not going to be the end of the world
Am I also correct that I need to piggy back a small (motor-cycle) 12v battery when putting the new one in to save having to re-code the radio etc, etc?

In the past for family and friends I've bought batteries from Tayna
The recommended one on their web site is Enduroline 95Ah, CCA (EN) 790, CCA (SAE) 850

Any thoughts on this please?
It's cheaper on E-bay (via Tayna) but worryingly the compatibility charts says it won't fit!
 
I changed my battery a couple of months ago as that was 6 years old and I was getting strange error lights up on startup, I didnt put a piggyback battery on and had no issues with radio etc... and I also coded it in via Carly. the one I got was a Varta one that was suitable for Stop/Start operation (even though I have coded this to be off with Carly too) and in essence it sorted all the error messages out in one go. as far as I understand if you dont recode, the car will try to recharge the battery as if it was an old one which can have a detrimental affect on its lifespan
 
obewan said:
Just checking with you knowledgeable people

Over about a week now I've have had a few 'bongs' and different warning symbols on the dash
Always on first start up - 3 x Car on lift, 2 x Power steering and 1 x battery. All yellow warnings and the cars starts fine
The warnings are gone on subsequent starts and the 'Check control' has no warnings

A search on here reveals that this all points to the battery on the way out
Its the original so is 6+ years old
I've taken a voltage reading first thing and I'm only getting 11.61V :cry:

Couple of questions
On various web sites the battery listed for my car is not as per the original in terms of Ah (70 to 80/95) and CCA (760 to 800/900)
I'm fairly sure this makes no odds
Also reading posts by Ph001 suggests that by not getting it registered is not going to be the end of the world
Am I also correct that I need to piggy back a small (motor-cycle) 12v battery when putting the new one in to save having to re-code the radio etc, etc?

In the past for family and friends I've bought batteries from Tayna
The recommended one on their web site is Enduroline 95Ah, CCA (EN) 790, CCA (SAE) 850

Any thoughts on this please?
It's cheaper on E-bay (via Tayna) but worryingly the compatibility charts says it won't fit!
Click to expand...

I changed my battery last month, was getting the 'car on the lift' warning, and a message about excessive battery drain.
Euro CarParts had a sale, so was able to get a replacement Bosch lead/acid battery at a pretty good price.
The radio settings were fine, as was the mirror folding change I made with Carly. The trip counter reset to 0, and I had to reset the clock, other than that, there were no glitches, and my warning messages have gone away.
I did register the battery, but as it was the same type and similar amp/hrs, so I don't think it's a problem if you don't do it.
Cheers, Dave
 
Cheers guys
Good to know re radio, thought I needed a code if the battery was disconnected

Best deal i can find is actually Halfords
80Ah and 800CCA which is pretty close to my original

Looked around on T'internet today about registering and there is loads and loads of conflicting advice :(

Halford web site states they will do it from £25
I rang them, they said subject to a quick onsite inspection check they would do it for £25, so not worth the risk I guess
 
Does your car have stop/start OP?

If so I expect it will have an AGM battery that does need coding (which I wouldn't trust Halfrauds to do). :lol:

My E87 123d had stop/start and the AGM battery didn't make it to 5 years. New one coded by a BMW Indy was just over £250 fitted - BMW wanted £300+. :o

The starter motor also died in less than 7 years and cost over £600 to replace, so once you've got a new battery get stop/start coded off or just keep turning it off!

The lead/acid battery in my E86 without stop/start managed 11 years - that's the price of progress! :headbang:
 
Hi Mr Tidy
Yes, the car unfortunately has Start/Stop :evil: Although I never ever use it. First thing I do is turn it off :)

It is a AGM battery and like you I'm a little dubious about letting Halfords do it
They weren't utterly convincing on the phone, although to be fair that was the Customer service rep and not a mechanic.

The Halfords battery is still the best price, so I'll buy that and ask my local Indie if he can code it
Lucky really, he's happy for me to provide any parts for servicing etc and he'll fit them.

It's just winding me up that I can't do a simple job like this. Coupled with a niggling doubt that it may also be BS
I know you can with the correct leads/software but rather than buy them I may has well pay to have it registered

Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any Forum members around here with Carly either - that I could give some beer tokens.
Happy days :D
 
Your replacing an old AGM with a new AGM of similar capacity. Coding not critical.

Anyway, I know you have read my posts and some of the reasoning behind my thoughts. This stems from 16 years running an electronics design company specialising in battery chargers.
 
ph001 said:
Your replacing an old AGM with a new AGM of similar capacity. Coding not critical.

Anyway, I know you have read my posts and some of the reasoning behind my thoughts. This stems from 16 years running an electronics design company specialising in battery chargers.
Click to expand...

Thats that sorted then :) - thanks for the confirmation
I did nearly PM you :oops:
 
Battery changed, no coding or registration carried out
No more warning lights
Only thing I had to do was reset the clock - radio stations were retained
The new battery was giving 12.6v on installation. A run up the Lakes in the plans for tomorrow so will check again in the days after that

The hardest bit was to locate the bottom retaining bracket in the 'other hole' to accommodate the larger battery
Space at a bit of a premium.
 
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