Battery query

[FiremanT]

I have a couple of battery questions , if any can help. These may sound like stupid questions , but I do pretty much everything around the home - except car work.

I have an Octavia 3 (14 plate). I am told that I have to have a special battery charger as it is stop/start - is this essential?

I have the original battery but the garage (independent) computer says it is time to replace - not a problem, it is 8 years old. I can buy a 3 year G'tee battery from Europarts (Lion Brand) for under £60. Halfords cheapest is £152. Is there any real benefit in spending so much more?

I was not aware until I started Googling that there appears to be a problem with DIY fitting of stop/start batteries in that "coding" is lost? Is DIY a bad idea?
Do batteries from the likes of Europarts come charged, or do we have to charge before fitting? Apart from the coding issue, is battery changing as simple as it used to be - 25 years or so ago which is when I probably last changed one?

I may join the Halfords premium club for a month or so to get a free MOT, a 5% discount in the battery and free battery fixing, subject to the small print.

Thanks

Thanks

 

[carmanmemoranda]

Physically fitting a battery hasnt changed. Other than they are often fitted into very tight spaces now.

Almost certainly will need coding to the car, for charge rate.

If it has stop start then make sure the right battery is fitted.

I think the Lion battery will be non stop start. And I wouldnt fit a lion battery at any price. Cheap for a reason. Stick to quality known brands. Bosch, yuasa, varta etc

 

[JohnD]

You need the stop-start batt, if that's what your car uses.

I have had best service from Varta.

Check prices on https://www.batterymegastore.co.uk/

I've had better prices from them than from my local motor factor.

I used to live near Tewkesbury but they deliver free next day

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

In a VW Golf forum I frequent, I hear nothing but poor reviews of any Halfords batteries.

 

[Belle427]

I'd stick to quality such as Varta, they are very good.
Leave Lion junk alone.
As for coding I'm led to believe it isn't strictly necessary, it just takes the car a bit longer to recognise it and vary the charging accordingly.
As long as the battery is the same spec.

 

[Burnerman]

Just to add....
If the battery is flat, you can jump start the car in the usual way - notice the negative terminal has its own bolt that you fix the jump leads to.
The days of push starting a car are over!
To boost the battery up quickly a normal charger can be used but using a 'smart' charger will keep it in perfect condition if the car is seldom used.
Use only a quality battery (Yuasa for me) and it must be the correct one for the car....and yes, it will need to be coded.
John

 

[cdbe]

Halfords isn't cheap, put if it needs coding and you can wangle that for free then it might be cheapest overall - otherwise, last few batteries I've had have come from Tanya.

 

[ericmark]

Using a battery charger able to exceed 14.4 volt on any car can be a problem, and has been since early days of the alternator where zenor diodes were used as they could over heat, but with a valve regulated lead acid, also called absorbed glass mat, there is only just enough acid in the battery, and so very important not to over charge, but it is still a lead acid so cells can vary in charge so some equalising is good.

A lead acid battery with 6 cells can be maintained with 13.2 volt, but to recharge we want a little more, so more normal to use 13.8 volt, but this will not equalise the battery.

So the so called smart charger uses a diffrent method, it uses a range of constant currents not swapping between them at set voltages.

So it will for example charge at 0.8 amp until 14.4 volt, then drop to 0.1 amp until it drops to 12.8 volts, this results in a pulse every few hours, which helps equalise the battery.

Before this stage there will be a bulk charge stage, there are cheap versions done from time to time by Lidi and Aldi more expensive Ctec they vary exactly how they work, but are designed for AGM/VRLA batteries.

 

[Avocet]

+1 for Tayna. I've had great service and prices from them. They have a fast stock turnover, so the manufacturing dates on batteries I have bought from them, have been pretty recent.

Yes, stop-start vehicles usually use "AGM" battery chemistry, so you need to replace with the same chemistry (it'll say on the battery). And yes, you're supposed to plug the car into a computer to tell it that it has a new battery and let it get used to the capacity and charge rate of the new battery for the smart alternator. (They do clever things like increase the charging rate on over-run to save fuel and stop charging under acceleration).

Any modern "smart charger" (I have one by Ring), should automatically detect what kind of battery you have.
I've heard stories of people attaching thin cables on crocodile clips to the new battery and to the battery leads on the car, before removing the old one, so that the car never sees a battery disconnection and therefore doesn't "know" that it needs a computer to tell it it has a new battery. Never tried it though!

 

[Bodgedbuild]

I've used https://batterygroup.co.uk/ for the last few batteries I have bought and can't find anywhere to match them on price for brand name batteries.
With regards to Halfords batteries, as mentioned by Freddismercurystwin they used to be very good, I think they were re-badge Lucas items. That is indeed no longer the case, I changed one 3 times, still under warranty before putting a branded one on and getting no more issues. I'm sure part of the issue is that you can't really instruct the BMS (the charging ECU) which battery brand so it uses an incorrect algorithm. The charging system doesn't actually fully charge a battery these days, it deliberately keeps it below about 80% charge to both save fuel and make the battery last longer.

 

[Stivino]

I was always led to believe that Halfords batteries were Yuasa.

 

[Bodgedbuild]

I was always led to believe that Halfords batteries were Yuasa.

I suspect that if Yuasa do make Halfords batteries, they are to a different spec. My thought process is that the handles and case moldings are totally different to the branded Yuasa batteries in the same store. In the past, I've done a "weight" test on batteries and generally speaking, if they weigh less, they are rubbish....not sure how well this applies to AGM batteries with grid technology etc but I suspect the named brands still weigh more..

 

[Agile]

I have always avoided Lion batteries because I see so many left at the side of the road making me think they don't last very long.

But a friend with an MOT and repair garage said he usually fits Lion batteries. That may just be because he wants to keep the costs to the customer down.

I have always tried to buy Exide car batteries because they used to have a very good reputation.

 

[norseman]

With Lion I think you get what you pay for, though I've not had personal experience of the brand.
The good thing about Halfraunds is that there is no hassle returning a faulty/unsuitable purchase (with their prices they can afford to!)
I'm dubious about buying batteries on-line. If you have a complaint they will likely want the product back for testing & that will cost you (not them) a lot of money for such a heavy item.
I normally go for either Bosch or Yuasa for both my classic cars (8 or 6 cy.l)

 

[Stivino]

The last battery that was in mine was a Numax 096. It was still going strong but as I leave the car for sometimes a few months, I decided to replace it. I put a Yuasa YBX5110 Silver in. But, I wouldn’t hesitate to use Numax again.