Anyone replaced their 12V Battery yet?

[Spektre]

So this morning I'm driving out of my neighborhood and the car suddenly decelerates as if someone stood on the brake for 1/2 second. I was only going about 15-20mph, and it happened again. I noticed two of the messages, something like "12v battery not charging" and "Recuperation 'something something' " I stopped and put the car in park, turned it off, and waited a few seconds. The car came back up and I drove home slowly without incident (not even 1/4 mile).

The only thing different about this morning was it was 'cold' (for Phoenix), so I had both seat heaters on Max and the heat set to 80. I turned off all electrical accessories after the car 'stalled' (which is odd to say).

I'm thinking after more than 3 years and 44000 miles my 12V battery is toast - opinions? Replacing it is the least painful way to proceed, as I'm going to have to go 'fight the man' to get a VW dealer to look at my car at all. Unfortunately VW has yet to train their non-carb state techs in anything e-Golf

 

[RonDawg]

Normally I would suspect something else wrong given your car’s age and mileage, but that went away as soon as you said “Phoenix.” Hot climates are brutal on lead-acid and AGM batteries as well as our Lithium-Ion packs, just a lot cheaper to replace.

Have you tried having Auto Zone or some other similar place check out the battery?

BTW based on comparisons between my 2015 eGolf and my 2017 Alltrack, if you do need to replace the 12 volt battery, the one from the ICE Golfs should fit even though the eGolf one is smaller. The battery tray looks large enough to take the regular size battery. That should open up more options for replacement besides the dealer.

 

[Spektre]

Yep, the climate here definitely does a number on batteries.

I'm thinking of going with the big one from Wally-world. Brand is Everstart Platinum, AGM, group size H6, 760cca, 5 year warranty (3 yrs replacement, 2 yrs pro-rated) for $150.

I'll drag my current battery in see if they'll 'test' it first...

 

[Spektre]

Well, it definitely was not the battery. Walmart did test the old battery and (big surprise) said it was bad, so I bought a new one from them. (The dealership wanted $340 plus $140 installation, Walmart was $150 :roll: )

I experienced the same symptoms after replacing the battery and plugging it in and allowing it to charge fully. I’m having the car towed to the dealership so I can hear them say they can’t work on it.

 

[rd7575]

It's worth noting here that the 12V battery in the eGolf is not a starting battery, but a deep-cycle battery. It's designed to provide relatively low current over a longer period of time as compared to an ICE starting battery which can provide insane currents, but only for several seconds at a time. Replacing it with a starting battery would probably work, but you might run into issues where it goes flat when the car sits for a few days or if you make use of accessories with the car off. A starting battery would also probably have a very short life in an eGolf.

 

[Spektre]

Update for anyone interested:

It turns out the initial issue was caused by the 12V battery failing. The problem is that after changing out the battery, the system has to be adapted to the new battery, or it will continue to act as if the bad battery is present.

I got lucky, as VW North Scottsdale finally got a technician trained to work on the eGolf. After $140 diagnostic fees, it turned out there were several low voltage events logged, but no module communication failures. $140 was the cost of the labor quoted to me by VW North Scottsdale to put in their battery, before I bought the Walmart battery (they wanted $340 for the battery alone - I paid $150 at Walmart.)

Here's my rant though. The car never tells you that the 12V battery is failing. When it does go bad, the car becomes (dangerously) inoperable. There is no way to drive it to the dealership for service at this point, so you must have it towed. This just seems like a very unsafe and inconvenient way to do things. I'd be shocked if there isn't some logic that could be inserted to let the owner/driver know about the low voltage events.

So, my car is back on the road, operating just like new, 44,450 miles or so on the odometer and I'm still very happy to drive it every day!

 

[flyboy320]

Glad you got it all sorted out and for posting your experience, something we can keep in mind for our e-Golf's.

FWIW my wife's i3 is also susceptible to this problem. The i3 has a very small 12v battery and they seem to be lasting 3-4 years before they give out. When they do give out there is no warning except failing computers and drivetrain errors, seemingly unrelated to the 12v battery. Problem is when it fails it's undriveable so usually needs towed to the dealer to fix.

 

[tbier]

Wonder if this is by design to generate more trips to the service center.

 

[2016golfse]

Update for anyone interested:

It turns out the initial issue was caused by the 12V battery failing. The problem is that after changing out the battery, the system has to be adapted to the new battery, or it will continue to act as if the bad battery is present.

I got lucky, as VW North Scottsdale finally got a technician trained to work on the eGolf. After $140 diagnostic fees, it turned out there were several low voltage events logged, but no module communication failures. $140 was the cost of the labor quoted to me by VW North Scottsdale to put in their battery, before I bought the Walmart battery (they wanted $340 for the battery alone - I paid $150 at Walmart.)

Here's my rant though. The car never tells you that the 12V battery is failing. When it does go bad, the car becomes (dangerously) inoperable. There is no way to drive it to the dealership for service at this point, so you must have it towed. This just seems like a very unsafe and inconvenient way to do things. I'd be shocked if there isn't some logic that could be inserted to let the owner/driver know about the low voltage events.

So, my car is back on the road, operating just like new, 44,450 miles or so on the odometer and I'm still very happy to drive it every day!

Sorry for not seeing your post earlier. Yes, coding a new battery is required, although you don't have to take it to a dealer if you have the right tools. It's thoroughly covered here:

http://forum.obdeleven.com/thread/2041/battery-replacement

 

[ckdavis]

Thank you for sharing your story. Sounds like it is a good idea to just get the battery replaced around three years or 30,000 miles of use, in order to avoid issues with having the car act up when the battery goes bad.

 

[f1geek]

I have found that 12V battery life is very strongly influenced by heat. On my old BMW 328iS and Volvo V70 with batteries in the trunk, the batteries lasted at 7 or more years, while all my cars with batteries in the engine compartment usually only lasted 3 years. If you live in a very hot place, then the battery will die fast - otherwise, I think you might be able to get a lot more than 3 years out of a battery in an "engine" compartment with no heat.

 

[Spektre]

Sorry for not seeing your post earlier. Yes, coding a new battery is required, although you don't have to take it to a dealer if you have the right tools. It's thoroughly covered here:

http://forum.obdeleven.com/thread/2041/battery-replacement

Thanks for that - I've been on the fence about picking up an obdeleven, but I'm definitely going to get one now!

 

[dephan]

Thank you for sharing your story. Sounds like it is a good idea to just get the battery replaced around three years or 30,000 miles of use, in order to avoid issues with having the car act up when the battery goes bad.

You should buy the battery /charging monitor, the one plug in cigarette . Only about $10. ( Don't waste money to buy the expensive).
Att.: Choose the one not only measure the battery voltage but one can also monitor the charging.
When you see the battery voltage always 12V, that the battery dead. On that case if you don't replace the battery, then the battery down to below 12 V ( totally dead ), the car will not run anymore.
The in car charger will charge 12V battery when we plug in to charge the HV running battery, and when the car runs on road, the charger may also charge the 12V battery if needing.
With the battery/charge monitor, you will know when the time you need to replace the 12V battery, and some time you also know if in the case battery is good but the 12V charger in car is bad.
Tip: If battery dead, you could replace the full charged battery ( temporary battery) and drive to dealer or home, then replace new & coding it.

 

[cyb593]

Is new coding needed if you just replace the battery without issues?

 

[JoulesThief]

Is new coding needed if you just replace the battery without issues?

Some people plug a 12v battery into the cigarette lighter outlet, or power outlet, and then change the battery carefully under the hood. That too will prevent needing a reset.