Battery failure.. Perhaps

**b1nuzz** · 12-02-2013,10:15 PM

Hi all,

I woke up this morning, looked out the window and noticed that my hazard lights were flashing about once every 60 seconds.

I went down to the car and it wouldn't unlock. Got in and there was no electrics. The car started fine however. I checked the battery monitor and sure enough it showed 0%.
So I assume the flashing hazards were to tell me the battery was low?

However, only yesterday I was playing with the car setup and noted that the battery was at 100%. I had a conversation with myself about how if had never wavered from 100% in the 18 months I've owned it.

Anyway, back to today, I drove the car to work and kept an eye on the battery level. It quickly charged back up to 100% over the course of about 20 miles.
I hooked it up to VCDS and there are no error codes. However in the battery module there is an input at 06.03 this morning.

02276- Quiescent Current Stage 5.
Intermittent
Priority 7

The car has since say at work all day, untouched for 10 hours and the battery reads 100% still.

Anyone have any ideas?
I'm a bit stumped.
Thanks

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**gupsterg** · 12-02-2013,10:20 PM

Originally Posted by b1nuzz

The car has since say at work all day, untouched for 10 hours and the battery reads 100% still.

Is this MMI meter 100% or state of charge via VCDS scan of measuring blocks in battery module...

Link:- Whats the state of charge of your battery?

**b1nuzz** · 12-02-2013,10:28 PM

Originally Posted by gupsterg

Is this MMI meter 100% or state of charge via VCDS scan of measuring blocks in battery module...

Link:- Whats the state of charge of your battery?

No it was all MMI based. Which I guess isn't wholly accurate.
However when connected to VCDS the Tech at the garage said the battery was showing good charge when the engine was running and a good voltage when off. Although I didn't actually see the readings.

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**gupsterg** · 12-02-2013,10:36 PM

Originally Posted by b1nuzz

No it was all MMI based. Which I guess isn't wholly accurate.

Originally Posted by gupsterg

Battery meter is like the battery reg module giving you an idea as to how much power/charge state is there for starting car calculated from current usage/current charging occurring plus past data... not a Amps/Volts meter...

SSP 326 and ref page 10...

Grab PDF's here Link:- Possible 'new' Owner - Page 3

Originally Posted by b1nuzz

However when connected to VCDS the Tech at the garage said the battery was showing good charge when the engine was running and a good voltage when off. Although I didn't actually see the readings.

I thought you had VCDS? maybe my memory fuzzy as I thought I read a post relating to yourself using it in another thread

...

**b1nuzz** · 12-02-2013,10:51 PM

Thats some pretty useful PDF's. Thanks

The car didn't say it was in power saving mode or anything like that. Perhaps it was just a funny 5 minutes, or it could be the start of the battery on its way out. (It is the original 2008 battery in there)
I guess i need to actual look at the measuring blocks in VCDS.

Yeah i did/do that VCDS. Just not at the moment. Long boring story! But luckily have a friendly local garage who are always happy to look at my car for me.

Reading further down that PDF, it says that if the condition meter reads 10% or below (which mine did), it would give a warning on the DIS when started. But i had nothing. The car did do what it should though in terms of shutting all the electronics down when it went low.

Strange...

**gupsterg** · 12-02-2013,11:08 PM

Originally Posted by b1nuzz

Thats some pretty useful PDF's. Thanks

No worries

...

Originally Posted by b1nuzz

Perhaps it was just a funny 5 minutes

It could well be that but now you have quite a lot of info to go by

...

Originally Posted by b1nuzz

I guess i need to actual look at the measuring blocks in VCDS.

Yes I would go MVB route, I've charged my old genuine battery and it still keeps charge on multimeter, but previously would start losing "SOC" in car...

I've even had it checked by Halfords/Kwikfit and they said battery good but they were using a handheld electronic tool not a hi-rate discharger!

Not had time to refit old after charging it lots to see if it behave better or use the garage which last time checked with a hi-rate discharger...

**Akash** · 13-02-2013,11:43 PM

Just a quick one from what my own thoughts are on the MMI battery meter...
As some may know, I have two in-car cctv cameras that are always on. When parked, they go into parking mode whereby it activates only when there is movement or impact. In a shopping center carpark for instance, this would be almost every minute and so it's like them both being on constantly.

After a 12 hour shopping/cinema/lunch/dinner/valentines day/desert spree, I came to my car with the battery at almost 40%
When unlocking, everything works fine.
The charging time from this point to full is around 20-25 minutes

After a 3 day park-up, it was on almost 0% (only first bar was highlighted but this time when unlocking, the fogs do not turn on, the interior lights do not turn on (but under door puddles do)
The charging time from this point to full is around 20-25 minutes
There was also a audible struggle in the engine turning over whereas at 20-40%, it starts almost instantly as normal.

I'm not fussed about anything I've said above - I know fully well the cameras will drain the battery and it's just knowing when to start the car after it's been off and where it is parked. For instance, in today's carpark, given that the back was only the wall, I could/should have turned the rear cam off as no activity would have happened against the wall but I knew I wouldn't be gone long enough to let the battery die fully.

My other thoughts are that if the car shuts off all non-essential items such as lights when it is low, I can only assume there is a cut-off after say 5% where even the accessories would turn off (like my cams) so that the car would always start.

**msh** · 14-02-2013,03:48 PM

Have you got the latest version of MMI installed (5570) . I had similar problem with my car struggling to start in the mornings. I replaced battery with OE one and still had the same problem. Tried new alternator. Still the same. Audi told me that the battery fitted did not have code on it so could not be programmed to battery monitor.

They fitted another new battery and said this would fix it , but it didnt. Then they updated SW on MMI to latest version and this i think has done the trick.

Now I have a spare battery !!!