Thread: How long is the life of your D4 battery?

Drivesafe

If the original D4 calcium Varta has been replaced by the new Exide AGM is there a need to do anything to the charging system on the D4.

ie does it matter that the characteristics of the newly installed AGM battery is very different to the characteristics of the old Calcium battery to the charging system.

Originally Posted by sheerluck

I had a similar worry about my Golf Bluemotion. Admittedly it gets <10% stop start use, but now 20 months old and 36000km in, and still it restarts before you've even got the clutch pedal halfway down.

It does seem to detect that if you're in prolonged stop-start traffic, then it will avoid cutting out, presumably once a low charge point is reached.

If it's the same set-up as on my wife's Merc...it's got a secondry power source for stop start ... is that only to run accessories while stopped?

Hi Ferret and going on how the Optimas perform with my D3 and D4 DBS, you should have no problems and the system should work quite well with the new AGM cranking battery.

I have been trying to work out how I can fit two Optima D34, 55Ah batteries in the cranking battery compartment of my Vogue, but, and the reason for asking Peter about the new LR battery, I'll go with one of them if it suits the Vogue.

Originally Posted by Celtoid

If it's the same set-up as on my wife's Merc...it's got a secondry power source for stop start ... is that only to run accessories while stopped?

Single battery on the Golf. The accessories seem to go into low power mode once it's stopped, and if it detects a high power draw (such as having the heated rear screen, wipers and lights all going at the same time) then you get the Stop/Start disabled symbol come up on the dash.

I know the alternator has a clutch in it so that it is only in use when the capacitor charging system from the braking can't charge the battery enough. Immensely clever bit of kit. Not sure I'd like to own a 15 year old one though.

Originally Posted by sheerluck

Single battery on the Golf. The accessories seem to go into low power mode once it's stopped, and if it detects a high power draw (such as having the heated rear screen, wipers and lights all going at the same time) then you get the Stop/Start disabled symbol come up on the dash.

I know the alternator has a clutch in it so that it is only in use when the capacitor charging system from the braking can't charge the battery enough. Immensely clever bit of kit. Not sure I'd like to own a 15 year old one though.

Oh OK. The Merc has some weird looking device in the boot, next to the spare wheel. It doesn't look like a battery at all but apparently it is a power source for the stop/start system.

Same characteristics though...a/c, etc run on a reduced setting and the engine restarts when the system gets too low. The car has a green 'ECO' light that turns amber when charging with the car engine running.

There is a button on the dash to turn it off and on....but it defaults to on.

I've done a few quick searches but thus far haven't been able to find exactly how it works.

Cheers.

Originally Posted by sheerluck

Not sure I'd like to own a 15 year old one though.

Don’t worry about 15 year old vehicles.

These new alternator/regenerative braking systems are a total waste of time when it comes to trying to charging an auxiliary/house battery and are proving a nightmare for European Police forces.

They can’t get enough 12v power to run all their electronics they need.

A comment re Drivesafe's reply regarding fuel economy and batteries. Years ago a workmate and I had to do some work in Wilcannia, we both had identical XF Panel vans and filled up for the return trip to Cobar in the evening. I had a pair of 150 Watt sealed beams on the bullbar so I went first. We both filled up in the morning and I had used 5 more litres of fuel from running the lights for 260 Km on the trip back.

Regards,
Tote

Hi Tote and I would love to know what are the fuel consumption figures for a vehicle with different current load being applied to an alternator.

The info is not available anywhere ( to my knowledge ) for any make of vehicle.

There are a few statistics for fuel consumption verses alternator loads for long distance trucking, but not for standard vehicles or 4x4s.