low battery warning

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royalsteve68

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get this sometimes when starting up

ive been told its due to the limited use - 6000 miles in 13 months doesn't help plus ive got 2 car cameras. however they have voltage drop battery protection and don't draw much power

audi have said they cant do anything and i havent pushed it yet. seems pretty poor as my 13 year old Peugeot has no problems

not sure if audi can do anything though

only option is I presume to get a battery charger like a ctek - looked at their site and what a joke, WHY so many chargers??? Its almost put me off. I presume the MXS 5.0 will suffice but I don't get why there are 3 variants and whether the 7.0 or 10.0 offer any benefit/advantages as they are a lot more - any thoughts?
 
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royalsteve68 said:
get this sometimes when starting up

ive been told its due to the limited use - 6000 miles in 13 months doesn't help plus ive got 2 car cameras. however they have voltage drop battery protection and don't draw much power

audi have said they cant do anything and i havent pushed it yet. seems pretty poor as my 13 year old Peugeot has no problems

not sure if audi can do anything though

only option is I presume to get a battery charger like a ctek - looked at their site and what a joke, WHY so many chargers??? Its almost put me off. I presume the MXS 5.0 will suffice but I don't get why there are 3 variants and whether the 7.0 or 10.0 offer any benefit/advantages as they are a lot more - any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Yep I get this a lot where have only done 2,000 miles in 12 months.

Have found if I take the car for a long (over 50 miles) drive the battery gets enough charge to keep the warning at bay for nearly 2 weeks of not being driven.

If it does lots of short journeys or has long periods on not being driving, then the warning light will come on every time the ignition comes on in my experience.

Yet to take it to Audi but so far a long drive now and again and a bit more regular driving cures things :)
 
I've owned a ctek 5.0 for around 5 years and it works really well.
 
It could also depend how you have driven those miles. If its all short runs, then I can understand the battery running down and something like a ctek would in all likelihood be a good idea (I have no idea which one you would want though, sorry, nor any experience of ctek's).

Something like this is not unusual for low use motorbikes, where we connect optimates to keep our batteries trickle charged through low use. I guess the same principal applies really. Having said that Optimate's can be used for cars as well as bikes, and whilst a little more expensive than the ctek are good quality, bikers swear by them. The Optimate 6 has just come out with latest technology, although you can still pick up Optimate 5's which will do the job also, but a little cheaper. The difference is only in th etechnology they deploy. Either looks like it would do the job for you.
 
leosayer1 said:
I've owned a ctek 5.0 for around 5 years and it works really well.
Click to expand...

yeh that was the one I was going to get, the newer version. however the 5.0 test, 5.0 stop/start, 7.0 and 10.0 have confused things - ridiculous range
 
I recommend that you use VCDS to disable Stop/Start

If you are doing tiny mileage, it's around town and you're not going on a regular run, several Stop/Starts will be pulling more out of your battery than you are putting back in.

My Dad had a similar issue with his BMW X1 - the dealer's official response was to buy one of their solar chargers and leave it on the dashboard... with a stupid response like that, needless to say he has now swapped brands!!!
 
I've had an old ctek xs3600 connected to the bike for the last 5 or 6 years and its been faultlessly. Best thing about them is that they're ip65 rated (i think) so I can leave it in a puddle of water under the bike and not worry about it, the old Optimates etc. weren't waterproof. Whether their newer chargers are better in this respect I don't know.
 
+1 for ctek - I have an MXS10.

I went for this model because you can also use it as a power supply to drive your tyre inflator, 12 volt lead lamp, and for testing things in the garage. :)
 
Pulp84 said:
Yep I get this a lot where have only done 2,000 miles in 12 months.

Have found if I take the car for a long (over 50 miles) drive the battery gets enough charge to keep the warning at bay for nearly 2 weeks of not being driven.

If it does lots of short journeys or has long periods on not being driving, then the warning light will come on every time the ignition comes on in my experience.

Yet to take it to Audi but so far a long drive now and again and a bit more regular driving cures things :)
Click to expand...
Wow thought I'd done few miles
 
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gtiller said:
I recommend that you use VCDS to disable Stop/Start

If you are doing tiny mileage, it's around town and you're not going on a regular run, several Stop/Starts will be pulling more out of your battery than you are putting back in.

My Dad had a similar issue with his BMW X1 - the dealer's official response was to buy one of their solar chargers and leave it on the dashboard... with a stupid response like that, needless to say he has now swapped brands!!!
Click to expand...
I switch off stop start on every journey. The most pointless, stupid and dangerous item developed for cars. It's ****** annoying when trying to park, it's ****** annoying in start stop traffic and traffic lights, it's also dangerous if Mr dickhead tailgator is behind you and mega dangerous on manual cars when it kicks in when you don't expect it like what happened to me on a test drive when pulling out if a junction and nearly t boned by a Lewis Hamilton impersonator doing 100 plus in a 40
 
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