New battery required, any recommendations?

[CHEZ]

Ok, so my car has been parked up for a few days and upon starting tonight I noticed the battery level on the display (previously activated by carista) , was displaying a few missing bars, aprox 80% .
It has never been less than 100% so looks like the cold weather plus age have taken there toll.
It's the original battery and been on since new, 2009 so had a good innings.
So looking at a replacement, there a millions to choose from!
I just want a good, preferably cheap replacement.
Can any of you fine people recommend a good replacement and where to purchase.
Must it be coded in?
Well it worked for my mate anyway not coding, but his didn't have start/stop
It's an A5 2.0 TFSI , with start stop but have that disabled.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.!

 

[CHEZ]

Well other than the 80% charge level indicated on the MMI, that incidentally reached 100% after 20 mins of driving I am wondering if there was anything actually wrong at all with the battery.
I haven't had a low battery warning, and everything is working as normal.
Coming home lights haven't been deactivated or anything weird.
What I do notice though is that a few weeks ago I bought a Bluetooth adapter that plugs into the aux under the arm rest, and a little wire going to the USB cigarette charger thing was never unplugged.
Surely that can't be sapping any battery power because once the ignition is off the 12v supply is off?
I unplugged it anyway when not in the car and will be monitoring

 

[Theophany]

I wouldn't worry about it. My mother's BMW 440i is barely driven more than a couple of miles a week and around this time of the year when the temperature drops it has to be left on trickle charge every few days to keep it topped up. A goood drive should recharge the battery and keep it working as it should.

 

[CHEZ]

I wouldn't worry about it. My mother's BMW 440i is barely driven more than a couple of miles a week and around this time of the year when the temperature drops it has to be left on trickle charge every few days to keep it topped up. A goood drive should recharge the battery and keep it working as it should.

Done 250 mile today collecting an eBay purchase, so hopefully that should have zapped the battery a bit.
Saying that it rained all the way there and back so lights and wipers were on constant.
Car never missed a beat

 

[desertstorm]

If it's a 2009 car then the actual battery capacity compared to when it was new is probably only 60% or so dependent on the use it's had. Batteries on cars that are used frequently and do a reasonable amount of miles will last the longest. The MMI is fairly useless for displaying actual battery capacity it will show 100% right upto the point when it's getting borderline then will drop to 50-60%
Your issue will come when you have to leave the car at the airport for longer than a week or so and it won't start when you come back to it. This time of the year batteries get a real work out as almost all the time you have lights, wipers, heater fan, electric seats etc on and this is a large load. Combined with the cold temps . https://www.tayna.co.uk/ are pretty decent prices.

 

[CHEZ]

If it's a 2009 car then the actual battery capacity compared to when it was new is probably only 60% or so dependent on the use it's had. Batteries on cars that are used frequently and do a reasonable amount of miles will last the longest. The MMI is fairly useless for displaying actual battery capacity it will show 100% right upto the point when it's getting borderline then will drop to 50-60%
Your issue will come when you have to leave the car at the airport for longer than a week or so and it won't start when you come back to it. This time of the year batteries get a real work out as almost all the time you have lights, wipers, heater fan, electric seats etc on and this is a large load. Combined with the cold temps . https://www.tayna.co.uk/ are pretty decent prices.

Oh absolutely Karl, I know this only too well.
Just trying to eek the longest possible time I can until a replacement can be found, aka Christmas coming,and plenty to pull out first lol.
Contingency plans are underway, I turn the auto lights off when leaving, don't put the handbrake on( I imagine that would be a ballache trying to release with a flat battery) when I park in the garage and try and use it as often as I can.

 

[Meemo]

my poor battery suffers in the winter too being sat in the cold, I know it is low when I unlock the car and the courtesty lights don't activate, stereo is off when I switch it on, also the dash cams parking mode only lasts a few minutes.
One of the security devices on the car gives me a car health check page in app and I can see the live volts from the battery when I get in and they are low 11s only a few minutes after switching the car off (this means battery sucks and needs replacing I know)
But...

I have recently purchased a 6watt solar panel battery maintainer from Halfords and got the ODB plug (it was annoying removing the spare to clip the battery every time!)
and my battery as promised by the product holds exactly the volts where I left it after the last use, even when sat for weeks.
if you want to hold off a bit longer like i am trying, I highly recommend.

 

[CHEZ]

my poor battery suffers in the winter too being sat in the cold, I know it is low when I unlock the car and the courtesty lights don't activate, stereo is off when I switch it on, also the dash cams parking mode only lasts a few minutes.
One of the security devices on the car gives me a car health check page in app and I can see the live volts from the battery when I get in and they are low 11s only a few minutes after switching the car off (this means battery sucks and needs replacing I know)
But...

I have recently purchased a 6watt solar panel battery maintainer from Halfords and got the ODB plug (it was annoying removing the spare to clip the battery every time!)
and my battery as promised by the product holds exactly the volts where I left it after the last use, even when sat for weeks.
if you want to hold off a bit longer like i am trying, I highly recommend.

Very interesting, I might look into that.
Cheers @Meemo
My car is garaged mostly so will probably stick the panel on the roof and thread the cable through there.
Question tho?
Could it not trickle charge through the fag lighter socket to save the faff of getting to the battery every time?
My ODB is let's just say out of bounds

 

[Meemo]

Very interesting, I might look into that.
Cheers @Meemo
My car is garaged mostly so will probably stick the panel on the roof and thread the cable through there.
Question tho?
Could it not trickle charge through the fag lighter socket to save the faff of getting to the battery every time?
My ODB is let's just say out of bounds

The solar panel kit comes with a cig lighter connection and battery clips, but sadly it seems the cigarette charger port is powered down by the ECU when the car is off, making it not viable as a charge source, but they do an additional OBD plug you can buy separately for car models that power down the cig 12v ports when the ignition is off, which is what mine is now using.
I did get the lower wattage one at first but I have so many parasitic drains due to extra security stuff that I moved that one to the boyfriends car and got the much bigger paneled 6w, if you get it on Halfords trade it is only £30 + £7 something for the OBD plug.

https://www.halfords.com/workshop-t...ters/halfords-solar-battery-maintainer-12v-6w
https://www.halfords.com/workshop-t...obd-power-cable-for-solar-battery-maintainers