Upgrading EFB to AGM battery - recoding ‘Fleece’ or ‘AGM’?

[Cubbington]

Morning All,

I hope you’re all keeping safe and well on the roads out there.

I’m hopefully fitting a new battery today, and have bought a Bosch S5 AGM as it was only a few quid more expensive than the fitted EFB.

I’ve watched a few videos about how to adapt it with OBDEleven, and many say to set it as ’Fleece’, even though there’s an AGM-Binary option.

Is there a reason why the suggestion for Fleece rather than AGM?

I don’t want to mess things up!

Also, being new to OBDEleven, can it be used to adapt batteries to other makes? I fitted an AGM to my wife’s Smart ForTwo a few years ago and never coded it, so probably worth doing if I can!

Many thanks,

Nick

 

[SuperV8]

Fleece is just what VAG call the AGM batteries.
Just make sure you change it to fleece and put in the new battery capacity.

 

[ViperSlider]

Fleece is the correct one to use, a Binary AGM is an entirely different type of battery

 

[RUM4MO]

As above, what you are/have bought/buying is a drop in replacement for either a "standard" lead acid (flooded) battery or a EFB and so what VW Group term as "fleece" is the correct choice when coding.

Edit:- I'm not completing for praise here by the way, just reinforcing what has been said so that you will get a bit more of the feeling that all is okay.

 

[Cubbington]

Hi All,

Thanks so much, appreciate your comments, and @RUM4MO , I didn't read your post as wanting praise, just being helpful

And thanks for additional comments @SuperV8 , I knew about this, but thanks of the clarification, as the new battery is 760CCA/70ah compared to the fitted 690CCA/69ah.

Battery just collected from the local pick up point (ordered last night from Tayna, excellent service), and now waiting for the OBD to arrive from Amazon.

Cheers,

Nick

 

[nd-photo.nl]

I changed my battery as well and changed it to Fleece, as I upgraded from EFB to AGM

 

[RUM4MO]

Hi All,

Thanks so much, appreciate your comments, and @RUM4MO , I didn't read your post as wanting praise, just being helpful

And thanks for additional comments @SuperV8 , I knew about this, but thanks of the clarification, as the new battery is 760CCA/70ah compared to the fitted 690CCA/69ah.

Battery just collected from the local pick up point (ordered last night from Tayna, excellent service), and now waiting for the OBD to arrive from Amazon.

Cheers,

Nick

Out of general interest and maybe useful for others, what age is your car and its mileage when it needed this battery change?

 

[ViperSlider]

I'm not completing for praise

I am, FEED MY EGO!!

There is no harm in fitting the battery prior to the OBD arriving, just ensure it is done at the earliest opportunity.

The average lifespan of a vehicle battery is 4-6 years before issues "can" start to arise so that is what I recommend to my clients. My personal record is 9 years on an OEM battery and that was when the vehicle was sold and that had no signs or issues

 

[Cubbington]

I am, FEED MY EGO!!

There is no harm in fitting the battery prior to the OBD arriving, just ensure it is done at the earliest opportunity.

The average lifespan of a vehicle battery is 4-6 years before issues "can" start to arise so that is what I recommend to my clients. My personal record is 9 years on an OEM battery and that was when the vehicle was sold and that had no signs or issues

HEREWITH I BESTOW UPON YOU MILLIONS OF PRAISES

 

[Cubbington]

Out of general interest and maybe useful for others, what age is your car and its mileage when it needed this battery change?

No problem, 4 years old and 42k miles...similar to when the battery started to go on my Octavia. Started to take a little longer to start and with the temperatures dropping and me driving up north next week I didn't want to get caught out.

Boringly, the OBD scanner arrived just as it was getting dark, fitted the battery, whipped the positive terminal cover off and noticed a big crack on the corner of the new battery...box looked fine until I looked at it closely and it was squished in on one corner.

Bought it from Tayna though, and great service, no questions asked, just needed to send a couple of photos and they're arranging a replacement to be sent to my work next week, as they can't guarantee to get another to home tomorrow this late in the day.

The new battery's fitted and coded, and Tayna were fine with me leaving it in the car and just swapping it when the replacement arrives.

Thanks again for all your help everyone, and have a good weekend!

Cheers,

Nick

 

[Mr Pig]

Out of general interest and maybe useful for others, what age is your car and its mileage when it needed this battery change?

My battery lasted eight years, it was changed recently. My wife's battery is seven years old and still working with no misbehavior.

 

[Cubbington]

Well just did my first journey with the new battery and those extra electrons have given me another 20 brake

 

[RUM4MO]

I'll bet it did!

A beggar about the crack though!

I have just received 8 bolts from a "good" ebay trader - and quickly noticed that 2, while being roughly the same, had a different hex head size and different sized captive washers! Trader is sending a couple of the correct ones out, so no real problem - I'm not planning on using them until April.

Stuff happens, like that ebay trader sending these bolts out "48 hours tracked" - and we seem to have a new postie, and it looks like he doesn't like the winter weather, so "unable to access your property" notices from Royal Mail on Monday - Evri delivered okay, same on Tuesday - Evri delivered okay, same on Wednesday and Thursday! He did manage to deliver on Friday just before Evri delivered again!

 

[Cubbington]

Haha, I was wondering if anybody would take the bait on that last comment

Yeah, sh*t happens, but nobody’s going to die, and if sellers are understanding then it’s all good, which it sounds like your seller has been.

I bought some used scuba gear from a guy on eBay at the beginning of December, and only picked it up on Monday as he was waiting for some new parts he’d ordered to fit for me - I was totally chilled out about it, but I think he was worried about his feedback and reputation and gave me a couple of other bits, and a load of helpful advice as way of a thank you for being so patient…people are generally decent

 

[ViperSlider]

That sucks about the battery, they have cracking prices but you don't expect the battery to be cracking too!

Equally as boring, I am looking forward to replacing my battery when the car comes back, which will hopefully be before the summer. The resting charge in the battery settles a little lower than I'd like and one of my potential avenues for future projects includes a B2B and 2nd battery so with those things and the fact the battery is likely (not checked) coming up to 9 years old again (what are the chances) then it's worth the preventative costs.

Brand will be either Varta or Exide (unless I can get a brand new current OEM at similar prices) and will upgrade to the largest capacity that'll fit plus switch to AGM.

Just in case it's not clear, I am a nerd with car parts/brands/quality and VERY rarely stray away from OEM parts. One of the exceptions for this is batteries, only due to Exide and Varta being 2 of the OEM battery manufacturers for VW Group (Moll and Banner are another 2 but they have some questionable historical issues).

 

[Mr Pig]

Just in case it's not clear, I am a nerd with car parts/brands/quality and VERY rarely stray away from OEM parts. One of the exceptions for this is batteries...

I got my new battery from the dealer. Yes, it costs a bit more but it's not like it's double the price. The main thing with OEM parts is you have more confidence that you're getting the correct part and the quality will be ok. I've seen so many cases of people having issues caused by aftermarket parts which turned out to be not right.

 

[ViperSlider]

I got my new battery from the dealer. Yes, it costs a bit more but it's not like it's double the price. The main thing with OEM parts is you have more confidence that you're getting the correct part and the quality will be ok. I've seen so many cases of people having issues caused by aftermarket parts which turned out to be not right.

Agreed. When it comes to batteries, the OEM manufacturers own non-OEM branded parts often have a slightly higher AH and capacity but apart from that and the additional quality differences the OEM batteries have, there is no real world difference between the own branded (Varta and Exide for example) and the OEM branded. The own branded still come with BEM codes to correctly add the info to the vehicle BEM too.

In the same spirit with elsewhere on the car, OEM is always best but if someone absolutely must go aftermarket then they should stick with the OEM manufacturer brands (Bosch, SiemensVDO, Continental etc) but even then, there have been bad batches. However, OEM have had some bad batches too so it's swings and roundabouts lol

 

[Mr Pig]

Agreed. When it comes to batteries, the OEM manufacturers own non-OEM branded parts often have a slightly higher AH and capacity but apart from that and the additional quality differences the OEM batteries have, there is no real world difference between the own branded (Varta and Exide for example) and the OEM branded.

I think the point is that most of the time, you're perfectly safe with quality aftermarket parts, I've used them myself for decades and still do, but you can get caught out.

I fitted a new fuel filter to my daughter's Toledo last year and autodoc listed a few dozen compatible filters, including several different OEM VW ones which looked the same but had different part numbers. One from the dealer cost about the same as the better branded ones on autodoc so I played it safe with that. While collecting it I asked about the discrepancy I'd seen and was told that while the different filters are identical on the outside they have different amounts of resistance depending on the system they are in. So if you buy the wrong filter it might work, but you might get issues down the road and have no idea they are being caused by the wrong fuel filter.

Also, manufactures change. They get bought over, change of leadership etc and a brand that used to be a safe bet now produce junk. I bought a Bosch drill for work and it's a piece of crap! Bosch would never have sold a tool this poor years ago but this drill only looks the part.

Car manufacturers don't make parts but they filter their suppliers for you and weed out the absolute junk. For me that's often worth a slightly higher price. And, it really helps when selling the car! Show someone a big pile of main dealer parts receipts and they're happy campers. Guy who bought my daughter's Toledo didn't even haggle.

 

[nd-photo.nl]

Bosch is being manufactured in China nowadays if I am not mistaken. Same goes for Lemforder. That doesnt mean straightaway that its bad, but it could have impact on the quality of parts

 

[Cubbington]

That sucks about the battery, they have cracking prices but you don't expect the battery to be cracking too!

brilliant

In the first instance I hope you get the car back as you want it, and with as little hassle as possible with Sear.

With regards to the battery, I’m with on buying something OEM, and of decent quaility…the only reason I went for Bosch over Varta was that they are the same spec, same 5 year warranty, from the reeasrch I do, they’re made in the same factory…and the Bosch was a few quid cheaper.

Had an email from Tayna yesterday confirming delivery to my work address on Tuesday as requested, can’t complain about the service so far.

Must remember to take my OBD scanner so I can change the serial number again (if I can be bothered), but also so I can scan and clear any faults on my colleagues’ cars as they all have VAG wagons

Cheers,

Nick