How to code a new Battery on your VAG Group vehicle.

 

Why do I need to code the new battery:

 

Simply put VAG Cars adapt how they charge the battery over time and if you don’t tell the car it’s been replaced it will consider the battery is getting older and older and change the charging process accordingly. From what I have seen this change will cause your batter to reduce its life span but can’t find the definitive details to share at this time

 

Why do I keep seeing different processes to change the battery

 

Simply put technology always changes over time and as a result currently we have multiple different solutions for coding.

 

The main difference is between UDS and Non UDS Protocol control units.

In order to work out what you have, in the control unit select Info and look at the Protocol at the bottom of the screen.

 

Change Control unit 61

Non UDS Control unit

UDS Control unit

 

 

 

 

1/ For cars that have control unit 61

 

Select Control unit 61 (Battery Adaptation) if you don’t have it go to option 2/ below

Select Long Adaptation

Select channel 4(004)

Enter the code in the following format, XXX(Battery Size eg 060) SPACE XXX(Battery Vendor) SPACE Serial Number

 

Battery Vendor has no impact so you can just use the same code

Serial Number is 10 numbers long all you have to do is change the number by 1 this tells the system you have

A new battery.

 

 

If your control unit has Long Coding as well (and not all cars do), and you want to change battery type then select Byte 02 and as per the above screen shot

You can select from the drop down list and choose the relevant battery type.

Thanks to car hacker on Youtube for this gem

 

 

 

 

2/ For cars with NON UDS control units (eg KWP2000) but no control unit 61

 

Android Screen                                                                                                                                                                    IOS Screen

			Select control unit 19 Select Long adaptation (1) Then Select drop down list (2) or just type in channel 4 (004)   IOS does not have drop down list so type in channel 4 (004)
					Use pen marker and type in new value
			From the list select Battery adaptation   Or if you have selected channel 4   You will see the old coding in Value   Battery amp = 068 Manufacturer = JCB Serial No = 1111111111   So to code it in the Enter new value you will enter 3 digit for amp (if it’s the same just enter 068 or if different then new number). Then Space Then Manufacturer it’s not important so you can use the old one Then Space Then 10 digit serial number if you don’t have one just add 1 to existing one but it must be a different number.

Thanks to Don DV52 for following but I have not yet found out what conditions cause this different format.

 

If the string for the battery has

• the battery part number,
• the manufacturer, and
• the serial number.

Then Each component is separated by a space in the number-string like this:

PartNumberspaceManufacturerspaceSerialNumber

 

ALL of this information can be found on the BEM Code sticker - see the 3 x colored boxes in the picture below.

The PartNumber is key to telling the system what size battery you have (unlike the other types where you enter a value)

But again to tell the system you have a new battery change the serial number by 1 from the previous one.

 

 

Note: Check the number of digits in the first number - because the first part of the value that's entered into the 04 channel MUST be 11 x digits (this is the battery part number). In my picture, the red colored box has only 10 x digits - so you need to enter a space as the 11th digit.  If your battery part number is the same, this means that there will be 2 x spaces between the battery part number and the manufacturer for the BEM code in my picture.

 

For the BEM Code sticker above, the correct entry should be:

3D0915105HspacespaceVAOspace590116G0Q9

 

IMPORTANT: use CAPITAL letters and make sure that you distinguish correctly between the number zero and the letter "O" (the former has a stroke through the number) - failure to do this will cause problems!!!

 

 

 

3) UDS Control Units

 

There are two types of battery used on VAG cars.

Enhanced Flooded (EFB) are essentially standard batteries manufactured to much higher standards. They have twice the endurance of standard liquid filled batteries and are fitted to vehicles with Stop/Start.

Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) batteries have three times the endurance of standard batteries and are fitted to higher specification cars with higher electrical loads. In these batteries the liquid is absorbed by a framework of glass mats.

You can use an AGM battery instead of an EFB one, but at much higher cost.

These modern batteries required different charging cycles from standard batteries. If you buy a decent battery charger you will have options to charge a standard battery or a smart battery.

This is the reason why the car's battery management system needs to know what kind of battery you have. If you change a battery for one with an identical specification from a different manufacturer you may not see any error codes and it may charge correctly.. If you change to a different battery without recoding, it may not charge correctly, even if you don't see fault codes, and that may affect battery life.

 

To code new battery go to Gateway (19) select adaption and you will get the following drop down list.
Select the Battery adaptation option

Gateway Adaption Full List	Battery adaptation screen

From the Battery Adaption Screen you can now change the following values

Rated battery capacity, Battery manufacturer, Battery serial number and Battery technology to match the battery you have fitted.

All of the these values can be populated from a drop down list the only one that has an option list is the Battery technology where you select the value you require.

Rated battery capacity Type in the Battery capacity not the Crank value	Battery manufacturer This is important so can be left if you Cant find the code	Battery serial number This is Key as it tells the System new battery fitted Just increase by one.	Battery technology
		Enter Serial Number