Power consumption too high?

[fzrkev]

Got this message in the start-stop menu today. I'm unsure about what it means as I had nothing except DRL's and radio on. Went for a scoot around town for about 40 minutes and it was still there. Odd as the ss system has been fine til now. Anyone shed any light on the inner workings of this system?

[vc-10]

Mine's been doing this for a while. Been lucky to get it to stop more than once during a journey! And even then it often starts the car back up again before the lights change. Power drain this time of year is generally quite high- lights, heated screen/mirrors, heated seats (wish I had them!), etc etc. If you do lots of slow city driving with lots of short trips it never gets the chance to properly charge the system up. I think that 'power consumption is high' should really be replaced with 'battery charge too low' for that kind of situation! It also displays that message when the car is ice cold and so the start/stop system shouldn't be operational due to the cold, perhaps a 'engine temperature too low' should be displayed during that situation. The only other message I've seen on it is something along the lines of 'hill gradient too steep' or something, when I was stuck in traffic on a very steep hill. This is presumably to maintain brake pressure.

 

I'm still not 100% convinced that my battery is up to snuff TBH. 

[fzrkev]

Ah, that makes sense. Mine does sit for a couple of days between uses but will get a good run down the borders tomorrow. Shall see if that helps.

[Ootohere]

What does make a difference is where there is a suitable battery fitted for the vehicle and then the driving is suitable for 'battery'regeneration. sometimes the systems are there but the drivers style of driving or location means no regeneration is getting done. Just the good old inadequate alternator.

[fzrkev]

Do we have regenerative braking systems of the fab?

[unclerichy]

My wife's car has been in twice (posted on a separate thread somewhere) and she gets this and SS barely works even on 200+ mile runs. The local dealer says he's seen this on a couple of Fabias now and has flagged it up with Skoda.  His suspicion is that the alternator isn't beefy enough to charge the battery on shorter runs.

[colsay]

Bit confused here. Regenerative braking? Surely braking energy is just dissipated as heat through the brake pads/discs?

With regard to start/stop can't say I am a fan. My suspicions are it was introduced to meet CO2 reduction targets. It is inevitably a strain on battery and starter motor and makes the car less pleasant to drive. Maybe it is less obtrusive in big Beemers and Mercs. It is of course another source of potential problems as the car gets older.

[Ootohere]

No Energy Regeneration Braking then, or "Brake Energy Recuperation" and not enough power in batteries for all the 'Greeness'.  Simply not clever!

http://skoda-auto.com/en/company/environment/green-technologies

http://volkswagen.co.uk/technology/glossary/brake-energy-regeneration

Edited 22 December, 2016 by Offski

[stonyb1]

Battery Chargers for Skoda's with SS  - am under the impression that cars with SS require a specific type of charger ?

Can anybody clarify please.

[rum4mo]

Not exactly, try to find out which type of battery is fitted to your car and buy a smart charger that claims to be compatible with your battery type, EFB or AGM etc.

[vc-10]

I'm pretty sure that all cars with Stop/Start have a 'smart' alternator that tries to charge most when braking.

Certainly the Fabia has the same official mpg figures as the Polo, which is advertised as having regenerative braking.

I'm sure mine isn't right. I did about 300 miles yesterday, barely any of it around the city (drove from Manchester to Reading and then to Salisbury) and it didn't even stop when I parked and put it in neutral.