how do i charge the battery

[SupraEdd]

they seem to range from about £140 for a LION 019 to £330 for a Bosch. although am very tempted by the RAC battery at £166 which includes home fitting! but what sort of quality is that going to be.
although now I have found a duracall advanged 019 for £160. just need to decide between 019 and 020 I think.

[RS04YOB]

after a night on the smart charger, its come back saying the battery is capput! how annoying, looks like its time to shell out £200 for a new one

£200 cant be that pricey surely

I got the most expensive one from Euro Car Parts, Bosch one at £170-ish I think.

Did have look they go up to £223 for one with 5 years warranty

[MrHilario]

Not sure what one it was, but I have a EuroCarParts store near my house so went down there, gave the guy my reg, and he gave me the options of what he had in stock. I just took the most expensive one, as BOSCH was the only name I recognised! lol.

[SupraEdd]

yeh this is on eurocarparts, their most expensive being the £330 bosch lol! 25% off at eurocarparts at the moment though, winner winner.

[MrHilario]

Pretty sure you don't have to go that expensive

[SupraEdd]

gone the the £160 Duracell with the 25% discount, 5 year gaurentee.

[SupraEdd]

So I fitted the Duracell 019 last night, its slightly smaller than the OEM varga battery, so the clamp hasn't 'clamped' properly, going to need to sort that out. The battery is slightly lighter though which is nice.
In case anyone else reads this and are doing the same, its a good idea to know how to reprogram the key, as when the battery was reconnected, the alarm went off and the key didn't work, its easy just:

Push LOCK on the fob, put key in ignition, turn on ignition, wait a few seconds, turn off ignition, remove key and push LOCK car

found that on another thread so kudos to the original poster.

[SupraEdd]

Does anyone know what the highlighted tube is? it comes out of the red/orange grommet on the right of the battery/sparewheel! well. but isn't connected to anything, couldn't really tell if the end of it had been snapped off of something.

[daytonamart]

The tube is a vent tube for the battery, the Varta one i bought had two plastic grommets, one on either side. After reading the instructions you are supposed to leave the right one in and put the vent tube in the other side.

It then vents any gas build up out of the battery and out the bottom of the wheel well.

[SupraEdd]

ah ok, hmmm well it certainly wasn't doing that in my car lol. I'll check the new battery to see if it needs the same. thankyou.

[daytonamart]

Here's the battery i got with the spec on the sides etc. The red circle is the left vent hole.