Battery Registration for Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Cupra and Skoda

What is battery registration?

Modern Volkswagen Group cars monitor the 12V battery and adjust how they charge it as it ages. An older battery is charged differently from a new one.

When you fit a new battery, the car does not notice on its own. It carries on using the charging strategy it had worked out for the old, worn battery, which means your new battery is not charged correctly and will not last as long as it should.

Battery registration is simply telling the car that a new battery has been fitted, so it resets its charging strategy and starts treating the battery as new.

Where to find it

1. Connect to your car in the Carista app.
2. Open Service.
3. Select Battery Registration.

To see whether your car is supported and whether it supports battery registration, check the supported models and features for your car on our website: https://carista.com/apps/supported-cars/

Look under the Service tools for your model.

Before you start

1. Fit the new 12V battery first. Register it afterwards, not before.
2. Switch the ignition ON.
3. Have the new battery’s label to hand if you have one. It usually shows the manufacturer, part number and serial number.

How to register the battery

1. Open Battery Registration. The app reads the battery data currently stored in your car and shows you exactly which details your particular car needs for the registration.
2. Update the fields to match the new battery.
3. Confirm to save the new values.

If the registration completes successfully, it means your car has accepted the new battery and will now charge it as a new one.

Carista also adds a maintenance record to your Car diary automatically.

What to enter in each field

The fields you see depend on your car. Not every car asks for the same information, and the app only shows the ones your car actually needs.

Manufacturer

If the manufacturer of your new battery is not in the list, leave the manufacturer that is already selected. This value does not need to be exact.

Part number

If you are not sure what the correct part number is, leave the value that the app shows. 

Capacity and technology (Ah, AGM, EFB, lead-acid)

Set these to match your new battery when the fields are shown. If the app does not show them, it means your car’s control unit does not need this information in order to register the battery. This is normal, and nothing is missing.

Serial number

This is the important one. The car needs to see a serial number that is different from the one currently stored, because that is how it recognises the battery has been replaced.

If you do not know the serial number of your new battery, change the last character of the number shown in the app. For example, if the app shows RB3GL60SM5, change it to RB3GL60SM6.

Keep the same length. The field expects a fixed number of characters, so replace a character rather than adding or removing any.

If the registration does not go through

• Make sure the ignition is still on, and the scanner is firmly in the OBD2 port.
• Check that you actually changed the serial number. If it is identical to the one already stored, the car has no reason to treat the battery as new.

If it still does not work, please send us a report from More > Report a problem in the app so we can look at the technical details.