Here is a picture of the left battery that the factory put in my W12 when it was new. As you can see, it is labelled both 'Varta DE' and 'VW AG'.
I have mine VARTA battery since the car was made in 2006. Works like a charm. Great Batteries.
The dealer sold me part # 000-915-105-DH for my swap yesterday. Sadly I didn't note the mfg and now that it's buttoned up we'll never know... FWIW - it looked almost identical to the Varta #1J0 915 105 AG that I pulled out.
As for the battery choice, I'd personally opt for the Varta. The main reason being the service life you have received from the original battery. I wouldn't worry too much about the Varta's lower rating as the original has seemed sufficient over approximately 6 years and most Phaeton owners are reporting excellent life from the original batteries.
The battery is very clean and the original Varta and the box is in tact. Car has about 42K on it, and has been in service for less than 3 yrs.
The cells on the original Varta battery have 6 caps, 5 of which are located under the stickers on the battery. Peel the stickers off. Your dealer hasn't been doing this right. Now, put on some goggles and some gloves. Take a quarter and turn out each cell cap and set them aside, someplace clean and someplace that you wouldn't want damaged by battery acid. Just a precaution. Look inside each cell. You should see the vertical plates, and they should be completely immersed in water- submerged about 1/4\". If not, add distilled water unto each cell until they are as such. It'll take only a couple of ounces.
I just got a new 47-36 battery made by Exide. The vent tube routes as Dr. Bob describes, and the clamps fit perfectly. My only issue with the new battery is that the vent caps are way at the back and may be hard to reach.
You were right in saying the battery was weak. More or less the battery was beat like a baby seal, so I replaced it with a preimum Exide unit
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