Grand Cali Battery Drain

Mary-JaneP · Dec 4, 2023

Hi, apologies in advance for the long post!
I bought a Grand Cali brand new at the end of June and since taking delivery of it, the leisure battery has always appeared to have a drain of 1amp although everything is switched off and nothing is being demanded of the battery. I can leave it parked at my house on a Monday morning at 100% and when I get home on a Friday it is down to 20% so I am having to plug it in to charge every week, which is not something I have had with any other van I have owned. (This has been throughout the summer when there wasn't any frosty weather).
It has been back in to the VW dealership twice, once for three weeks and then most recently for five weeks for them to try and identify the problem. They have not found what is causing this and they asked VW Technical if they could get approval to replace the leisure battery to see if this could resolve the problem. VW Technical have come back and said no, they are not prepared to do anything, and suggested I might want to get a solar panel fitted to help!!
So my question is, what are other peoples experiences of what to expect when your van is parked up with no demand on the battery - how quickly would your leisure battery discharge?
Also, has anyone else had this problem with a new Grand Cali?
Any thoughts or advice are very welcome, as at the moment I am telling the dealership to take the van back and give me my money back. But I really don't want to do this as I love the van other than this issue!
Many thanks in advance, Mary-Jane

WelshGas · Dec 4, 2023

Mary-JaneP said:
Hi, apologies in advance for the long post!
I bought a Grand Cali brand new at the end of June and since taking delivery of it, the leisure battery has always appeared to have a drain of 1amp although everything is switched off and nothing is being demanded of the battery. I can leave it parked at my house on a Monday morning at 100% and when I get home on a Friday it is down to 20% so I am having to plug it in to charge every week, which is not something I have had with any other van I have owned. (This has been throughout the summer when there wasn't any frosty weather).
It has been back in to the VW dealership twice, once for three weeks and then most recently for five weeks for them to try and identify the problem. They have not found what is causing this and they asked VW Technical if they could get approval to replace the leisure battery to see if this could resolve the problem. VW Technical have come back and said no, they are not prepared to do anything, and suggested I might want to get a solar panel fitted to help!!
So my question is, what are other peoples experiences of what to expect when your van is parked up with no demand on the battery - how quickly would your leisure battery discharge?
Also, has anyone else had this problem with a new Grand Cali?
Any thoughts or advice are very welcome, as at the moment I am telling the dealership to take the van back and give me my money back. But I really don't want to do this as I love the van other than this issue!
Many thanks in advance, Mary-Jane

Firstly, if the GC control panel is anything like the California it will always show a current draw if the panel is illuminated and this drops to zero when the panel goes to standby or switched off.
Secondly the % battery reading uses an iffy algorithm based on spot data consumption often reset by Ignition On/Off or Panel On/Off.
Lastly, the voltage is accurate.
What is the voltage at 100% and 20%? Voltage should be noted at least 30 minutes after charging or driving.

Mary-JaneP · Dec 4, 2023

WelshGas said:
Firstly, if the GC control panel is anything like the California it will always show a current draw if the panel is illuminated and this drops to zero when the panel goes to standby or switched off.
Secondly the % battery reading uses an iffy algorithm based on spot data consumption often reset by Ignition On/Off or Panel On/Off.
Lastly, the voltage is accurate.
What is the voltage at 100% and 20%? Voltage should be noted at least 30 minutes after charging or driving.

View attachment 116982

Thanks so much for your reply WelshGas - when I get my van back from the dealership I'll have a check of the voltages.

andyinluton · Dec 4, 2023

Mary-JaneP said:
Hi, apologies in advance for the long post!
I bought a Grand Cali brand new at the end of June and since taking delivery of it, the leisure battery has always appeared to have a drain of 1amp although everything is switched off and nothing is being demanded of the battery. I can leave it parked at my house on a Monday morning at 100% and when I get home on a Friday it is down to 20% so I am having to plug it in to charge every week, which is not something I have had with any other van I have owned. (This has been throughout the summer when there wasn't any frosty weather).
Many thanks in advance, Mary-Jane

Just turning on the control panel will make it show a discharge.

When you say you turn everything off, do you turn the big red master switch in the electrical cupboard? Our battery would be substantially discharged within a week if we didnt use the red switch. With that turned off it would be ok for a couple of weeks.

I used one of these connected to the leisure battery to let me monitor the state of it without having to go into the van & fire everything up. The app on my phone tracked discharge over time & showed the current voltage.

Mary-JaneP · Dec 9, 2023

andyinluton said:
Just turning on the control panel will make it show a discharge.

When you say you turn everything off, do you turn the big red master switch in the electrical cupboard? Our battery would be substantially discharged within a week if we didnt use the red switch. With that turned off it would be ok for a couple of weeks.

I used one of these connected to the leisure battery to let me monitor the state of it without having to go into the van & fire everything up. The app on my phone tracked discharge over time & showed the current voltage.View attachment 116985

Many thanks for your advice andyinluton - no I haven't been switching off the red switch - is that the isolator? I thought switching that off might mean I would have to reset the time on the panel etc whenever I would switch it back on, is this right, or does switching it off only mean that the battery keeps it's charge a bit better with no negative issues? Really appreciate you taking the time to respond, thank you! I might well get one of those battery monitors too, thanks.

sidepod · Dec 9, 2023

For the dealer to say they can’t find an issue is utter horse sh1t. It either has a parasitic drain or it doesn’t. If it does then it’s not hard to trace it.

andyinluton · Dec 9, 2023

sidepod said:
For the dealer to say they can’t find an issue is utter horse sh1t. It either has a parasitic drain or it doesn’t. If it does then it’s not hard to trace it.

I don’t think it’s necessarily an issue that can be resolved. On a GC even with everything switched off there’s still a lot on if that makes sense. That’s why the isolator switch needs to be used.

andyinluton · Dec 9, 2023

Mary-JaneP said:
Many thanks for your advice andyinluton - no I haven't been switching off the red switch - is that the isolator? I thought switching that off might mean I would have to reset the time on the panel etc whenever I would switch it back on, is this right, or does switching it off only mean that the battery keeps it's charge a bit better with no negative issues? Really appreciate you taking the time to respond, thank you! I might well get one of those battery monitors too, thanks.

Use the red switch, clock won’t need resetting, it keeps the charge much better not just a bit better. Try it, you’ve got nothing to loose.