T7 Cali Ocean

[Aldoi]

Battery life - so yesterday night involved an aux heater (maybe 3/4 hours) as well as the internal lights.
1am beep beep beep - secondary battery running low (nice way to wake up)
2am - secondary battery dead

No electronic devices were plugged in or using anything absurd usage wise.

Seems a bit weird…

It may have gone a little under the radar but I believe the leisure battery capacity in the new cali has been significantly reduced from the T6.1.

It’s now 2x 40Ah for an Ocean. Believe it was 2x 75Ah for a T6.1 (and 2x 105Ah for a T6)?

 

[WelshGas]

It may have gone a little under the radar but I believe the leisure battery capacity in the new cali has been significantly reduced from the T6.1.

It’s now 2x 40Ah for an Ocean. Believe it was 2x 75Ah for a T6.1 (and 2x 105Ah for a T6)?

Correct, BUT they are Lithium batteries so can be run down to zero unlike the AGM which could be damaged below 50% capacity.
So same amount of power available.

 

[Melyn]

It may have gone a little under the radar but I believe the leisure battery capacity in the new cali has been significantly reduced from the T6.1.

It’s now 2x 40Ah for an Ocean. Believe it was 2x 75Ah for a T6.1 (and 2x 105Ah for a T6)?

So problem we have is the Button on the dashpanel is meant to charge the battery to full within 20mins / 30km - aside from this the leisure battery will charge via trickle charging otherwise

We are unable to get above 10% charge from the dash button or trickle charge - only way for us is to plugin to mains

Contacted the garage… 3 weeks before they can even look at the van… this is becoming a large farce (if you complain to vw commercial - it just gets diverted back to the garage) so trying another vw garage now as actually want nothing to do with the original one now…

 

[Melyn]

So to confirm details - since vw don’t like sharing this…

If your t7 leisure battery drops below 15%. Trickle charge and boost will no longer work

This is to “protect” the battery and you are unable to charge past the 10% or so that it will be left with unless you plug the vehicle into a campsite charger (or have a spare adaptor at home)

(vw thought their show battery was also dead and had actually ordered new ones)

 

[Melyn]

Kind of feels like an important part to show in the manual? Get below 15% and want to be off grid. Good luck kindof thing

 

[Melyn]

So vans back they claim it’s not an issue and my argument continues.

Comparing my van to a French Cali ocean (mine with nothing running is 6.7amp drain. Theirs is 0.1)

Mine shows under 8 hours battery life. There’s shows over 48hrs…

 

[Melyn]

 

[Ian in Leicester]

So to confirm details - since vw don’t like sharing this…

If your t7 leisure battery drops below 15%. Trickle charge and boost will no longer work

This is to “protect” the battery and you are unable to charge past the 10% or so that it will be left with unless you plug the vehicle into a campsite charger (or have a spare adaptor at home)

(vw thought their show battery was also dead and had actually ordered new ones)

Are you saying that the leisure batteries don't charge when driving if below 15%? Not sure if that's what you mean by trickle charge.
Thanks

 

[Melyn]

Are you saying that the leisure batteries don't charge when driving if below 15%? Not sure if that's what you mean by trickle charge.
Thanks

Yes, neither the boost button nor the trickle (from driving) will touch the leisure battery once it’s below 15%

 

[Archie]

Is there only 1 leisure battery on the T7 Ocean ?
I thought there were 2? Is it just the info screen in van describing a pair as “2nd battery?”

 

[Melyn]

Is there only 1 leisure battery on the T7 Ocean ?
I thought there were 2? Is it just the info screen in van describing a pair as “2nd battery?”

2. But it runs in parallel

 

[Melyn]

Week three (almost) of having the van - still unable to get even a remotely decent battery life. Vw still haven’t replied (about to do the not fit for purpose return if it’s not sorted Monday)

 

[WelshGas]

Week three (almost) of having the van - still unable to get even a remotely decent battery life. Vw still haven’t replied (about to do the not fit for purpose return if it’s not sorted Monday)

View attachment 133730

That looks OK, for a Current Draw of 7 amps / hour.

So what is drawing 7 amps?

 

[Melyn]

That looks OK, for a Current Draw of 7 amps / hour.

So what is drawing 7 amps?

Nothing is on. No lights. No stereo. No fridge. No aircon

As soon as the main battery is less than 100% the leisure batteries charge it. Is the only explanation I have so far - the garage have 0 clue on it and VW haven’t responded to them yet after a week

 

[WelshGas]

Nothing is on. No lights. No stereo. No fridge. No aircon

As soon as the main battery is less than 100% the leisure batteries charge it. Is the only explanation I have so far - the garage have 0 clue on it and VW haven’t responded to them yet after a week

Hypothesis.
If the VW explanation is correct then when you unlock and open the Drivers Door then the vehicle expects to be driven imminently to fires up the electronics , electric steering , etc etc, which would elicit a current draw on the engine battery.
What happens, do you see, on the Camping Control Panel, if you unlock the vehicle and the sliding door to get in the vehicle, NOT the drivers door? At least 30 minutes after Ignition Off or disconnection from EHU.
The Time Remaining on the 2nd Battery is a simple calculation based on the Current Draw at that time point and should increase substantially once the current draw is reduced.
This might be VWs method of reducing the liklihood of a flat engine battery with repeated use of the ICS system.
Just a theory.

 

[CaliforniaCylus]

So to confirm details - since vw don’t like sharing this…

If your t7 leisure battery drops below 15%. Trickle charge and boost will no longer work

This is to “protect” the battery and you are unable to charge past the 10% or so that it will be left with unless you plug the vehicle into a campsite charger (or have a spare adaptor at home)

(vw thought their show battery was also dead and had actually ordered new ones)

That's just utter nonsense. VW at its finest.

 

[Melyn]

Hypothesis.
If the VW explanation is correct then when you unlock and open the Drivers Door then the vehicle expects to be driven imminently to fires up the electronics , electric steering , etc etc, which would elicit a current draw on the engine battery.
What happens, do you see, on the Camping Control Panel, if you unlock the vehicle and the sliding door to get in the vehicle, NOT the drivers door? At least 30 minutes after Ignition Off or disconnection from EHU.
The Time Remaining on the 2nd Battery is a simple calculation based on the Current Draw at that time point and should increase substantially once the current draw is reduced.
This might be VWs method of reducing the liklihood of a flat engine battery with repeated use of the ICS system.
Just a theory.

So think you might be right on this - 30mins later (left side door open, no lights etc on)

Still significantly less than the average persons though… and does feel like it discharges until the main battery is 100%

 

[Melyn]

Prime example is this one. Click refresh button top right and it discharges leisure to charge main and will be between 6-20A draw until main battery is 100%

 

[Ian in Leicester]

There must be a few multivan Ocean owners out there now - is everyone suffering this problem? I don't get mine until June so can't help on this.

 

[WelshGas]

View attachment 133761
Prime example is this one. Click refresh button top right and it discharges leisure to charge main and will be between 6-20A draw until main battery is 100%

Do you have full electric or manual sliding doors, likewise the tailgate?

 

[Betsycalifornia]

View attachment 133761
Prime example is this one. Click refresh button top right and it discharges leisure to charge main and will be between 6-20A draw until main battery is 100%

Isn’t that a fault with the split charger, as in it’s allowing a reverse charge at full power?

 

[Melyn]

Do you have full electric or manual sliding doors, likewise the tailgate?

Manual sliding doors. Manual tailgate

 

[Melyn]

Isn’t that a fault with the split charger, as in it’s allowing a reverse charge at full power?

Has to be. They want to compare it to the demo model on Monday back in the garage - as mine is definately different.

My biggest issue is I don’t have any faith the garage can actually fix it - as this was the reason it went in last week, and they got to the bottom of the 15% charge mininum but nothing Else

 

[Melyn]

Melyn
May I politely ask what your sleeping arrangements are, and how you are finding both the width and comfort of each bed, if indeed you have slept in both?
Is there more than one person in each bed? It’s well known now that both beds are narrower than in the previous models, so interested to know how you are finding them so far?

I sleep upstairs - wife, 3 year old and one of our dogs on the bed downstairs, other dog under the bed (she’s strange)

You definately notice the less room - one of the biggest things now is you cannot sit up in the back of the boot! The storage box will hit your head

You cannot sleep with your head towards the front of the vehicle either if you have small kids as the chance of them falling out when you open the door (if they move) is kindof sketchy.

Small child will be going upstairs (with the net) next camping trip (next week providing I’ve not fully returned the vehicle - based on Mondays investigations at vw)

 

[Melyn]

Two new leisure batteries fitted (and/or whatever was done previously incorrectly ) and back to an acceptable battery life



View attachment IMG_1733.jpeg