battery charge longevity?

hugnettelfield · Jul 22, 2013

We are just off to our first festival (WOMAD) in our brand new cali; we are assuming that there will be no hook-up available and wonder about use of fridge; the question is about the capacity of the battery to last 3 days of fridge use and wonder if there is any advice out there about how gently we need to go to keep the domestic power going. Also, if we find a need to run the engine to charge the battery (which is probably not very sociable in a cramped camping field), will leaving the engine on tick-over for an hour do the job?

All advice welcomed! Hugh

lewisnoble · Jul 22, 2013

You ought to be OK - though in hot weather the drain on the batteries from the fridge is much higher than when temperatures are more moderate. A hot sunny day in our dark blue Cali can mean that the fridge is running pretty well all the time! especially if the van is locked and shut up without much ventilation to cool things down inside.

Things you can do to help out are

1) put on hook up at home for whatever time you have left before setting off for as long as you can - you cannot be certain that the dealers charged the batteries much while it was with them.

2) Switch fridge on at the beginning of your journey - getting the thing cold in the first place takes a fair bit of power, so having it cold. from the engine alternator, before you rely on the batteries makes quite a difference.

But I really think you should be OK and not need to top up at all. Keep an eye on the control panel - 'frost' symbol in top right corner means fridge is on - new Calis may be different from our older model I suppose.

Lewis

BerndRos · Jul 22, 2013

On 4 the fridge will last ok and not drain the battery's...be slightly careful with lights usage....

It will be fine

Pineweasel · Jul 22, 2013

We went to Glastonbury and the batteries were fine for 5 days with no hook up and no need for any recharging via idling. We ran the fridge on 3, charged a couple of phones each night and used the lights, tap etc. as needed. I think the display showed 20% when we left.

lewisnoble · Jul 22, 2013

And enjoy WOMAD!! We had planned to go, but things cropped up, as they do . . . .

Lewis

Linda · Jul 22, 2013

See you at Womad! We'll be in a fresco green Cali in meadow camping - come and say hi

SusiBus · Jul 22, 2013

Be careful of using the radio too much if you got one linked to a VW Sat Nav system, as we’ve suffered two flat main vehicle batteries through this.

Larkrise · Jan 4, 2015

Just booked for Womad... we have never stayed anywhere longer than a couple of nights before so have not tested our leisure battery longevity yet. Am I right in thinking that unless the radio & front dash 12v sockets were used a lot it would be difficult to be stranded with the roof raised due to a drained main battery?

KernowLad · Jan 4, 2015

On our first trip we got five days (fridge on always, a bit of lights use) without issues.
On a more recent trip to Galicia (the van being 2.5 rather than 6 months old) we had three days (fridge on but a higher setting, minimal light use) before needing a mains charge up.

KernowLad · Jan 4, 2015

SusiBus said:
Be careful of using the radio too much if you got one linked to a VW Sat Nav system, as we’ve suffered two flat main vehicle batteries through this.

We did this on our first camp; easily bump started but I felt daft!

Andy · Jan 11, 2015

Switch the the front interior lights off as well.

Surprisingly running the engine for 15 minutes puts quite a charge in the leisure batteries if the get too low.