Battery charging

[Tattooz]

Picked up my Cali yesterday and bought myself a hook-up lead and an extension to plug into the mains socket at home. I plugged it in last night at about 10pm and the readout on the digital display showed the battery at 70% this morning after being on charge all night the battery is showing 60 %. Am I doing something wrong?

Steve

 

[Tattooz]

Panic over I think I just had a look and the isolation switch was turned off
I'll try again tonight

Steve

 

[Martin]

Where is the isolation switch Steve?

 

[Iain&Shani]

Picked up my Cali yesterday and bought myself a hook-up lead and an extension to plug into the mains socket at home. I plugged it in last night at about 10pm and the readout on the digital display showed the battery at 70% this morning after being on charge all night the battery is showing 60 %. Am I doing something wrong?

Steve

The leisure battery was flat when we looked at it in December. This is something I have thought about when buying the "showroom" model.

I'd be tempted to keep an eye on it once you do get it charged; either via mains lead or on a run. I've never had much luck with leisure batteries once they have gone flat, they never seem to hold their charge. My experiences are solely based on caravan batteries, maybe these operate in a slighlty different manner. Has anyone else got any experience with Cali batteries?

 

[calikev]

Is it not in the cupboard above the gas bottle?


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=52.304172,-0.693096

 

[Tattooz]

Is it not in the cupboard above the gas bottle?

Thats the one. its a little circuit braeker switch

 

[Martin]

Thanks guys, I had never even noticed it before !

 

[Martin]

The leisure battery was flat when we looked at it in December. This is something I have thought about when buying the "showroom" model.

I'd be tempted to keep an eye on it once you do get it charged; either via mains lead or on a run. I've never had much luck with leisure batteries once they have gone flat, they never seem to hold their charge. My experiences are solely based on caravan batteries, maybe these operate in a slighlty different manner. Has anyone else got any experience with Cali batteries?

yes, the Cali uses 2 x 72Ah leisure batteries which I think you can only obtain from VW, I think someone mentioned they were £200+ each ? ( Alex, maybe you can give us a price on these? ) I have seen some other 72ah online for under £100 but I am not sure if they are all the same size as it is an exact space they need to fit into? When collecting your Cali and if the battery is flat I would insist on a new set of leisure batteries as once they go flat the plates will be knackered which damages the cells.

 

[Tattooz]

Well . . when I told the salesman that I was going ahead with the purchase he said that it didn't need a lot doing to get it ready for the handover but did say he needed to order a battery for it as the one that was in it had run flat and needed changing he said he could get it in and changed within a few days.
After running the van around today to work and then home the battery was showing as 100% but after being parked up for a couple of hours with no use it was on 70%. Of course now I'm thinking maybe that battery didn't get changed so I put on the aux heater for 30 mins to see if it made a difference and it stayed on 70%. I've put it on charge ( with the trip switch tuned on this time) and if after 12 hours on charge I still feel something is not right I'll get in touch with the dealer.

Steve.

 

[calikev]

If you ran the heater for 30 mins and it didn't change I would say its fine it probably needs charging from the mains like you are doing. Putting the heater on will test the battery mine was the same.

 

[Hubert]

I had the same problem when I purchased our cali. It was a showroom model and despite the battery being flat in the showroom, needing the engine running to raise the roof etc, it hadn't been charged when we picked it up a week later. The leisure batteries were so flat that the control panel wouldn't keep its date setting etc. I stupidly believed the assurance that it would be fine after the drive home. Needless to say the following morning control panel problems and flat battery. Luckily had a mains cable for charging, put it on charge for 24 hrs on the drive and since then have had no problems whatsoever with the batteries and the van is now almost 3 years old.
The handbook recommends regular mains charging if the van isn't being used. Using the site hook ups whenever possible has probably kept our batteries in good order.

Hubert

 

[smgcowfoldparts]

The leisure battery was flat when we looked at it in December. This is something I have thought about when buying the "showroom" model.

I'd be tempted to keep an eye on it once you do get it charged; either via mains lead or on a run. I've never had much luck with leisure batteries once they have gone flat, they never seem to hold their charge. My experiences are solely based on caravan batteries, maybe these operate in a slighlty different manner. Has anyone else got any experience with Cali batteries?

yes, the Cali uses 2 x 72Ah leisure batteries which I think you can only obtain from VW, I think someone mentioned they were £200+ each ? ( Alex, maybe you can give us a price on these? ) I have seen some other 72ah online for under £100 but I am not sure if they are all the same size as it is an exact space they need to fit into? When collecting your Cali and if the battery is flat I would insist on a new set of leisure batteries as once they go flat the plates will be knackered which damages the cells.

Leisure battery is £185.58 including VAT.

cheers

 

[jts46]

! thought that they were deep cycle batteries? I did have standard leisure battery in my Bilbo T4 Nektar, which only lasted 3 years.

 

[calikev]

I would never let my batteries go completely flat. If I am not using the van for a week or two I plug it in to the mains
Also if you have a facelift Cali it will also trickle charge the van battery so no probs starting.