Battery life when using Fridge - VW are telling me 1 day on my 2yr old T6 Ocean

[Marcuk03]

Hi all,

Myelf and partner have just decided to take the plunge and buy a 2018 T6 Ocean which we love but we are finding that the fridge will only run for 24hrs before it turns itself off.
(this is after ive charged it up overnight on hookup)

Ive got it booked into VW breeze for a checkup tomorrow (as its under warranty) but after chatting to the service dept they are telling me it will only run the fridge for 24hrs when NOT on hookup which i think is nonsense.

From what ive read and been told on here the fridge should last for 4-5 days without hookup unless the batteries have perished.

Can anyone tell me where best to get to official confirmation of the statistics for these batteries to support my argument?

 

[Niborn]

Does depend on both the level its on at and the temperature outside, but in general around 5 days...

 

[Wesel]

On average 3 days for me.

 

[Marcuk03]

Does depend on both the level its on at and the temperature outside, but in general around 5 days...

Thats exactly what I thought and have read in multiple forum pages.

Where can i get the official details on this though as I want to be able to get VW to change the batteries.

 

[flying banana]

When driving I turn the fridge up to chill those beers. I usually use an ice block to chill it down quicker. Then when parked up turn fridge to l3. Should then easy do 4 days. I've never had mine cut out. Sounds like you have a battery issue to me. Maybe one if the cube fuses has blown. They are connected to the battery terminal and if one is blown you are running on half the ampere hours that you should have.

 

[Marcuk03]

When driving I turn the fridge up to chill those beers. I usually use an ice block to chill it down quicker. Then when parked up turn fridge to l3. Should then easy do 4 days. I've never had mine cut out. Sounds like you have a battery issue to me. Maybe one if the cube fuses has blown. They are connected to the battery terminal and if one is blown you are running on half the ampere hours that you should have.

Im getting it looked at by VW breeze tomorrow so im hoping they'll find something thats causing this.

What worries me is that they have already advised me that the fridge should only run for about 1 day when not on hookup. So Iive also spoken with VW customer service and they advised the same thing which makes me worried that there are setting me up to tell it is all working fine.

Practically everyone else on here suggests at least 3-5 days with the fridge on. (normal conditions etc)

If I charge over night 24hrs on hookup I get up to 13.5 / 14 volts which drops to around 11.5V after a day with the fridge on. I wonder whether I need to speak to some techs in Germany to get proof of the real statistics on the running battery life of a T6 Ocean to be able to get them to replace batteries under warranty.

 

[flying banana]

It's odd that vw font know their own vehicle very well but believe me they are talking sht. Why would 2 huge batteries only power a compressor fridge for a day? The beach has one battery and I used to get 3 days out of that running a fridge.

 

[Nolan]

Unless the fridge has an issue and it's drawing too much power?

I don't know anything about the Ocean Fridge, can the power connection be reached to figure out the current draw using a clamp meter?

Looks like a decent estimate of what the fridge should draw in this thread, and the battery capacity is known, Breeze should be able to work with that.

Fridge Power consumption?

Hi, I sm looking for the power consumption, watts etc,,, for the fridge in my California 2012 model? As part of Trying to work out solar panel specs to keep fridge running for 12 days, with no electric link up. Thanks for any feedback.

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[TripleBee]

If you can't have the fridge on for 3 days on level 3, there is a battery problem.
If you put on fridge and heater together, the lifespan will be lower of course.

 

[Seamelody]

Managed 5 days and still some battery power remained


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Elmo3]

Definitely not right. In our Ocean 3 days would reduce the leisure battery (2) reading to 70 - 80%. Last week we did 3 days off grid in the Beach, running a 40 litre compressor fridge solidly in the hot weather. Voltage dropped to 12.5V and that‘s a single leisure battery!

 

[Calimili]

The fridge max consumption is 3Ah. even assuming you leave it on the highest setting with the lid open the battery should last 150/2/3 = 25 hours.
In reality the fridge switches on and off and average consumption is, depending from outside temperature and content, between 0.7 to 1 Ah in a realistic 4 setting.
If the dealer says it is normal for the fridge to drain the batteries in 24 hours, there's either a problem with the batteries or with the fridge. Most likely the batteries.

 

[WelshGas]

Im getting it looked at by VW breeze tomorrow so im hoping they'll find something thats causing this.

What worries me is that they have already advised me that the fridge should only run for about 1 day when not on hookup. So Iive also spoken with VW customer service and they advised the same thing which makes me worried that there are setting me up to tell it is all working fine.

ad ev eryone else on here suggests at least 3-5 days with the fridge on. (normal conditions etc)

If I charge over night 24hrs on hookup I get up to 13.5 / 14 volts which drops to around 11.5V after a day with the fridge on. I wonder whether I need to speak to some techs in Germany to get proof of the real statistics on the running battery life of a T6 Ocean to be able to get them to replace batteries under warranty.

I wouldn’t concentrate on how long the fridge lasts. The fact that the Control Panel voltage drops so quickly indicates there is a problem.
1. Have you owned the vehicle since new?
2. Was the vehicle an ex-demonstrator?

The Control Panel should show a voltage of 12.7/12.8 volts 1 hr after a full Mains Charge. That would be fully charged.

Each battery should be checked separately.

If the 50amp cube fuse on the Rear Leisure Battery has blown, not unknown, then you are running on 1 battery and a voltage measurement on each battery will be different.

One battery can have a fault and not hold charge. That’s what I had on mine. The Dealer should be able to check each battery.

If the vehicle is an ex-demonstrator then the batteries could have been damaged at the Dealership as they rarely keep them charged. Their checks should reveal this.

 

[Wogga]

It should be a mathematical calculation with some assumptions. Hypothetically, Say the fridge is rated at 5Ah working 100% of 5he time the fridge will use 5Amps every hour. However once it has reached temp it may only run for 50% of the time therefore down now to 2.5 amps every hour. If your leisure battery is rated at 100 Ah and is in great condition theoretically should get 40 hours ish on a very good day. Obviously when you add lights etc this will drop And also I doubt the batteries will be that efficien. If you have two leisure batteries you will have double the available power.

See if you can get the fridge power rating and the vans leisure battery capacity and do a fag packet calculation you will get. What the comments above are giving you sounds very reasonable to me. Don’t listen to a salesman or a mechanic unless he is electrically competent..... don’t hold your breath on point 2.

 

[ThomasHJ]

Very interested to read if they find any problems. I'm having mine checked out next week by VW because we just manage 24h on 2 leisure batteries. So i will let you know what they come up with

 

[marchugo]

Hi MarkUK03,

Our T5 California of 2009 never had a problem giving us power from the household batteries for 3 to 5 days without external power.

But: maybe you could use the Search function on this magnificant website, and look for "T6 + AdBlue".

You'll be amazed how much things have changed since the introduction of the VW AdBleu motor system. Household batteries in campers are nowadays only charged minimal, in some vans to about 80 % of their max, to keep your diesel motor "green" (that is: under the levels that are prescribed by the laws of pollution).

The new AdBlue system gives priority to the starter battery. Only when this starter battery is loaded to aprox. 80 %, your motor generator is allowed to share some voltage to your household batteries. They almost never get fully loaded.

Do not worry, enjoy the Cali as a rocket van to travel across the country, finding places you otherwise never would have found.

Two or three days of camping without hook-up is still normal these days with a T6 California.

Regards from Amsterdam,

Marc.

 

[Jay gas]

Breeze just changed my fridge on a 2019 ocean. It wouldn’t switch off when on hook up. There are faulty fridges out there

 

[Marcuk03]

thanks for all the replies guys, some great responses so far and really appriciated

@WelshGas I noticed on our last camping trip that it had dropped to 11.5V the following morning after a 24hr charge the previous day so thats the frisge not even running for 24hrs. It did say 12.5 v when it was charged up though. The previous owner was VW so it was a demo vehicle or company car of VW employee.


@Calimili
Are these the figures for a 2018 T6 ocean fridge? - 150/2/3 = 25 hours.
Can I assume that your calculation for the batteries are that the 75AH batteries each?
so batteries are a combined total of 150 AH then divide by 2 batteries and then divide by 3 AH (for what the fridge is rated at?)

I hope that they find something but want to be prepared and you cant argue with the maths !

 

[Calimili]

[QUOTE="Marcuk03,

@Calimili
Are these the figures for a 2018 T6 ocean fridge? - 150/2/3 = 25 hours.
Can I assume that your calculation for the batteries are that the 75AH batteries each?
so batteries are a combined total of 150 AH then divide by 2 batteries and then divide by 3 AH (for what the fridge is rated at?)
[/QUOTE]
Yes , 150Ah is the sum of the two batteries on a T6 .
It's divided by two first because you can only use 50% of there capacity to prevent damage to the batteries. So with 150Ah total you have 75Ah actually available.

 

[BrugseB]

t did say 12.5 v when it was charged up

Batteries fully charged should give at least +13V, mine doe 13,4V. In my opinion your batteries must have had a bad treat...

 

[WelshGas]

Batteries fully charged should give at least +13V, mine doe 13,4V. In my opinion your batteries must have had a bad treat...

Normal convention is to measure the battery voltage 1 hr after charging in a rest state. The 100% value varies slightly with temperature.

 

[Marcuk03]

My Van has now gone into VW Breeze for them to assess it so i should get an answer one way or another very soon....
Ive also opened a case with VW customer support....so lets see what transpires..

 

[BrugseB]

Normal convention is to measure the battery voltage 1 hr after charging in a rest state. T

Well, +13V is my read-out in rest... Anyway, it's easy enough for a dealer to check the health of your batteries, they have a special device for that. My old battery was max. 12,4V, but when starting the diesel heater it could drop to 11,6V in which case my heater stopped (safety). Battery test learned it probably had been emptied completely serveral times by previcious owner - not a good idea as you lose a lot of capacity...

 

[kurienp]

My Van has now gone into VW Breeze for them to assess it so i should get an answer one way or another very soon....
Ive also opened a case with VW customer support....so lets see what transpires..

@Marcuk03 , do remember to update your Vehicle in your profile please.

 

[Marcuk03]

@WelshGas mine was 13v when i dropped it off this morning at VW, after a full night charging. Previous owner was VW on the logbook so suspect theyve mistreated it. Just hope they dont fob me off, with the line 'its only designd to last 24 hrs'. Frisge does auto switch off as ive slept next to it and heard it so suspect batteries at fault or panel.