Battery not charging from hook up!? help.....

[Lanzarote]

I'm a newby so have maybe missed something?

The leisure battery is charging fine when engine is on and display changes to G.

This is our first trip in out new Cali T5, when we have plugged in to the mains in our campsite for the first time and the battery symbol is not changing and the battery % is lowering. so power is not coming in from the mains supply. I have checked our cable with a fellow Cali owner and our cable is fine.

so my question is, should the power switch automatically and the plug symbol appear? Or should I switch anything manually too. I have located the fuse in the back of the cupboard and switched on.

Any help would be great!

 

[AlanC]

The system should switch over to charge all of the batteries automatically. There are no switches to change.

Check the following things.

Your cable is OK, but has the breaker on your supply post tripped?

Provided you have checked the breaker in the back cupboard is on (up) and have checked it is functioning properly when the van in hooked up by pressing the test button, (it will flip down, push up to reset it) then power is getting to the van. I have found this is very sensitive and will trip if something is plugged into the mains socket that it doesn't like. Make sure nothing is plugged in when you hook the Cali up initially

Double check power ie on the van by plugging something (phone charger?) into the 13 amp socket on the end of the kitchen unit. If OK, then power is getting to the van and being distributed.

Than narrows it down to one of two things, it could either be the flight panel or the charger at fault.

On the flight panel look to see if there is a 2 pronged icon displayed (bottom right always and top middle too, if the battery display has been selected) when the power is hooked up. If so then that is OK

The leaves the charger.

Another thread found the charger was unplugged from the mains. This is located under the fridge. It can be seen by peering through the access hole in bottom left side of the left hand cupboard under the hob unit. You will need to get down on your knees to do this. Check the IEC mains plug is fully home.

If that all fails, then it will be a visit to the local VW Van dealer.

Hope that helps.

Alan

 

[Meoncoast]

Also check the socket at the campsite has not tripped out we had this recentley

 

[calicasas]

Can be number of things most of which have been covered but in essence.
1. Check breaker on in van
2. Circuit breaker on campsite
3. Check polarity of lead as well as continuity. In some instances the polarity of the socket on the actual vans have also been wrong! Check this.
4. If your battery is through the deep cycle discharge then you must switch everything to off including fridge etc.. It will not charge with equipment still connected. I had this in Italy a couple of years ago with the similar symptoms to those you are describing. It's to do with the level of voltage. If it falls below a certain amount with equipment connected it can't charge... Apparently
5. All else fails, then check fuses....

Good luck.

 

[Californiaman]

The other one to check is that some of the sockets that you plug into require you to twist the socket clockwise 1/3 turn or so to lock it in place. It doesn't go 'live' until locked.

 

[GrannyJen]

This is also happening to mine. SMG are picking it ip tomorrow morning to try and fin out find out why.

Disconnect the cable from the vehicle and plug it in again. If it is like mine it should charge and the two prong indicator appears in the control panel.

As the battery nears full charge it seems to disconnect from the charging circuit, the two prong indicator gets replaced by battery charge state indicators.

Disconnect the cable and start the cycle all over again.

The other anomaly that I have found is that whilst the battery is not charging the mains circuit is still receiving power, the three pin 230v socket works as normal.

A pain in the butt to have to keep disconnecting and reconnecting every few hours but at least it keeps the fridge running.

 

[Paulgromdrayton]

Hi there, we had the same issue a couple of weeks ago, took the van to the dealer as it is only a month old, apparently there was a loose connection which is fixed now but required the whole kitchen/wardrobe to be removed...bit of a nuisance, are you able to get a dealer to investigate for you?


P

 

[Lanzarote]

Thank you all for your help, tried all of the above and no to avail! Heading to Saint Malo tomorrow so we will head there to find the dealer! Any advise on best dealer in that region? I will let you know how we get on.

 

[Larkrise]

We are experiencing this problem too: having completed our first six months/10,000 miles we have never needed to use the hook-up...we must be shifty customers always on the move! Anyway we do want it to work in case we settle somewhere for long enough. So, when we connect the mains lead (from the house via adapter) with circuit breaker in correct position and tested ok, the sink side mains socket works fine but the display shows 60% charge, 12.2v, -0.4A, and no hooked-up icon.

We went to Peterborough Van Centre who checked it out and said it was working properly and wouldn't charge all the time. But I am not that confident- I would expect it to show hooked up if it is hooked up, and also if the battery really is at 60% surely it should start charging?

Further back in this thread it was said that the battery could be in deep discharge and everything must be switched off to break the cycle. I think I have everything off (no fridge, internal lights etc) but something must be taking the 0.4A.

All ideas welcome!

 

[Andy]

0.4 amp draw is the control panel. Is the charger mains plug pluged in ? Its under fridge. Look through hole in left cupboard.
At 60 percent batteries should be charging ok on hookup. Could try taking to different van centre.

 

[Larkrise]

Yes, have looked there and nothing is disconnected. Display is showing 50% and 12.1 this morning after being plugged in since yesterday. Guess it cannot be charging in spite of their reassurance. Trouble is, if I run it to the dealers it will be back to 100%. They did say that they had not been on the Cali course...although to a mechanic this stuff shouldn't really be rocket science!

 

[Lanzarote]

Just an update from us! When we returned to Lanzarote I took the camper to VW and they checked it over. It was a cable which was not connected correctly!!!

 

[Andy]

Glad you've got sorted in the end & a simple fix

 

[Larkrise]

Just off for a couple of weeks, so we'll keep moving and not stay anywhere too long... and try to find an alternative van centre when we get back.

 

[plewsgra]

Hi - I am new to the forum so apologies if I am not using it correctly. I have owner a Cali for 18 months from new and have problems with my electrical power supply. What happens is I hook up to the mains and all is well. But often we will go out for the day and when we get back the control panel shows it is running off the batteries. The 230V supply still works but the fridge is running off (and flattening) the batteries. By trial and error I found if I flip the isolator switch then put it back on the problem is fixed. These seems to only happen on a hot day. I reported this to the VW Van Centre and they changed the fridge (?). This didn't fix the problem. The problem then got worse and I wasn't able to rectify the matter by flipping the isolator/trip switch. The Cali went back to the Van Centre and they replaced a charger unit. This seemed to work until the next hot day then back to the original problem!! I am losing faith in the Van Centre and can't find anyone else on the forum experiencing a similar porblem. Can anyone please advise. Cheers - Graham

 

[Raggedroy]

Yes, have looked there and nothing is disconnected. Display is showing 50% and 12.1 this morning after being plugged in since yesterday. Guess it cannot be charging in spite of their reassurance. Trouble is, if I run it to the dealers it will be back to 100%. They did say that they had not been on the Cali course...although to a mechanic this stuff shouldn't really be rocket science!

From memory, I think your charger is located above the leisure battery in the rear of the van.

 

[Larkrise]

Hmmm, just living with the issue atm... will have a route around. I checked again today since the van had been idle for a week or so, and down to 20%; so plugged in the mains, checked the trip, but no response on the control panel.

 

[Larkrise]

Updating this...and a question for newish van owners: our van does not show a symbol to indicate that the hook-up is in operation. It has been back to the local van centre a few times for them to look at this and they assure me that all is well, and it is charging.
They have contacted VW who say that the wiring/control panel was changed mid 2013 and although the manual still indicates that there will be a symbol indicating hook-up, this is no longer actually the case. Our van was an early 2014 build...so could others confirm that they also do not get a control panel symbol for hook-up?
The van centre have the van overnight to confirm that the batteries will be showing 100% (from 70% now) by the morning.

 

[skinnywhippet]

Hello, ours May 2014 build and we do indeed see a little plug symbol when on hook-up.

 

[GrannyJen]

Mine (Oct 2013, with a july 2014 control panel) shows a hook-up symbol.

However, it doesn't I have just been in it preparing to go away Thursday and it appears that my old problem, as mentioned a few posts up, is back. The charger is knocking itself off, the 230V works fine, just the vehicle is not charging. 3rd time back to SMG I think ...

Chris and Sue, this could be a similar thing to what you are experiencing, hooked up, 230v working, no charging symbol and leisure batteries showing drain.

 

[Larkrise]

I knew someone would say that! The van centre recon to have checked the two other vans in their stock...and neither show the hook-up symbol, and they say that VW checked our build data and it is not programmed to show it. The strange thing is I am 'almost' certain that I saw that symbol when I checked the hook-up shortly after we got the van. Anyway, if they confirm that it is actually up to 100% from overnight hook-up, and I can trust them not to have started the engine, then I guess all is OK.

 

[andyinluton]

Ours is mid 2014 build & there is definatly a symbol for hookup, I would suspect either the charger itself is not working or the connection to it is loose, the internal 240v socket is wired independently of the charger hence that working.

 

[Larkrise]

Yes, the socket on the kitchen unit works on hook up, so it is clear that power is coming into the van.

 

[andyinluton]

If they have checked two other vans they have & they are not showing the symbol, it sounds like those two have the same problem ?

 

[GrannyJen]

I wish that I could remember the thread.

There was some discussion on the location of the charger, which I believe was very close to the fridge, and heat being generated, whether that could have an effect, i.e. the charger cutting out if getting hot.

I noticed with mine during the summer that it was repeatedly cutting out when there was high ambient temperature, the sun on the van etc, and it did seem to resolve itself by October when sunlight and temperature were both well turned down. I am disappointed to find that just two hours ago same problem.