Battery questions

[Chris_the_newbie]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post here, and after a lot of searching, I was not able to find the solutions to these questions.
Some context first, I have never used a camper van on my own, my only experience was a self built one, that had solar panels. I will be renting a GC 600 over the summer to go to a festival with two friends. It is extremely unlikely that I will have access to external power, and that the van will have any solar panels. Since the festival will be in summer, I will not need heating.

1. Realistically, how long can I survive on the battery, assuming I arrive at 100% full. We will try to take small shower, not necessarily warm, but would like to be running the fridge to keep some food and a few drinks.
2. How fast will it charge ? On the second day, I will be picking up my 3rd friend at the train station 25 minutes away. Would it be realistic to expect the battery to recharge by a significant amount within 50 minutes ?
3. Will it charge on idle ? I understand there is a "fast charge" button on the dashboard. Does this only work while driving or parked on idle ?
4. Less related to electricity, how warm does the van become when parked in the sun?
Thanks a lot

 

[dspuk]

Actually a lot of posts on this, some of the results should be below. Based on a Cali Ocean rather than a GC, my view:

1 - Three to four days. Maybe more if frugal, but not if running hot water.
2 - Obvs depends on how flat they are, but 50 minutes drive will help - usually takes a 2 hour run to fully charge back up. If you stay for an hour or so and have a cup on tea on EHU, should be ok. If it is just day two you will likely get back to a full charge from the drive alone.
3 - Yes and fast charge just raises the revs on idle to charge a little faster. Again, will take a little while though and your fellow campers will not thank you for the diesel fumes and noise.
4 - Very.

 

[Mr T]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post here, and after a lot of searching, I was not able to find the solutions to these questions.
Some context first, I have never used a camper van on my own, my only experience was a self built one, that had solar panels. I will be renting a GC 600 over the summer to go to a festival with two friends. It is extremely unlikely that I will have access to external power, and that the van will have any solar panels. Since the festival will be in summer, I will not need heating.

1. Realistically, how long can I survive on the battery, assuming I arrive at 100% full. We will try to take small shower, not necessarily warm, but would like to be running the fridge to keep some food and a few drinks.
2. How fast will it charge ? On the second day, I will be picking up my 3rd friend at the train station 25 minutes away. Would it be realistic to expect the battery to recharge by a significant amount within 50 minutes ?
3. Will it charge on idle ? I understand there is a "fast charge" button on the dashboard. Does this only work while driving or parked on idle ?
4. Less related to electricity, how warm does the van become when parked in the sun?
Thanks a lot

1. If no solar then likely about 24hours tops. You only have 1 leisure battery.
2. The 50minute drive should charge back up sufficiently, use the boost button on the dash to ensure max charge from the alternator.
3. Yes, You could also run the engine on idle whilst stationary with the boost button pressed for a top up.
4. Can get quite warm, it’s a big metal box.

Edit: Also depends if you have gas or diesel heating/hot water. Diesel more power hungry.

 

[Mr T]

Actually a lot of posts on this, some of the results should be below. Based on a Cali Ocean rather than a GC, my view:

1 - Three to four days. Maybe more if frugal, but not if running hot water.

No chance of that I’m afraid.

 

[yossarian]

Hi Everyone,

1. Realistically, how long can I survive on the battery, assuming I arrive at 100% full. We will try to take small shower, not necessarily warm, but would like to be running the fridge to keep some food and a few drinks.

According to @andyinluton about 24 hours.

2. How fast will it charge ?

AGM batteries are capable of about 0.3C during the constant current phase. VW normally presents 50 percent charge as battery empty so therefore about an hour to charge your battery from reading zero to reading 60%. The last bit, above a reading of 60%, takes significantly longer as the charge current will tail off.

3. Will it charge on idle ? I understand there is a "fast charge" button on the dashboard. Does this only work while driving or parked on idle ?

It will.

Not known is the condition of the leisure battery. The leisure battery in a rental is unlikely to have been looked after carefully and thus unlikely to be full capacity.

 

[dspuk]

No chance of that I’m afraid.

Yowch - one leisure. That extra 20 grand definitely not spent on batteries. Small remains mighty in the form of a Cali 6.1.

 

[andyinluton]

Yowch - one leisure. That extra 20 grand definitely not spent on batteries. Small remains mighty in the form of a Cali 6.1.

Its not just one less battery, its a fridge/freezer that draws more current, more lights etc all contributing to shorter battery life.

 

[Eber123]

Hello,

may I reply to your questions from my experience:

1. Realistically, how long can I survive on the battery, assuming I arrive at 100% full. We will try to take small shower, not necessarily warm, but would like to be running the fridge to keep some food and a few drinks.

I haven't teste it, but based what I have read the Grand California uses about 2-4 A/h. The battery has 42 Ah usable electricity available. If the fridge is on obviously more electricity is used. My assumption is to get 24 hours of electricity. With our camper it is a bit more, but we have the solar panels, which help, even in winter (even if it is just a wee bit).

2. How fast will it charge ? On the second day, I will be picking up my 3rd friend at the train station 25 minutes away. Would it be realistic to expect the battery to recharge by a significant amount within 50 minutes ?

Based on my experience 50 minutes drive will not do a lot of charging. Please bear in mind that the alternator will charge the battery only up to 80%, the "boost button" on the dashboard does not "boost" the charging, it will only tell the camper to charge from 80% to 100%. That can take a while.

3. Will it charge on idle ? I understand there is a "fast charge" button on the dashboard. Does this only work while driving or parked on idle ?

Yes, it will charge on idle. I read quite often that people do that. That might be ok in an emergency case, but I don't believe that your neighbours on the camps site will be happy if you let the engine run for over an hour. Also, for the best of my knowledge, this is not allowed in Germany to run the engine while parked.
As I mentioned above, the button on the dashboard is not a "fast charge" button, it only ensures that the leisure battery is charged by the alternator more than 80 %.

4. Less related to electricity, how warm does the van become when parked in the sun?
Thanks a lot

Obviously this is very difficult to answer. We went on a trip to the continent this summer, France, Andorra, Spain, Portugal. As we all know this summer was very hot. Yes it was warm in the camper, but with some fans we manged to keep it bearable. To good side was that the solar panels produced a lot of electricity.

Some people might disagree, but after 1 1/2 years of use I feel the Grand California is a fine camper, but designed to travel from one campsite to the next in a kind of controlled environment. The odd stop on an aire without services is possible, but the Grand California needs to be monitored to ensure that power, water, gas, toilette cassette has enough resources left.

Have I said all that, most of the "standard campers" come from the manufactures with AGM batteries as well with something between 80 Ah and 100 Ah. Which means they won't have a lot of electricity either. Question is if those campers use the same amount of electricity while "idle". That I don't know.

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[andyinluton]

Based on my experience 50 minutes drive will not do a lot of charging. Please bear in mind that the alternator will charge the battery only up to 80%, the "boost button" on the dashboard does not "boost" the charging, it will only tell the camper to charge from 80% to 100%. That can take a while.



Yes, it will charge on idle. I read quite often that people do that.

As I mentioned above, the button on the dashboard is not a "fast charge" button, it only ensures that the leisure battery is charged by the alternator more than 80%

The button I yours sounds different to my experience.
Pressing our button turns off the stop start and most importantly raised the idle speed in addition to the 100% function

The fast idle gets the alternator up to full charging speed and gives the same charge as if you were doing 40-50mph whilst you are still stationary.
Alternatively A 50min drive in stop start or slow moving traffic with the button on gives a lot lot more charge than you would get without it.
For 50 minutes on the motorway it will make no difference unless it’s just to top up to 100%

I can’t find the document but I am sure I read somewhere that with the button in it’s going at the max charge suitable for the battery which I seem to remember is something like 35amps - an hour and 10 mins at that rate would totally replenish the 42ah useable capacity.

 

[Eber123]

Yes, I agree with the button pressed the idle speed increases and the start / stop function seems to be disabled.

But it seems this is one of the Volkswagen magic tricks that I couldn't see any difference, for instance in faster charging.

For example during an over 2 hour drive, in the winter, the battery was only 80% full. I disregard the experience during the sommer, because the solar panel will charge the battery full.

For my experience there are only 3x options to get the Grand California fully charged:

1.) Hook-up
2.) Solar Panel
3.) If the button (sorry I forget the proper name for it) is pressed

But the entire Grand California electric is a mystery to me and seems more complicated as it needs to be.

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[flying banana]

I believe its possible to add a 2nd battery in parallel somewhere to make it more like thhe original california. Only those can do 4 days plus in batteries alone. The grand california single battery is a weedy pathetic thing considering its job,and needs upgrading

 

[CampervanTime]

It's well worth taking a look at caliboard.de (use chrome browser and translate to English function) and seeing how the germans have been modifying/upgrading their GCs because many have solved the battery deficiency from the factory by adding a second AGM leisure battery (easy to do by the looks of it) or even an additional lithium lifepo4 battery with a DC-DC charger. All very possible and will massively extend the off grid electric supply from what I've seen.

 

[Mr T]

Let’s not forgot the OP is only renting one, so whilst additional batteries are a sensible option for owners wanting to increase the off grid capability, when you’re renting one you have to live with what you get!

 

[flying banana]

Let’s not forgot the OP is only renting one, so whilst additional batteries are a sensible option for owners wanting to increase the off grid capability, when you’re renting one you have to live with what you get!

good point, in that case i would go rent something better

 

[CampervanTime]

Let’s not forgot the OP is only renting one, so whilst additional batteries are a sensible option for owners wanting to increase the off grid capability, when you’re renting one you have to live with what you get!

Good point - apologies

 

[andyinluton]

good point, in that case i would go rent something better

Like what? Most rental vans have just the one battery & similar consumption.
They are set up for people to drive to site, use hookup overnight, go out for the day, hookup again next night etc & for that a GC is fine.
The only time you will have a problem is trying to do multiple nights off hookup without driving the van in the day.

 

[Mr T]

If at all possible renting one with a solar panel will make the difference, if that was an option for the OP.
I’ve happily gone 3 days off grid, without moving, that was early September, with cloudy daytime skies.

 

[flying banana]

Like what? Most rental vans have just the one battery & similar consumption.
They are set up for people to drive to site, use hookup overnight, go out for the day, hookup again next night etc & for that a GC is fine.
The only time you will have a problem is trying to do multiple nights off hookup without driving the van in the day.

I don't know. Its a good point though. My motorhome mate cries like a girl if he can't have hook up. Seems a bit pointless to have all the gear onboard like shower and toilet and then only park on a campsite with hook up

 

[Chris_the_newbie]

Hi Everyone,
Thanks a ton for all your answers. I was expecting to get an email notification.
After reading all of this, I decided to cancel my reservation for the Grand California, and go with another company that provides a camper van with a 200Ah battery and a solar panel. I feel it's a shame at this price point that the battery on the grand california is so small and that you don't have the option for a bigger battery, especially considering the equipment on board.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

After reading all of this, I decided to cancel my reservation for the Grand California, and go with another company that provides a camper van with a 200Ah battery and a solar panel.

Which van did you go for instead?

 

[Chris_the_newbie]

I took this one:

Campermanufaktur "Wildfuchs" - Fuchs und Hase Camper

Individualausbau der Camper Manufaktur Berlin in Fiat Ducato Maxi, Holzverkleidung und Sprühkorkisolierung. Ausziehbares Bett, Van Office

fuchs-und-hase.org

 

[mpill990]

Hi Everyone,
Thanks a ton for all your answers. I was expecting to get an email notification.
After reading all of this, I decided to cancel my reservation for the Grand California, and go with another company that provides a camper van with a 200Ah battery and a solar panel. I feel it's a shame at this price point that the battery on the grand california is so small and that you don't have the option for a bigger battery, especially considering the equipment on board.

Oh god not another Fiat driving troll

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[Holidaymaker]

Oh god not another Fiat driving troll

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What is trouble fiat? I am 1976 Fiat sunday car. is perfect beautiful drives and is many people smiles to little babay italia.

I am not consider my Vw 680 is exist only trash heap when is it 47 years aging. Is my Fiat much bettering and people smiling car than is Vw camper!. Of course also old fiat not any troubles like Vw680 requiring conintuos repairings.

 

[mpill990]

What is trouble fiat? I am 1976 Fiat sunday car. is perfect beautiful drives and is many people smiles to little babay italia.

I am not consider my Vw 680 is exist only trash heap when is it 47 years aging. Is my Fiat much bettering and people smiling car than is Vw camper!. Of course also old fiat not any troubles like Vw680 requiring conintuos repairings.

Nothing against Fiat's - never owned one but I've owned a couple of Alfa's and they were great..

My comment was meant to be humourous with a hint of truth ie:

Fiat driver = true

Troll = person who makes uninformed derogatory comments = true again

I don't really care what he chose really as most of us know that there are perfectly good reasons why VW specified the GC as it did.

I just think it's a bit unfair making those uninformed comments on a public VW forum that's all..



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