Battery Yet Again

[Wendick]

Purchased a 2018 Ocean 5 weeks ago i have taken it out each week and charged it every 2 weeks for 24 hours to keep the batteries in good order as advised on here. Today after being left for 5 days I’m showing a 60% charge can’t be right or am I being paranoid

thanks

 

[TripleBee]

Is there anything in the van that takes some current? USB, lights, inverter, ... ?
Otherwise, is it still under factory warranty?

 

[Erbster]

The inverter will draw if something (say an adapter) is plugged in, even if it’s not connected to anything.

CaliVentures

Adventures in a VW California camper van

caliventures364847572.wordpress.com

 

[Canyon]

apologies for hijacking this thread. I hope everyone is well and staying safe.

We had a campout last night on the driveway. Woke up this morning to put roof down etc and looks like both main battery and leisure battery are dead (flickering lights when trying to turn ignition). We cant turn it over and cant take down the roof. I have plugged the van in to the mains, my question is whether a mains charge will trickle any power in to main battery sufficient enough to enable a turn over or is this going to require jump leads etc?

we have a T5 SE.

Many thanks for assistance

 

[WelshGas]

apologies for hijacking this thread. I hope everyone is well and staying safe.

We had a campout last night on the driveway. Woke up this morning to put roof down etc and looks like both main battery and leisure battery are dead (flickering lights when trying to turn ignition). We cant turn it over and cant take down the roof. I have plugged the van in to the mains, my question is whether a mains charge will trickle any power in to main battery sufficient enough to enable a turn over or is this going to require jump leads etc?

we have a T5 SE.

Many thanks for assistance

You'll need to charge the engine battery seperately. Did you use the radio overnight?
Once the Leisure Batteries are charged then you should be able to lower the roof. The roof runs off the Leisure Batteries and the requirement of having the Ignition On is a safety thing.

 

[Wendick]

No nothing have checked all areas

 

[campandfly]

apologies for hijacking this thread. I hope everyone is well and staying safe.

We had a campout last night on the driveway. Woke up this morning to put roof down etc and looks like both main battery and leisure battery are dead (flickering lights when trying to turn ignition). We cant turn it over and cant take down the roof. I have plugged the van in to the mains, my question is whether a mains charge will trickle any power in to main battery sufficient enough to enable a turn over or is this going to require jump leads etc?

we have a T5 SE.

Many thanks for assistance

Did you happen to notice the state of charge before your campout? Did you leave the fridge running or heater.?
What year is your T5 SE. Your avatar states you have a T6

 

[Canyon]

Thanks for replies guys, the van is T5 2015 (I need to change the avatar as set it up when searching for Cali and got T5 after realising I couldnt afford T6 ). No heater or fridge was used, the missus put the roof up and didnt look at battery levels when putting the roof up. The leisure is charging now. If no trickle to main battery occurs with mains charge, apologies for daft question but what is simplest way to charge mains battery?

 

[Canyon]

Thanks for replies guys, the van is T5 2015 (I need to change the avatar as set it up when searching for Cali and got T5 after realising I couldnt afford T6 ). No heater or fridge was used, the missus put the roof up and didnt look at battery levels when putting the roof up. The leisure is charging now. If no trickle to main battery occurs with mains charge, apologies for daft question but what is simplest way to charge mains battery?

I should add no stereo either, only possibility is USB but that is w/o nything connected to it, ie just the adapter plugged in

 

[Canyon]

If Ignition On is just a safety feature, can this be turned off as now looks like mains battery totally dead (no flickering lights now) so cant turn igntion, which then means cant lower roof as cant bypass Ignition on message

 

[campandfly]

If Ignition On is just a safety feature, can this be turned off as now looks like mains battery totally dead (no flickering lights now) so cant turn igntion, which then means cant lower roof as cant bypass Ignition on message

Ignition can be turned off as soon as you have raised or lowered the roof.
You can manually lower the roof if you consult your manual.

 

[Canyon]

Ignition can be turned off as soon as you have raised or lowered the roof.
You can manually lower the roof if you consult your manual.

I cant turn the ignition as the starter battery is dead. The van is outside my house, so no great rush to shut the roof. However, as door locking seems to have gone now (certainly cant open tail door, charging the main battery for me is the priority here)

 

[TripleBee]

Do you have a separate battery charger to charge the starter battery? If not, do you have jump start leads and another car? If you have no other car, you could try to jump start from the leisure batteries. Just watch out you don't short the positive near the metal of the seat, where one of the leisure batteries is.

 

[Canyon]

Do you have a separate battery charger to charge the starter battery? If not, do you have jump start leads and another car? If you have no other car, you could try to jump start from the leisure batteries. Just watch out you don't short the positive near the metal of the seat, where one of the leisure batteries is.

unfortunately the position the van is in didnt lend itself to a donor option as would need very long leads. Ive popped to hlafords to get a batter charger, which I know people have been giving mixed reviews about, but lets see. Ill know in a couple hours if the battery is savable otherwise Ill have to new battery I guess.

worth mentioning I havent connected black to battery, and instead to engine block. (every day is a school day )

Thanks for helpful input though

 

[Canyon]

all is well so far, engine started, roof down, still charging main battery. The aux heater indicator is flashing on the display so not sure if some how we have screwed that. Will give it another try once both batteries are charged more. fingers crossed all ok


Update: scratch that, reset console, checked diagnostics menu, all good, no errors, heating works Jobs a Good'un

 

[Wendick]

Why do some hijack threads are they incapable of making their own ?

 

[ssaini]

Wendick i am suffering from the same (2011 t5.1 though) - checked all fuses for voltage drops but nothing so far. Only culprit seems to be alternator diodes ( not sure how to test it). For now i unplug the negative lead when i am not using . Not elegant but ...

 

[Canyon]

Why do some hijack threads are they incapable of making their own ?

Terribly sorry, my humblest apologies... er I throw myself on my sword, er... chin up mucker, it’s a first world problem not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, now is it. We are alive... don’t sweat the small stuff

 

[Alan Andrews]

I am surprised how quickly the radio will draw down the charge of the engine battery. We are inclined to have the radio on and push the on/off button repeatedly after the 20 min period. So if parked up, and even on hook up take care to monitor usage.

 

[WelshGas]

Why do some hijack threads are they incapable of making their own ?

The % reading is very iffy. What is the voltage reading?

 

[Perfectos]

Hi Wendick,

You do not say which battery(s) you have the problem with ?
If lesuire Charge the battery via hook up , leave on for an extended period of time until fully charged
If engine battery, get it charged via a smarter charger such as Ctek, Noco etc.
Then keep an eye on the batteries
Remember that unlocking the vehicle fires up all the various electrical systems and draws from the starter batts.
Leaving on hook up for an extended period of time is no problem and will allow your batts to be charged fully and then maintained by the on board smart charger.

I have a 2018 beach, similar issue to yours, starter battery would not hold a charge, replaced under warranty after three visits to the dealer (and an email prior to the last visit, to the service manager to highlight my issue)
Note battery replacement under warranty requires a full diagnostic from VW factory before the dealer will replac3 the battery under warranty. (Takes a whole day)

If you care to provide additional info it will help with a more specific response from the fellow forum members.

 

[WelshGas]

I am surprised how quickly the radio will draw down the charge of the engine battery. We are inclined to have the radio on and push the on/off button repeatedly after the 20 min period. So if parked up, and even on hook up take care to monitor usage.

If it was a simple radio there wouldn't be a problem. It is more like a computer nowadays and quit power hungry.

 

[Wendick]

12.01 after 2 weeks generally

 

[Perfectos]

If it was a simple radio there wouldn't be a problem. It is more like a computer nowadays and quit power hungry.

That is exactly what it is a computer that forms part of a larger computer.

 

[Wendick]

Still didnt reply as why not mucker apologies accepted