Can you leave your Cali Plugged in all the time to Charge the Batteries?

[Our bus Albus]

Searched the forum (& the web) and there are various posts about leaving your Cali plugged into the mains (via the EHU) when its not in use. However many of these posts are quite old, so not sure if they are still relevant for a T6.1.

So the simple question: 'Is it ok to leave a T6.1 Ocean plugged in to the mains when not in use'

Are there internal systems to monitor the Leisure & Starter Battery levels and maintain them accordingly, or is it actually bad for battery health ?
Thanks!

 

[yossarian]

Lead acid chemistry prefers to be kept at full charge. So as long as the VW charger doesn't overcharge or have significant ripple charging full time should be beneficial.

I don't think anyone has tested the VW charger long term. If able I would plug it in and keep a log of voltage Vs time. Post your log here for more informed opinions.

 

[WelshGas]

Searched the forum (& the web) and there are various posts about leaving your Cali plugged into the mains (via the EHU) when its not in use. However many of these posts are quite old, so not sure if they are still relevant for a T6.1.

So the simple question: 'Is it ok to leave a T6.1 Ocean plugged in to the mains when not in use'

Are there internal systems to monitor the Leisure & Starter Battery levels and maintain them accordingly, or is it actually bad for battery health ?
Thanks!

If charging from a household socket you could always use a timer to charge for 12/24 hrs at a time once a week or so.

 

[Hawthorn37]

If charging from a household socket you could always use a timer to charge for 12/24 hrs at a time once a week or so.

Great idea

 

[Meoncoast]

Our van is a daily drive and for the last 4 years have plugged it in on the last arrival home of the day.

 

[Steve1]

Searched the forum (& the web) and there are various posts about leaving your Cali plugged into the mains (via the EHU) when its not in use. However many of these posts are quite old, so not sure if they are still relevant for a T6.1.

So the simple question: 'Is it ok to leave a T6.1 Ocean plugged in to the mains when not in use'

Are there internal systems to monitor the Leisure & Starter Battery levels and maintain them accordingly, or is it actually bad for battery health ?
Thanks!

There should be no problem leaving it on charge full time, once the battery is bulk charged the VW charger drops the voltage to around 13.4V which is correct for a float charge for lead acid ( that is on T5.1 but I think the newer chargers are the same).
Lead acid battery banks are float charged indefinitely in industrial settings and have been for many years. Float charging sets the voltage to a level which just maintains the battery at full charge negating any self discharging effects, it is considered a good thing to do with lead acid batteries.

 

[Steve1]

Although one thing to add to that, is that it only applies if the batteries are in good operating condition. If they are broken then it is possible that the batteries will never reach full charge and will never swap to float mode. If that happened then the batteries might eventually gas up and be damaged further. The easy way to check is to make sure that after 12 - 24 hours max the voltage on the control panel drops from 14+ volts down to 13.4 this should be accompanied by the current reading dropping to almost zero soon after indicating that the battery is floating.

 

[Our bus Albus]

Although one thing to add to that, is that it only applies if the batteries are in good operating condition. If they are broken then it is possible that the batteries will never reach full charge and will never swap to float mode. If that happened then the batteries might eventually gas up and be damaged further. The easy way to check is to make sure that after 12 - 24 hours max the voltage on the control panel drops from 14+ volts down to 13.4 this should be accompanied by the current reading dropping to almost zero soon after indicating that the battery is floating.

Thanks @Steve1, thats a great, and very clear answer.

The only downside being ive just read this at 11pm and being the inquisitive type, i have to go and plug the van in and check! (no it absolutely cant wait till the morning )

 

[BugglePopples]

I was wondering this the other day.

Had my van a month now and about a week ago I noticed the leisure battery was empty. So plugged it in.

My thought is it’s better to be plugged in than risk being empty.

Although I’m not sure how approx 1 week without use caused the leisure battery to become empty

 

[Mowbotman]

Does the mains charging also charge the engine battery on the 5.1 as I was thinking of doing the same ?

 

[WelshGas]

Does the mains charging also charge the engine battery on the 5.1 as I was thinking of doing the same ?

By design - No.
But due to an unintended consequence Yes, on some years.
I've proven it on mine by using a plug in voltmeter. Once the Leisure batteries are fully charged there is a current/voltage leak to the engine battery circuit such that the engine battery voltage rises to 13.4 volts sufficient to trickle charge the battery.
To check if yours does the same. Measure engine battery voltage. Plug into EHU for 24 hrs and then re-measure engine battery voltage whilst still plugged into EHU. If the voltage reading has risen then you're good to go.

 

[Our bus Albus]

Morning update for you all, put the van on charge at 11pm last night.
- 11pm Before plugged in 12.8v / -1A
- 11pm Plugged in 13.7v / 6A
- 8am Plugged in 14.3v / 0A (fluctuated between 1A & 0A)

Pics attached just for the fun of it (excuse the unintended ghost me in the background)

I'll grab the multimeter later and check the state of the starter battery. I dont have a before reading on this one, but the van's not been driven for over a week, so if the starter battery is healthy this may be an indication that its getting a charge(?) Can always do a proper check later on.

 

[Hawthorn37]

I’m wondering why the screen icon for the battery is not all blue - 2 segments are grey on your photos before and after, and on ours it all goes blue when fully charged ?? Weird.

 

[Our bus Albus]

good spot, its only been on charge for 9hrs - i'll check it again later today and see

 

[WelshGas]

I’m wondering why the screen icon for the battery is not all blue - 2 segments are grey on your photos before and after, and on ours it all goes blue when fully charged ?? Weird.

The voltage shown is 14.3v, higher than the baseline voltage of 13.4v when fully charged. That could be the reason.

 

[yossarian]

@Our bus Albus

As your bar graph is indicating only 80% and your front battery is in the 100% region this is worth investigating.

I suggest a voltage reading of the rear battery since you are digging out the multimeter anyway.

 

[Steve1]

Morning update for you all, put the van on charge at 11pm last night.
- 11pm Before plugged in 12.8v / -1A
- 11pm Plugged in 13.7v / 6A
- 8am Plugged in 14.3v / 0A (fluctuated between 1A & 0A)

Pics attached just for the fun of it (excuse the unintended ghost me in the background)

I'll grab the multimeter later and check the state of the starter battery. I dont have a before reading on this one, but the van's not been driven for over a week, so if the starter battery is healthy this may be an indication that its getting a charge(?) Can always do a proper check later on.

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So at 14.3 that is still charging in the bulk / taper region, it should flip to float soon which would see it drop to 13.4V ish, if it's the same as T5.1. if it doesn't drop down then I probably wouldn't leave it on indefinitely because it could over charge eventually.

As for starter if it's above 13V it's probably on charge, but maybe indirectly as Welshgas described.

 

[Stow]

Our van is a daily drive and for the last 4 years have plugged it in on the last arrival home of the day.

If it's a daily drive then why plug in each night? This battery charging thing is all a bit OCD. Mines been a near daily drive for 5 years and, amazingly, no battery issues. And if I get any, I'll pay 200 quid for a new one and not have the faff of endlessly plugging in every day for 5 years, or using bleeding expensive electricity to charge it.

 

[ejmoore]

We don't drive our van every day, or even every week. It's never occurred to me to plug it at home to charge it up (and it wouldn't be possible anyway as we live in a flat). This has never resulted in the slightest problem over ten years of ownership, so why bother? When we go away in the van, the leisure battery charges up while driving. We seldom have a hook-up (unless it's included in the campsite price) - no problem. So I'd say don't worry about it, it'll charge up enough while you're driving.

 

[sagy]

I have one question:

If its good for the batteries to always be at full charge, why can't they be fully charged while driving (the alternator charges to 80% by design)?

 

[yossarian]

I have one question:

If its good for the batteries to always be at full charge, why can't they be fully charged while driving (the alternator charges to 80% by design)?

Regenerative braking.

 

[Nick CB]

Due to a broken arm and unable to drive, our T5 Cali stood in the drive for six months plugged in.
No probs at all.

 

[Stu@rt]

I have one question:

If its good for the batteries to always be at full charge, why can't they be fully charged while driving (the alternator charges to 80% by design)?

The max charge function on the 6.1 takes you to 100% if that is desired.

 

[lfm]

My previous T5.1 was plugged in, when not in use, for the 11 years I had it. That’s probably 5 days out of 7.

When I sold it the original leisure batteries were still “fine” i.e. lasted for the unscientific 3 days when just running the fridge.

Starter battery was replaced after around 8 years I think (not a start-stop engine).

 

[G3WRT]

Searched the forum (& the web) and there are various posts about leaving your Cali plugged into the mains (via the EHU) when its not in use. However many of these posts are quite old, so not sure if they are still relevant for a T6.1.

So the simple question: 'Is it ok to leave a T6.1 Ocean plugged in to the mains when not in use'

Are there internal systems to monitor the Leisure & Starter Battery levels and maintain them accordingly, or is it actually bad for battery health ?
Thanks!

I was surprised that my leisure battery had gone down to 38% without even using it for a few weeks. That battery has a different chemistry to the main car battery. It is a deep discharge type and so can be drained and recover. The main starter battery cannot. In the light of this observation I am going to plug the car into the mains more often to charge it. Those batteries are expensive.