Checking aux battery and cigarette lighter failures

[Loopster D.]

Hey all,

I recently have had my darling 2017 van start to have mysterious electrical issues. IT started with the main cigarette on the dash failing. The fuse would blow instantly if a new one was put in. Then the whole car stalled while driving when the auto turn off at a stop light kicked in. A service truck had to rig a wire so I could drive back to the VW repair shop where they said it was fixed. Since then my solar panel and Dometic refrigerator attached to the auxilliary system have died. The dometic regrigerator works in the house plugged into 220V outlet but not on the cigarette charger. The cigarette charger cord fuse is not blown. I have tested the voltage at the cigarette outlets and they read just over 12 volts.

I do not know where to start. The Spanish VW dealers are sort of slow and have not fixed it for 3 shop visits. I am thinking of driving to Germany for a 60k km tune up and electrical check up.

Is there a VW recall on this?
Any other experiences similar?

Thanks.

 

[Loz]

Check if the Aux battery is charging.
There is an 80A fuse by the battery relay under the seat.
Also, check the battery charger is working when plugging in the hookup.

To give you an idea, this is how te Ocean is setup;

 

[Loopster D.]

Wow. A quick response and quick solution. A 15 A fuse under the front seat was fried and I replaced that and the refrigerator works. Awesome, thanks! The other good news is the 80A fuse was good. I have a Beach and opted for no hookup that does need checked.

1. How can I test if the auxillary battery is charging? I assume it is because things are charging but it has funky access. I do have a voltmeter but not sure how to use it.
2. Are there spare fuses anywhere?

This is amazing that I can troubleshoot this.

 

[Loopster D.]

For instance, with the 15A fused burnt out for the auxillary cigarette lighter socket when I tested it with the voltmeter is said 12.3 volts with the dead fuse. I touched the red to the back and the black to the side of the cigarette outlet. So I assumed the outlet was working but when I plugged the fridge in it did not work. So the confusion.

 

[Loopster D.]

Aux battery is charging from my MPPT solar charger controller said the battery was 12.5V then after driving a short distance it was 13.1V.

 

[MattBW]

Sounds like its charging fine if its 13v shortly after driving.

 

[Loopster D.]

Thanks for the responses so far. Some progress has been made.

My van broke 4 months ago when the blue motion kicked in and left me towing it to the dealership where they "fixed" it. This also fixed the main cigarette lighter on the main battery that was not working. After this.

Electrical things broken

1. 100 W solar panel hooked to the auxiliary battery has died. (Moon icon on the solar controller)
2. DC-12 mini flashlight has died
3. 12 V DC- 220 AC converter has died
4. 15A fuse under the seat with the aux battery has blown but now replaced
5. Waeco CFX35 compressor fridge has broken

I have tested the

1. aux battery charges to 13.1 V after driving then to 12.5 V
2. 80A fuse under seat is good
3. external electrical input is not on my model
4. Waeco electrical chord holds 12.8 V

Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot the system because I do not want to keep buying things that get broken?

The Spanish work ethic at multiple legit VW shops has exhausted me.
I am leaving tomorrow to drive to VW Munich who took good care of her before.

Thanks,

Loop

 

[MattBW]

Solar panel may simply be a fuse, I would assume it has an inline fuse somewhere.

I also find with victron controllers sometimes disconnecting and reconnecting starts them charging again.