Early T5 California hook up question.

[dfps]

Hi,
We have a 2007 2.5 Tiptronic California.
Am I right in assuming that the earlier T5 models do not charge the main engine battery when hooked up
to charge the leisure batteries ?
I also believe that later California models DID charge the engine battery when hooked up ?


If I am right , has anyone done a modification to make the early T5 models do the same as the later models ?

During covid when the California has not been used much it has been a bit of a pain to run both the hook up cable and have to attach a separate battery charger to the engine battery.

My guess is that it is not practical or cost effective to do this but thought it was worth asking as sometimes people amaze me with what they are capable of if motivated to do so.

 

[WelshGas]

Hi,
We have a 2007 2.5 Tiptronic California.
Am I right in assuming that the earlier T5 models do not charge the main engine battery when hooked up
to charge the leisure batteries ?
I also believe that later California models DID charge the engine battery when hooked up ?


If I am right , has anyone done a modification to make the early T5 models do the same as the later models ?

During covid when the California has not been used much it has been a bit of a pain to run both the hook up cable and have to attach a separate battery charger to the engine battery.

My guess is that it is not practical or cost effective to do this but thought it was worth asking as sometimes people amaze me with what they are capable of if motivated to do so.

Correct, the earlier T5 don’t charge the Engine battery, also the T5.1, post 2010, aren’t supposed to officially, but due to a VW wiring change, and I don’t know what it is, some vehicles appear to trickle charge the engine battery.

if you have a 12 v socket in the drinks holder on the Dashboard, you could use this socket to charge the engine battery. I use a Ctek charger that has a 12v plug. Charger plugged into kitchen Mains socket and the charging lead into the 12 v socket. When the vehicle is plugged into the mains to charge Leisure Batteries the Ctek charger charges the engine battery.

Another way, is to make a 12v plug to 12v plug lead up, but make sure the polarity is correct and put an inline 10amp fuse in the +tve cable. Then plug into the Leisure 12v socket on the end of the kitchen and the other plug into the Dashboard socket. Basically you are converting the 2 Leisure Batteries into 3 so when using the California mains charger you charge all 3 batteries.

 

[sidepod]

Or do the job properly?

Example was done on a 4 but the principal is identical.

Engine Battery charger install.

Ok, some did some didn’t leave the factory with engine battery charging. If you use the van regularly all year round then it’s probably not an issue. If, like my bus, it spends the bulk of the winter hibernating then it could be an issue. My last van had it so for me, it’s a thing. My current...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[westfalia]

Correct, the earlier T5 don’t charge the Engine battery, also the T5.1, post 2010, aren’t supposed to officially, but due to a VW wiring change, and I don’t know what it is, some vehicles appear to trickle charge the engine battery.

if you have a 12 v socket in the drinks holder on the Dashboard, you could use this socket to charge the engine battery. I use a Ctek charger that has a 12v plug. Charger plugged into kitchen Mains socket and the charging lead into the 12 v socket. When the vehicle is plugged into the mains to charge Leisure Batteries the Ctek charger charges the engine battery.

Another way, is to make a 12v plug to 12v plug lead up, but make sure the polarity is correct and put an inline 10amp fuse in the +tve cable. Then plug into the Leisure 12v socket on the end of the kitchen and the other plug into the Dashboard socket. Basically you are converting the 2 Leisure Batteries into 3 so when using the California mains charger you charge all 3 batteries.

Triplebee once posted that whilst on hook up, he also
stuck a battery charger on his starter battery and things started
getting hot.
He probably had the Vw trickle charger on his van, but i'm not sure.
I do mine separately - Hook up each month or less and CTEK is new to me,
i've had it on once doing the maintenance charge.

 

[Vagophile]

Mine charges the starter battery on EHU and does it quite efficiently; when I ran the battery down by overusing the radio, it recharged from well below 12V to 13.7V in about 24hours. It is Sept 2013 registration. I've just had it on EHU and with leisure batteries already charged, the starter battery charged to 13.7V from 12.4V in about 16 hours.
Having changed from a moho where all batteries were charged on EHU, I just expected that the Cali would be the same, I'm pleased to find that I own one of the ones that is an unofficial charger.

 

[WelshGas]

Triplebee once posted that whilst on hook up, he also
stuck a battery charger on his starter battery and things started
getting hot.
He probably had the Vw trickle charger on his van, but i'm not sure.
I do mine separately - Hook up each month or less and CTEK is new to me,
i've had it on once doing the maintenance charge.

Can’t explain that I’m afraid.
I have the ability to trickle charge the starter battery and I used the Ctek, as I explained above, when my starter battery was failing to try reconditioning it without any problems. The Leisure Batteries were charging at the same time.

 

[yanathem]

Hi,
We have a 2007 2.5 Tiptronic California.
Am I right in assuming that the earlier T5 models do not charge the main engine battery when hooked up
to charge the leisure batteries ?
I also believe that later California models DID charge the engine battery when hooked up ?

Strange that some of the older vans charge the engine battery and some don’t. Our van is also 2007 but ours does charge the engine battery when on hook up. It wasn’t until posts appeared on here asking the same question that I made sure and checked with a multi meter and subsequently fitted ctek battery sense Bluetooth dongles to the engine battery and leisure batteries. Engine battery still charges fine on hookup.