Heating/Battery issue

[HappyGus]

Hi,

I had an issue this weekend with my T6.1 ocean california.
The battery was full when we parked, around 18:30. Then we only used some lights until ~21h30 were we started the heating on 6.
We were having the pop-top open and the (lowest) outside temperature was around 8°.

Around 5:00 the heating stopped. I tried to started it around 9:00, but no way. It start to blow some cold air and then stops after like 30-60seconds.
On the main screen, the battery is a bit low(11.9V) at 9:00, as shown in this video:

(Sorry, the text in the video are in french)

I'm really positive that the battery was full(or almost full), it was only charging at 2-5 Amp, I've been driving like 2h before.

Also, as a workaround, I just started the van for 4-5 min, started the heating while the motor still running, then it heated during the next 3 hours before stopping.

I spend a lot of night with -7° degree, sleeping in the pop top, without any issue. Any idea what could have caused this issue?

 

[WelshGas]

Hi,

I had an issue this weekend with my T6.1 ocean california.
The battery was full when we parked, around 18:30. Then we only used some lights until ~21h30 were we started the heating on 6.
We were having the pop-top open and the (lowest) outside temperature was around 8°.

Around 5:00 the heating stopped. I tried to started it around 9:00, but no way. It start to blow some cold air and then stops after like 30-60seconds.
On the main screen, the battery is a bit low(11.9V) at 9:00, as shown in this video:

(Sorry, the text in the video are in french)

I'm really positive that the battery was full(or almost full), it was only charging at 2-5 Amp, I've been driving like 2h before.

Also, as a workaround, I just started the van for 4-5 min, started the heating while the motor still running, then it heated during the next 3 hours before stopping.

I spend a lot of night with -7° degree, sleeping in the pop top, without any issue. Any idea what could have caused this issue?

The Parking Heater will switch off if the Leisure Battery voltage drops to 11.5v , during the start up period, or whilst running. This is to stop draining the Leisure batteries totally.
It sounds as if you might only be running on 1 leisure battery instead of 2.

Check the Cube Fuse, I believe it is now a 100amp cube fuse on the T6.1, on the red +tve pole of the rear leisure battery, found at the base of the rear wardrobe and accessed via the flap on the L side of the boot.

If it has blown then you need to check the voltages of both leisure batteries before replacing it as if the voltages are too different the replacement fuse might blow.

 

[yossarian]

The bar graph on your cu screen is often quite informative. The model year is also of interest as early ones were badly wired.

Edit: I saw the bar graph on the video. 50% state of charge and 11.9 volts. That confirms what Welshgas suggested. One battery probably full and one empty.

 

[HappyGus]

The bar graph on your cu screen is often quite informative. The model year is also of interest as early ones were badly wired.

What do you mean by bar graph? On the main screen you mean? If yes, it was at 90% when we parked. Mine is from 2019, but I don't think the wiring is an issue, as I said, I've done a lot of night in the past without any issue.

The Parking Heater will switch off if the Leisure Battery voltage drops to 11.5v , during the start up period, or whilst running. This is to stop draining the Leisure batteries totally.
It sounds as if you might only be running on 1 leisure battery instead of 2.

Check the Cube Fuse, I believe it is now a 100amp cube fuse on the T6.1, on the red +tve pole of the rear leisure battery, found at the base of the rear wardrobe and accessed via the flap on the L side of the boot.

If it has blown then you need to check the voltages of both leisure batteries before replacing it as if the voltages are too different the replacement fuse might blow.

I will check this tomorrow, but if I've only one battery, I should not manage to reach 100% of charge or nothing to do?

 

[yossarian]

What do you mean by bar graph? On the main screen you mean? If yes, it was at 90% when we parked.

Mine is from 2019, but I don't think the wiring is an issue, as I said, I've done a lot of night in the past without any issue.

Yours is probably affected. The issue appears to make the sensor on the rear battery inaccurate as it is measuring the voltage of the front battery when the cube fuse blows.

This is not directly causing your current problem but does make it harder for you to see what is going on on your panel.

I will check this tomorrow, but if I've only one battery, I should not manage to reach 100% of charge or nothing to do?

Although the rear battery might be unusable your vehicle can still see it and report its state of charge. The sensor is on the battery and sends data to the vehicle even if the fuse is blown.

 

[HappyGus]

Yours is probably affected. The issue appears to make the sensor on the rear battery inaccurate as it is measuring the voltage of the front battery when the cube fuse blows.

This is not directly causing your current problem but does make it harder for you to see what is going on on your panel.

Although the rear battery might be unusable your vehicle can still see it and report its state of charge. The sensor is on the battery and sends data to the vehicle even if the fuse is blown.

Okay thanks. How do you see if a "cube" fuse is blown?

 

[WelshGas]

What do you mean by bar graph? On the main screen you mean? If yes, it was at 90% when we parked. Mine is from 2019, but I don't think the wiring is an issue, as I said, I've done a lot of night in the past without any issue.


I will check this tomorrow, but if I've only one battery, I should not manage to reach 100% of charge or nothing to do?

The 2 leisure batteries are wired in parallel.
So you have the equivalent of one 12v battery of 150 amps capacity.
If the cube fuse blows you have only one 12v batthery of 75 amps capacity.

In both scenarios the batteries can be charged to 100% capacity, but one will last twice as long as the other and will take at least twice as long to drop its voltage to the cut off level of 11.5v.

Now the T6.1 has battery monitoring on both Leisure Batteries and I’m not fully conversant as to how the Control Panel software deals with the data when one battery is out of circuit but still being monitored. The cube fuse could blow when both Leisure Batteries are fully charged, but then 1 battery would be powering the heater and lights but the rear battery is now fully charged but not powering anything.

 

[WelshGas]

Okay thanks. How do you see if a "cube" fuse is blown?

Ideally a multimeter is required, but it may be obvious on visual inspection.

 

[yossarian]

Have a look at this thread: quite recent and well documented and good photos:

T 6.1 control panel battery capacity

My New T 6.1 ocean was delivered a couple of weeks ago after a year wait and have been using it for a couple of weeks away. I put it on ehu at home and on site and every time the battery status was constantly showing > 60 hrs After several hours charging. for the past 3 days when on ehu it only...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[HappyGus]

Have a look at this thread: quite recent and well documented and good photos:

T 6.1 control panel battery capacity

My New T 6.1 ocean was delivered a couple of weeks ago after a year wait and have been using it for a couple of weeks away. I put it on ehu at home and on site and every time the battery status was constantly showing > 60 hrs After several hours charging. for the past 3 days when on ehu it only...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Yeah I saw this thread, but since he does say that its chart doesn't go above 50%, I didn't tought it was the same, because mine charge up to 100%

 

[yossarian]

Yeah I saw this thread, but since he does say that its chart doesn't go above 50%, I didn't tought it was the same, because mine charge up to 100%

Your sensor is probably wired differently. His is direct to the rear battery.

 

[WelshGas]

Yeah I saw this thread, but since he does say that its chart doesn't go above 50%, I didn't tought it was the same, because mine charge up to 100%

As I said above, if the Cube fuse failed, and they are fragile, when the rear battery was fully charged then you are only using and charging the front leisure battery.

Wheras in the other case it could be the reverse. The rear battery almost discharged when cube fuse blows.