It's Dark Brown and its here

[Nottledim]

Just collected our Cali. We are now properly part of the forum and inevitably a few questions.

The control panel is reverting to German and is not retaining day date. The trip back from the dealers was 80 miles and I had expected that was sufficient to charge the battery.

Is this common in new Calis? I am going to connect to the mains but the dealer said the battery powering the control panel was only charged by the alternator.

Andrew and Ann.

 

[choplee]

Welcome to the club ....
Did the dealer do a good hour or more handover ?? ...he should have noticed that when playing around with it ... ?

 

[Nottledim]

It was a fairly brief handover. It was noticed and in fact was there when I first viewed the van in January but the dealer said it was because it had not been on charge. The drive home was supposed to resolve that.

I assume the control panel should be on all the time. Especially if it is hooked up.

 

[choplee]

If u have a hookup lead then give it a good charge and go from there .. Did they show you how to do that ?
If not solving the issue then it could be a trip to the closest dealer ..

 

[choplee]

I got a good hour and then some going over my Cali ,but they are given 2 hrs plus from vw to handover a Cali ..

 

[Nottledim]

It's on charge now though there is no evidence of that, I will leave it overnight and see in the morning.

Thanks

 

[choplee]

Rcd switched on in the rear cupboard ?? ... The display when u press button should show charging current and that its plugged into the mains ...

 

[Nottledim]

Yes RCD switch is up showing Red and ON. But the control panel effectively dead unless the engine is running. Batteries show 8.7 and 7.7V in the brief time the panel runs once the engine is off.

 

[Martin]

Yes RCD switch is up showing Red and ON. But the control panel effectively dead unless the engine is running. Batteries show 8.7 and 7.7V in the brief time the panel runs once the engine is off.

That voltage is dangerously low, what is the voltage once on hookup?

 

[Nottledim]

I can't see the voltage on hookup because the control panel shows G with the engine running and nothing without. but the engine provides indicates 14.6 V - but I am not an electrician so may be looking at the wrong number

 

[Martin]

Do you have a multimeter?

 

[Nottledim]

No. But I know my electrical outlet is Ok.

 

[Martin]

Andrew, now you are on hook up can you see a plug symbol on the control panel?

 

[Nottledim]

No it's completely dead unless the engine runs. Could be as simple as a fuse

 

[jonesey]

Hope you sort it - I've noticed today that I've got this problem too on our Cali I picked up on Tuesday.

I've driven it for at least 2-3 hours since collection and went to it today and the console was dead unless I ran the engine. Might be I just need to give it a good charge on hook up maybe.

Will be watching this thread with interest!

 

[Nottledim]

Interesting. Has your control panel reverted to German and lost date and time? Keep posting your resolution. I will be getting on to the dealer on Monday.

 

[jonesey]

Not German (although it was during my handover before they fixed it).

But it has lost the date.

Will keep you posted.

 

[jonesey]

Ok, so today I've driven our Cali for 2.5 hours and it looks like I'm getting no charging at all (see pic). The manual isn't very clear - I have the control panel in battery status view on the pic so is the 0% the amount of charge?

Time to get in touch with VW everyone or have I missed a switch somewhere??

 

[Nottledim]

Very similar story except my readings are much lower.
With very helpful advice from Choplee I checked that power was coming into the van by hooking up and plugging my phone charger into the socket behind the passenger seat and this was successful.
I am now getting in touch with the dealer as it has to be an issue with the battery charger or associated electronics. I think you need to do the same. My concern is that the batteries may be damaged by the deep discharge, it's worth checking with VW.

 

[jonesey]

Just went out to try it again - got power to the 12v socket by the sink fine, but the control unit wouldn't display anything without the key on (but did light up).

With the key on I get the attached - lower voltage now, it says the roof is open (it isnt) and the bottom right symbol is a power plug/G flashing.

Time for me to get in touch with the dealer too. Is yours an ex-demo? Mine is, which might explain a goosed battery.

 

[Nottledim]

Mine is pre registered not a demo it had 12 miles on the clock. But we have the same symptoms. Can you tell me who your dealer was?

 

[Nottledim]

Looking at your second photo, the battery symbol on mine was empty - just an outline where yours is showing full - solid white. However it does look like the same issue.

 

[jonesey]

Dealer was Cooks Peterborough.

I've emailed my contact there so will have a chat with them tomorrow. I know mine has been in a showroom for a while and had done around 200 miles so I'd expect some wear on the battery maybe but not kaput.

No idea why the symbol is solid, but maybe it's because I've got it in battery status mode?

 

[Nottledim]

That's a different dealer so it's a van issue. I still think its the battery charger or something near to it that's kaput .

Keep posting your progress and I will do the same.

 

[Martin]

Have you tried resetting the control panel? You need to press the lower button on the right hand side of the control panel for 5 seconds, it will then re-boot , I doubt if that will cure the problem but worth a shot