Leisure Batteries

[Andy N]

New to vanning! Have owned a T6 Ocean (2018) for two weeks. The leisure batteries do not appear to hold their charge well. Have had the van on the mains power a couple of times, after which the control panel showed them to be at 100%. Next day they show 60%. Nothing is turned on. Got a bit complicated today when I visited a local van converter and they agreed to check the batteries - they did not condem them but wondered if the alternator was not charging them properly. With the engine running no charge appeared to come from the alternator to the batteries (including the starter battery) until something got turned on (fan or heated seats). Could be an expensive red herring as this does not answer why the batteries lose charge. They also said if the leisure batteries were goosed that may be influencing the behaviour of the alternator. Should I replace the leisure batteries? Assuming leisure batteries would not be covered by the year's warranty that came with the purchase.

 

[WelshGas]

New to vanning! Have owned a T6 Ocean (2018) for two weeks. The leisure batteries do not appear to hold their charge well. Have had the van on the mains power a couple of times, after which the control panel showed them to be at 100%. Next day they show 60%. Nothing is turned on. Got a bit complicated today when I visited a local van converter and they agreed to check the batteries - they did not condem them but wondered if the alternator was not charging them properly. With the engine running no charge appeared to come from the alternator to the batteries (including the starter battery) until something got turned on (fan or heated seats). Could be an expensive red herring as this does not answer why the batteries lose charge. They also said if the leisure batteries were goosed that may be influencing the behaviour of the alternator. Should I replace the leisure batteries? Assuming leisure batteries would not be covered by the year's warranty that came with the purchase.

Welcome.
1. I suggest you remove your Post Code from your Avatar. Replace it with something more generic.

2. Ignore the % reading . It is a very iffy guesstimate. The voltage is accurate. See chart below.

3. You have 2 Leisure Batteries wired in parallel, BUT there is a Cube fuse on the +tve pole of the rear leisure battery that is fragile and can fail. Check this fuse is working, ideally with a multimeter.
If it has failed then you are only working on 1 battery. Also check the voltage of the rear battery if the cube fuse has failed and charge it up separately before replacing the cube fuse and reconnecting the 2 batteries l
Don’t presume a Campervan converter knows about the 2 leisure batteries and the cube fuse.

When engine running do you see a G icon lower R?

 

[Corradobrit]

Unlikely but also make sure the little green light on the 230V inverter socket is off when nothing is plugged in.

 

[Andy N]

Welcome.
1. I suggest you remove your Post Code from your Avatar. Replace it with something more generic.

2. Ignore the % reading . It is a very iffy guesstimate. The voltage is accurate. See chart below.

3. You have 2 Leisure Batteries wired in parallel, BUT there is a Cube fuse on the +tve pole of the rear leisure battery that is fragile and can fail. Check this fuse is working, ideally with a multimeter.
If it has failed then you are only working on 1 battery. Also check the voltage of the rear battery if the cube fuse has failed and charge it up separately before replacing the cube fuse and reconnecting the 2 batteries l
Don’t presume a Campervan converter knows about the 2 leisure batteries and the cube fuse.

When engine running do you see a G icon lower R?

View attachment 116621

Thanks did not appreciate my post code would show up! Did not understand the registration instructions. Assuming the cube fuse is OK as the people testing the rear battery did register charge at the battery when the alternator kicked in. Good converters they often work on Cali's and appreciate how good they are.

 

[Andy N]

Found another post which I think explains the behaviour of the alternator - being smart to reduce emissions! Thinking about buying a device to measure the voltage of the batteries, any suggestions?

 

[yossarian]

Found another post which I think explains the behaviour of the alternator - being smart to reduce emissions! Thinking about buying a device to measure the voltage of the batteries, any suggestions

The Quicklynks BM2 is popular in T6 circles. It does a bit of data logging too.

If you plan to add solar you can attach the controller to the rear battery and use that to monitor the voltage.

Your front leisure battery is already visible on the control panel.

If you're looking for a reasonable cheap multimeter the Uni-T or Aneng brands seem to be OK. If you're looking more upmarket you'll already know what you're after.

The BM2 is essentially a TI CC2541 with a buck smps. It can be reflashed to produce vanilla BLE packets. https://github.com/FREESCALE009/bm2-cc2541

 

[flying banana]

It's the blue motion stuff that makes the alternator go 'offline' . You often see. -ve reading on leisure cct when it happens. It's normal.Panel doesn't show the start battery state. When you turn on a heated seat it forces the alternator out of blue motion mode. It's often a good tip to boost the batteries using this method before arriving at a none ehu campsite.

 

[RockinNRollin]

Double check there is no drain anywhere too; before now I've left the kitchen cupboard lights on for days on end; unless you open the cupboard in the dark, it's very hard to spot. That alone wouldn't cause a massively quick drain, but if there are a few little things they can add up.

 

[Andy N]

Thanks for replying. Living and learning!

 

[Brianandjoy]

It depends how well the previous owner looked after the batteries,we bought an ocean only 2 years old,the leisure batteries were shot ,wouldn’t hold much charge.Got them changed under warranty after much complaining,since then with monthly recharging they’ve been fine