Leisure batteris

[ptapta]

So Iast week I just bought myself a 2022 T6.1 Ocean Liberty, 2 years and in good condition - very chaffed indeed I am.
I hope I am posting this in the correct place - been reading many inputs and found everything very interesting, thanks

Now to understand the Leisure batteries and display, I am not the most technically minded!
I have read numerous issues related to the batteries but nothing which answered my questions

I have driven twice over and hour and the leisure battery indicator stays around 50 % (5 of the 10 bars blue in colour) charge as per the display.
I did check the rear battery fuse and this is intact and good. Does the battery under the seat also have a cube fuse? (have not got that far yet!)
Once we got to 60% (6 bars were blue) - got excited but once the engine turned off back to 50% - very short lived joy

So potentially one battery is dead? But which one? How do I work this out?
Or are both limping a long?
If only one battery is dead, can only the dead battery be changed? Or must both be changed? I read numerous opinions on this and understand that this is do able although some frowned on this!
How long should it take driving to bring the batteries from 50% to 100%?
I have read that the batteries should not be run down completely - but how do you deal with this when you are camping ? Do you have turn everything off when they get close to 30% charge and charge up again?

The Cali is 2 years old - would this be covered by the guarantee which is 3 years?

 

[Perfectos]

battery anxiety will be your new addiction


edit- press the heated seats t6 of boost t6.1 !

I have had three starter bat’s covered under warranty, they should replace a depleted battery within 3yrs

driving will sort out the issue 80% !

 

[Perfectos]

Flat starter battery

Our T6 Beach is now over seven years old, and has 92,000 miles on the clock, so maybe a new battery is overdue. But at home we never have problems starting at home. But twice now we have had problems with the starter battery while camping. First was two years ago in Spain. We were camped...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[yossarian]

So Iast week I just bought myself a 2022 T6.1 Ocean Liberty, 2 years and in good condition - very chaffed indeed I am.
I hope I am posting this in the correct place - been reading many inputs and found everything very interesting, thanks

Now to understand the Leisure batteries and display, I am not the most technically minded!
I have read numerous issues related to the batteries but nothing which answered my questions

I have driven twice over and hour and the leisure battery indicator stays around 50 % (5 of the 10 bars blue in colour) charge as per the display.
I did check the rear battery fuse and this is intact and good. Does the battery under the seat also have a cube fuse? (have not got that far yet!)
Once we got to 60% (6 bars were blue) - got excited but once the engine turned off back to 50% - very short lived joy

So potentially one battery is dead? But which one? How do I work this out?
Or are both limping a long?
If only one battery is dead, can only the dead battery be changed? Or must both be changed? I read numerous opinions on this and understand that this is do able although some frowned on this!
How long should it take driving to bring the batteries from 50% to 100%?
I have read that the batteries should not be run down completely - but how do you deal with this when you are camping ? Do you have turn everything off when they get close to 30% charge and charge up again?

The Cali is 2 years old - would this be covered by the guarantee which is 3 years?

If the batteries have not been looked after they will have lead sulphate buildup on their plates.

You might be able to recover some capacity by plugging your vehicle into EHU for an extended period (several days).

 

[ptapta]

battery anxiety will be your new addiction


edit- press the heated seats t6 of boost t6.1 !

I have had three starter bat’s covered under warranty, they should replace a depleted battery within 3yrs

driving will sort out the issue 80% !

thanks - will give it a go and let you know what happens

 

[ptapta]

If the batteries have not been looked after they will have lead sulphate buildup on their plates.

You might be able to recover some capacity by plugging your vehicle into EHU for an extended period (several days).

Second item to check out - thanks - I will let you know what happens

 

[yossarian]

Since you have a T6.1 the 'vw way' of achieving max charge on your batteries is to activate the "max charge" function on your camping control panel. The seat heater trick is a hack for earlier vehicles. The max charge button should be on the first screen of icons, bottom middle.

 

[ptapta]

Thanks for all the inputs - today I had some success, its a bit strange and not very logical

As mentioned I had driven the van for about 4 hours and nothing changed and nothing charged, even using the max charge - everything remained at about 50% charge.

Today while driving I turned on the seat heating and like magic the batteries started taking on charge, managed to get to 80%, I then used the max charge which I had used before and got to 100%!

It will be interesting to see what charge I have tomorrow morning!

So the manual for the VW T6.1 needs to be updated accordingly namely "To charge the leisure batteries turn on the seat heating!"

Thanks for all the inputs - it may not be logical but it worked for me!
cheers

 

[Perfectos]

Thanks for all the inputs - today I had some success, its a bit strange and not very logical

As mentioned I had driven the van for about 4 hours and nothing changed and nothing charged, even using the max charge - everything remained at about 50% charge.

Today while driving I turned on the seat heating and like magic the batteries started taking on charge, managed to get to 80%, I then used the max charge which I had used before and got to 100%!

It will be interesting to see what charge I have tomorrow morning!

So the manual for the VW T6.1 needs to be updated accordingly namely "To charge the leisure batteries turn on the seat heating!"

Thanks for all the inputs - it may not be logical but it worked for me!
cheers

glad to hear the heated seat trick worked

Check the Lin cable for Damage it’s the thin cable from alternator to battery , if it’s damaged the current will not be being measured correctly and and the smart alternator will not put out the correct charge

 

[yossarian]

Here's the relevant part of your VW California supplement: