Leisure Battery Advice (not again I hear you all sigh)....

[katyjw]

Hi all, I have looked through older threads but nothing quite answering my questions.

I've taken on the care and upkeep of a 2006 California from my Mum in exchange for limitless roaming. I've been doing some reading but wonder if anyone can help me with a fewqueries.

1) I understand if you don't have solar you should charge the van once a month on hookup to preserve the leisure batteries. Is this EVEN if it's pretty much a daily driver? I understand driving it means it doesn't get fully topped up by the alternator but is that not sufficient for battery health? The reason I ask leads me to my next question....

2) I believe I need to replace the leisure batteries as it has not been done for at least 5 years or more (if at all, mum isn't sure), the fridge keeps switching off when not hooked up, I put two and two together after panicking the fridge had died and realised this wasn't happening when I was on hook up so I take it to be because the battery level was dropping too low. I've tried charging for 48hrs but battery still seems to drop to 60% in a couple of hours. So I'm guessing I need new leisure batteries?

3) I finally spotted the hatch for the leisure battery and it is a Varta 3DO 915 105 H - I googled this and it seems like this is a VW specific starter battery. I presume starter means for starting, as in a standard type car battery and not a leisure battery specifically (or am I being dim?) in which case is there a better leisure battery alternative before I invest in a pair? I saw the Varta LA80 mentioned a couple of times, is there a particular go to brand/model for California owners?

4) Last question, a while ago (again I didn't deal with it directly so details are vague) but there was an engine drain, battery was flat all the time, a camper conversion guy looked into it and found out the parking heater was causing the drain so he disconnected it, it did fix the drain but it frustrates me we have no additional heater, is this the earth shunt issue?

Can anyone recommend a good auto-electrician in Cornwall?!

Thanks in advance

 

[MattBW]

I am assuming its an SE you have for the answers below.

1) The battery will never go above about 80% from charging via driving but you shouldn't have too much problem if its driven regularly. You just won't get as long out of the batteries, if you want a long stay off grid the 24hour on hookup is recommended for longer capacity.

2) This could be because they are old, or it could be because of a few other things. The rear battery has a fuse on it if this goes it effectively halves your capacity. The under seat one is connected to this via that fuse. Additionally if one of your batteries is not performing it will cause issues with the healthier battery losing power into the weaker one. This is why they recommend changing both. There is also an earth shunt problem on some calis which can effect the capacity read out but you can only really tell if this is the case by reviewing the battery voltage direct from each battery.

3) You should have two unless you have a beach, one in the rear and one under the left side seat. The battery is usually a VARTA AGM battery. Again both batteries should be identical to avoid any issues. AGM is recommended and you can often buy based upon dimensions, so as long as the battery fits and is the same front and back you will be good. Many users upgrade the original 75ah for an 80ah one.

4) Battery drain could simply be because of not turning off control panel but its likely the electrician was correct. It may be worth getting the heater looked at by a eberspacher engineer rather than a VW one (unless its a webasto) to see if it has a fault.

 

[MattBW]

Incidentally the earth shunt can cause heater problems.

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/resources/earth-shunt-repair-guide.39/
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/earth-shunt.5573/

 

[katyjw]

I am assuming its an SE you have for the answers below.

1) The battery will never go above about 80% from charging via driving but you shouldn't have too much problem if its driven regularly. You just won't get as long out of the batteries, if you want a long stay off grid the 24hour on hookup is recommended for longer capacity.

2) This could be because they are old, or it could be because of a few other things. The rear battery has a fuse on it if this goes it effectively halves your capacity. The under seat one is connected to this via that fuse. Additionally if one of your batteries is not performing it will cause issues with the healthier battery losing power into the weaker one. This is why they recommend changing both. There is also an earth shunt problem on some calis which can effect the capacity read out but you can only really tell if this is the case by reviewing the battery voltage direct from each battery.

3) You should have two unless you have a beach, one in the rear and one under the left side seat. The battery is usually a VARTA AGM battery. Again both batteries should be identical to avoid any issues. AGM is recommended and you can often buy based upon dimensions, so as long as the battery fits and is the same front and back you will be good. Many users upgrade the original 75ah for an 80ah one.

4) Battery drain could simply be because of not turning off control panel but its likely the electrician was correct. It may be worth getting the heater looked at by a eberspacher engineer rather than a VW one (unless its a webasto) to see if it has a fault.

Thanks for getting back to me very helpful info. Yes it's an SE.
So first port of call is to check that rear fuse and check the two batteries are the same. It is a 75ah AGM but I was unsure from the battery google search as it listed it a starter battery and if that was a problem not being a specific leisure type.
I guess I ought to invest in a voltimeter.
I'm just sure from old threads there's a link between that parking heater and leisure battery issues (it's a little bit foreign to me, on a big learning curve here).
I think the battery drain was something more than the control panel if I remember rightly as he had everything switched off and there was something still draining it. Not considered finding a engineer specific to the heater, good suggestion, will look into that, thank you

 

[AlanC]

I am assuming its an SE you have for the answers below.

1) The battery will never go above about 80% from charging via driving but you shouldn't have too much problem if its driven regularly. You just won't get as long out of the batteries, if you want a long stay off grid the 24hour on hookup is recommended for longer capacity.

Not quite right. The 80% charge issue relates to vehicles fitted with Bluemotion technology. The reason for this is the way the alternator is controlled, taking some of the load off the engine to increase the economy.

A 2007 Cali (and indeed my 2010 van) does not have this technology, so the vehicle charging system should fully charge the engine battery and top up the leisure batteries fully.

Thanks for getting back to me very helpful info. Yes it's an SE.
So first port of call is to check that rear fuse and check the two batteries are the same. It is a 75ah AGM but I was unsure from the battery google search as it listed it a starter battery and if that was a problem not being a specific leisure type.
I guess I ought to invest in a voltimeter.
I'm just sure from old threads there's a link between that parking heater and leisure battery issues (it's a little bit foreign to me, on a big learning curve here).
I think the battery drain was something more than the control panel if I remember rightly as he had everything switched off and there was something still draining it. Not considered finding an engineer specific to the heater, good suggestion, will look into that, thank you

The leisure batteries should be 75ah deep cycle AGM type and both should be replaced together. The original engine battery at that age would have been a wet type probably 75ah too. Varta is usually the VW original fitment.

The control panel drain is usually 0.2 amps and only happens when the control panel is on. Keeping it switched off, unless the fridge is in use, is best.

My leisure batteries are original and I put them on an overnight charge every 4- 6 weeks depending on how we have used the van.

Getting the heater overhauled should cure your current drain issue.

Alan

 

[MattBW]

Yes check that fuse first, be careful not to break it.

The parking heater will not come on if the battery is too low as it has a safety cut out to avoid damaging the battery You can usually spot this as the heater will work on hookup but not on battery. From your description I doubt it is that.

The control panel drawers 0.2a if I remember correctly, if the electrician removed the heater to stop the drain it is probably not your control panel. However well worth checking that before hand just in case its a red herring.

 

[WelshGas]

Not quite right. The 80% charge issue relates to vehicles fitted with Bluemotion technology. The reason for this is the way the alternator is controlled, taking some of the load off the engine to increase the economy.

A 2007 Cali (and indeed my 2010 van) does not have this technology, so the vehicle charging system should fully charge the engine battery and top up the leisure batteries fully.



The leisure batteries should be 75ah deep cycle AGM type and both should be replaced together. The original engine battery at that age would have been a wet type probably 75ah too. Varta is usually the VW original fitment.

The control panel drain is usually 0.2 amps and only happens when the control panel is on. Keeping it switched off, unless the fridge is in use, is best.

My leisure batteries are original and I put them on an overnight charge every 4- 6 weeks depending on how we have used the van.

Getting the heater overhauled should cure your current drain issue.

Alan

Yes check that fuse first, be careful not to break it.

The parking heater will not come on if the battery is too low as it has a safety cut out to avoid damaging the battery You can usually spot this as the heater will work on hookup but not on battery. From your description I doubt it is that.

The control panel drawers 0.2a if I remember correctly, if the electrician removed the heater to stop the drain it is probably not your control panel. However well worth checking that before hand just in case its a red herring.

Why should the Parking Heater drain the Engine Battery? It runs off the Leisure Circuit.

 

[MattBW]

That’s a good point, I had not noticed that, it should be the leisure circuit as per above.

 

[katyjw]

Why should the Parking Heater drain the Engine Battery? It runs off the Leisure Circuit.

That's

Not quite right. The 80% charge issue relates to vehicles fitted with Bluemotion technology. The reason for this is the way the alternator is controlled, taking some of the load off the engine to increase the economy.

A 2007 Cali (and indeed my 2010 van) does not have this technology, so the vehicle charging system should fully charge the engine battery and top up the leisure batteries fully.



The leisure batteries should be 75ah deep cycle AGM type and both should be replaced together. The original engine battery at that age would have been a wet type probably 75ah too. Varta is usually the VW original fitment.

The control panel drain is usually 0.2 amps and only happens when the control panel is on. Keeping it switched off, unless the fridge is in use, is best.

My leisure batteries are original and I put them on an overnight charge every 4- 6 weeks depending on how we have used the van.

Getting the heater overhauled should cure your current drain issue.

Alan

That's good to know re 80% and bluemotion. I think leisure battery replacement is on the cards seeing how fast its dropping on the control panel. Its an AGM battery but when i looked up the code it said its a starter battery rather than a leisure battery, wasn't sure how much difference that would make to its performance.

 

[katyjw]

Re parking heater, I only heard all this 3rd hand and it was several years ago now, but I think the engine battery had died at the same time due to a period of inactivity, so it all got a bit confused. I think the heater was identified as causing a small drain (on which I'm not sure but in light of forum info it must be leisure battery) and was disconnected as a result. Hopefully disconnected means just a fuse and maybe getting the earth shunt work done might resolve that issue. I doubt the guy doing the work at the time would've been aware of the issue so disconnecting it would've been an easy semi-fix.

 

[AlanC]

Re parking heater, I only heard all this 3rd hand and it was several years ago now, but I think the engine battery had died at the same time due to a period of inactivity, so it all got a bit confused. I think the heater was identified as causing a small drain (on which I'm not sure but in light of forum info it must be leisure battery) and was disconnected as a result. Hopefully disconnected means just a fuse and maybe getting the earth shunt work done might resolve that issue. I doubt the guy doing the work at the time would've been aware of the issue so disconnecting it would've been an easy semi-fix.

Calis are complex vehicles electrically and unless the tech had experience of or been trained in them, I doubt they would know which battery each item fitted was powered from.

Just a thought, I had a towbar retrofitted some years back, and the electrics I bought needed a direct connection to the engine battery. Previously there were only the large diameter supply cables bolted to the terminals. I assume this latter case is standard for a van out of the factory. So if you have additional connections attached to the engine battery, then your van may well have been modified at some point in the past.

Alan