Leisure battery failure

[Milly Molly]

Hi everyone
So the rear leisure battery on my MY16 Ocean has failed again having been replaced in August 2019. The garage are telling me that it is best to replace both batteries rather than just one. Is this right?
TIA
Mandy

 

[egena]

It is best to because they will discharge equally.
if an older battery has lower performance it will drain well past its 50% safety margin whilst the other is still well above it and you can often reduce the already compromised battery even further

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[Loz]

Why are they failing? are you letting them get too low without charging?

 

[yossarian]

Hi everyone
So the rear leisure battery on my MY16 Ocean has failed again having been replaced in August 2019. The garage are telling me that it is best to replace both batteries rather than just one. Is this right?
TIA
Mandy

Batteries in parallel can sometimes be successfully replaced individually depending on the fault.

Is the rear battery sulphated because the cube fuse was blown? If so a single replacement would probably be ok. You need some strategy to prevent the same problem occurring in the future. Regular probing with a multimeter or a Bluetooth battery monitor or something like that.

 

[Milly Molly]

Not sure why yet. Waiting for them to call me back.

I use the van every day as my daily driver so The battery shouldn’t be running down to low. I also plug it in at home at the weekend if I know I’m not going very far in it.

Might look at a Bluetooth battery monitor. Not very technical when it comes to cars/vans so I rely on what the garage is telling me.

 

[yossarian]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MT4583U/?tag=eliteelect-21

Well liked on the T6 forum.

 

[Milly Molly]

Thank you for all your advice. It turns out the original call was wrong and it is the other battery that has failed and not the one that was replaced two years ago! Phew. Definitely going to get one of those monitors though. Thank you.

 

[B J G]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MT4583U/?tag=eliteelect-21

Well liked on the T6 forum.

Just wondering how much info gained on the 2 batteries in Oceans? 2 in parallel, one good and one still in the fair category.
Single battery as in the Beach would be AOK.

 

[yossarian]

Just wondering how much info gained on the 2 batteries in Oceans? 2 in parallel, one good and one still in the fair category.
Single battery as in the Beach would be AOK.

The problem in a T6 is that the aft battery can become isolated and you'll only discover when the battery capacity is suddenly half and the aft battery destroyed. A simple voltage monitor (if you checked it regularly) might be useful. I would probably wire up a comparator and some kind of alarm, probably a led, if I had a T6. A BM2 does a similar job and is COTS hardware.

 

[B J G]

The problem in a T6 is that the aft battery can become isolated and you'll only discover when the battery capacity is suddenly half and the aft battery destroyed. A simple voltage monitor (if you checked it regularly) might be useful. I would probably wire up a comparator and some kind of alarm, probably a led, if I had a T6. A BM2 does a similar job and is COTS hardware.

I had a search for Battery Monitors and found ultimate solutions with current, remaining charge , etc but very costly and in the OCD category for a Cali.

The Bluetooth option seems viable as a guide. Thanks

 

[WelshGas]

The problem in a T6 is that the aft battery can become isolated and you'll only discover when the battery capacity is suddenly half and the aft battery destroyed. A simple voltage monitor (if you checked it regularly) might be useful. I would probably wire up a comparator and some kind of alarm, probably a led, if I had a T6. A BM2 does a similar job and is COTS hardware.

If you have a Solar Panel connected to the rear Leisure Battery on an Ocean/SE then the Control Panel will show the raised Voltage when the Panel is working. Normally the Panel connection is on the Battery Lead side of the Cube Fuse.
However, if you connect the Solar Panel connection to the battery side of the Cube fuse then if the fuse blows, the rear battery is disconnected BUT also the increase in Solar voltage is also lost.
I've made it easier as I have a voltage meter with 2 USB outputs plugged into the dashboard 12v socket which is powered by the leisure battery circuit.

 

[egena]

If you have a Solar Panel connected to the rear Leisure Battery on an Ocean/SE then the Control Panel will show the raised Voltage when the Panel is working. Normally the Panel connection is on the Battery Lead side of the Cube Fuse.
However, if you connect the Solar Panel connection to the battery side of the Cube fuse then if the fuse blows, the rear battery is disconnected BUT also the increase in Solar voltage is also lost.
I've made it easier as I have a voltage meter with 2 USB outputs plugged into the dashboard 12v socket which is powered by the leisure battery circuit.View attachment 87647

I do exactly this - my solar is wired onto the positive terminal of the rear battery and the negative is wired to the chassis instead of the battery so the Campervan Control unit above the front seats can be aware of the solar voltage.
If the rear fuse blows then solar wouldnt be detected by the front control unit anymore and would be a good sign the rear battery cube fuse has blown.
Added bonus is the solar would keep the rear battery charged up whilst I find a replacement fuse


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[Wesel]

I do exactly this - my solar is wired onto the positive terminal of the rear battery and the negative is wired to the chassis instead of the battery so the Campervan Control unit above the front seats can be aware of the solar voltage.
If the rear fuse blows then solar wouldnt be detected by the front control unit anymore and would be a good sign the rear battery cube fuse has blown.
Added bonus is the solar would keep the rear battery charged up whilst I find a replacement fuse


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Good idea. Could you clarify where you found a good connection on the chassis?

 

[egena]

Good idea. Could you clarify where you found a good connection on the chassis?

Yes absolutely. I use the battery securing bracket/bolt itself It has the perfect unpainted surface to deal with it and it's very secure and easily accessible. Can be isolated from the solar controller if necessary when removing battery securing bracket to take out the battery (which is almost never!).
The control panel above the front seats wont show you AMPS being generated, instead it will show amps being taken out of the battery (a minus value e.g: -2.7amps) if they exceed the solar power. If the solar power exceeds how much you're using, it will show 0.0 amps only. It would be nice if it could display a positive value but I dont know where to connect the solar inside the van so the VW Camper controller above the front seats will show that (or if it can at all). The voltage displayed will go up and down with sunlight regardless which is very useful.


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