Leisure battery not holding charge

[K-Rog]

Hi wise people, if anyone could offer any advice it would be much appreciated!
our 2016 Beach leisure battery doesn’t appear to be holding charge. When the power cable is plugged in the internal lights and sockets work, but after 24hrs+ of charging from mains, the internal lights still don’t turn on when off the mains and engine not running. We put a volt meter across the battery under the seat and got 2.2v and then when the engine was turned on it went to 12-13v.

I suspect the battery is not holding its charge but it’s only 4 years old which seems strange and surprising.

VW have been quoted £300+vat for labour and parts which seems high but I’m not sure what other options I have as I understand you have to remove the seat.

Any tips on whether we should change the battery or where good deals might be would be great.

Thanks Karen

 

[WelshGas]

Hi wise people, if anyone could offer any advice it would be much appreciated!
our 2016 Beach leisure battery doesn’t appear to be holding charge. When the power cable is plugged in the internal lights and sockets work, but after 24hrs+ of charging from mains, the internal lights still don’t turn on when off the mains and engine not running. We put a volt meter across the battery under the seat and got 2.2v and then when the engine was turned on it went to 12-13v.

I suspect the battery is not holding its charge but it’s only 4 years old which seems strange and surprising.

VW have been quoted £300+vat for labour and parts which seems high but I’m not sure what other options I have as I understand you have to remove the seat.

Any tips on whether we should change the battery or where good deals might be would be great.

Thanks Karen

VW Dealership upto their usual tricks. You don’t have to remove the seat, but even so it’s easily done.
Switch off Ignition and remove keys.
The seat is bolted to the runners by 4 nuts/bolts. Undo these, you’ll have to slide the seat forwards and backwards to get to all 4. Lean seat forward to lean against Dashboard. There will be 2 groups of wires into the seat. 1 for the seat airbag and 1 for heated seat facility if you have it. These can be disconnected if you wish, BUT do not switch the Ignition On until reconnected.
Remove rubber cover over battery.
Disconnect the black -tve lead/clamp followed by the red +tve lead. Undo battery clamp and lift out battery.
Exact replacement Varta battery costs about £160 on line with 4 years warranty.

LA80 Varta Professional Dual Purpose AGM Leisure Battery 840 080 080

LA80 VARTA Professional Dual Purpose AGM Leisure Battery <i>Innovation with Purpose, Premium Experience, Powerful History</i> VARTA was founded in 1887 Germany, and was established fully in 1904 by delivering the first electric vehicle battery, famously driven by Thomas Edison. Soon after, VARTA...

www.tayna.co.uk

Replace battery and reverse the above.

Batteries can wear out over time or develope a fault. I would suggest removing battery and testing it properly first. Charge it for 24 hrs. Disconnect charger and wait 1 hr and check voltage and again at 6 or 12 hrs. It should read 12.7+v.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

We swapped ours at the weekend, very easy and takes about 30mins Including finding the socket set; The batteries are available on EBay and arrive next day.

 

[K-Rog]

thanks. Sounds like we could do it ourselves then. Are any specific tools needed?

 

[WelshGas]

thanks. Sounds like we could do it ourselves then. Are any specific tools needed?

I just used my old metric socket set.

 

[K-Rog]

Also does anyone know what amp the battery should be? The garage thinks it is 105a but most of the into we have found online suggests 80a?

 

[Ch1pbutty]

Also does anyone know what amp the battery should be? The garage thinks it is 105a but most of the into we have found online suggests 80a?

80a

 

[sidepod]

Hi wise people, if anyone could offer any advice it would be much appreciated!
our 2016 Beach leisure battery doesn’t appear to be holding charge. When the power cable is plugged in the internal lights and sockets work, but after 24hrs+ of charging from mains, the internal lights still don’t turn on when off the mains and engine not running. We put a volt meter across the battery under the seat and got 2.2v and then when the engine was turned on it went to 12-13v.

I suspect the battery is not holding its charge but it’s only 4 years old which seems strange and surprising.

VW have been quoted £300+vat for labour and parts which seems high but I’m not sure what other options I have as I understand you have to remove the seat.

Any tips on whether we should change the battery or where good deals might be would be great.

Thanks Karen

Did you repeat the voltmeter test without the engine but on hook-up.
I can’t see anything to suggest you’ve proved the charger is working?

 

[K-Rog]

Sorry if this is a really stupid question, but does the leisure battery normally charge up when it is plugged into electric hook up (mains)? Or is it charged up like the normal car battery by the alternator?

 

[TripleBee]

Both ways. If everything works out well.

 

[K-Rog]

Thanks so much all! I’ll get my husband to repeat the voltmeter test first and then will replace it ourselves if necessary.
Its typical that it happened a few days before we’re due to go away But at least we’ll have EHU!