Leisure & Engine Battery half charging

[AussieCaliBeach]

Hi all,

I have a 2021 Cali Beach T6.1 and neither of my batteries will charge higher than 65%. I only noticed something was not right camping last weekend when my diesel heater kept turning off after 20 minutes though the battery panel was still showing around 20%. Looking at the Leisure battery display it shows it at a maximum of roughly 70% following a long drive, charging at 2amps at that point where it just seems to sit at 70%-ish. A local battery store helped me with a battery test, figures below.

Engine
Voltage: 12.35 V
Rated: 800 CCA/SAE
Measured: 767 CCA/SAE
IR: 3.22 mAmps
State of Charge: 54%
State of Health: 96%

Leisure
Voltage: 12.47 V
Rated: 800 CCA/SAE
Measured: 746 CCA/SAE
IR: 3.31 mAmps
State of Charge: 64%
State of Health: 93%

Unfortunately, my local service center has a 1.5 month wait time to get in and the techs are very inexperienced with Californias. I was wondering if anyone had some self-check tips I could try to start working out the issue. As a full disclosure, I am not very technical so somewhat simple explanations would be most helpful. Cheers for any help!

 

[kave]

That is why you should manually charge the batteries for a minimum of 24 hours before a trip if you haven't got solar by plugging in to 230v. The environment crap ideas force car manufacturers to save fuel so it will never charge the batteries to full by the inverter.

 

[kave]

It will never charge to full with the alternato, ie by driving.

 

[dspuk]

The heater does not work when the batteries are too low. When you say it looks 70%, it’s more likely 80, which is the level without any extra charging the van will charge to. Use max charging or hook into EHU at home the day before you go. It’s not clear if you had EHU when camping or when you got those tests done. Your starter should not be 50% charged. Use max charging when driving to a site - it’s on the control panel.

 

[WelshGas]

The heater does not work when the batteries are too low. When you say it looks 70%, it’s more likely 80, which is the level without any extra charging the van will charge to. Use max charging or hook into EHU at home the day before you go. It’s not clear if you had EHU when camping or when you got those tests done. Your starter should not be 50% charged. Use max charging when driving to a site - it’s on the control panel.

No such switch on a T6 unfortunately.

 

[WelshGas]

Hi all,

I have a 2021 Cali Beach T6.1 and neither of my batteries will charge higher than 65%. I only noticed something was not right camping last weekend when my diesel heater kept turning off after 20 minutes though the battery panel was still showing around 20%. Looking at the Leisure battery display it shows it at a maximum of roughly 70% following a long drive, charging at 2amps at that point where it just seems to sit at 70%-ish. A local battery store helped me with a battery test, figures below.

Engine
Voltage: 12.35 V
Rated: 800 CCA/SAE
Measured: 767 CCA/SAE
IR: 3.22 mAmps
State of Charge: 54%
State of Health: 96%

Leisure
Voltage: 12.47 V
Rated: 800 CCA/SAE
Measured: 746 CCA/SAE
IR: 3.31 mAmps
State of Charge: 64%
State of Health: 93%

Unfortunately, my local service center has a 1.5 month wait time to get in and the techs are very inexperienced with Californias. I was wondering if anyone had some self-check tips I could try to start working out the issue. As a full disclosure, I am not very technical so somewhat simple explanations would be most helpful. Cheers for any help!

As has been mentioned above.
Regular, monthly charging for 24hrs on EHU will prolong battery life.
Also when driving to camping site the following will switch the " intelligent " alternator to 100% charging rather than the enviromentally friendly 80%.

1. Headlights ON
2. Electrically heated seat On low.

Ignore the % Battery reading. It is not very accurate but the voltage is.

 

[Webbah_in_Switzerland]

One workaround is to turn on a seat heater while driving/engine running and this will force the alternator to start charging. A more permanent fix (if you have access to VCDS, Carista or OBD11) is to change the charge profile from "fleece" to "lithium". Although the battery is AGM the lithium charging profile will send full charge of 14.2-14.4 volts to the starter battery and also charge the leisures. We've done this on many vans without issues at all. The new charging profiles, diesel gate, etc, have forced companies to reduce C02 via numerous methods and one of them is to limit the use of the alternator to reduce emissions. Classic cars sent full power to the batteries via the alternator and batteries lasted 7-10 years + without all this nonsense. Some will likely comment that the lithium profile will damage an AGM battery but in our experience over the last 2 years is we have seen no issues whatsoever. It's simply sending 14.2-14.4 volts until the batteries internal BMS stops charging. And with all the internal systems and parasitic drain this is the ideal solution we've found to resolve this issue at no expense other than a config change.

 

[pluc99]

... I only noticed something was not right camping last weekend when my diesel heater kept turning off after 20 minutes though the battery panel was still showing around 20%.

Are you certain you are using the heater correctly? The reason I ask is because "kept turning off" suggests more than once and "20 minutes" is a suspiciously round number. There are numerous threads explaining the use of the heater which I'm sure you'll be able to find (otherwise ask).

Here is the short version. There are 2 modes:

- Heat continuously: this is what you use when camping. There is no timer. It switches off only when you switch it off or you run low on fuel or battery.

- Heat immediately: use this on a cold morning to warm the car before driving off. It has a timer that can be set in the control panel menu. Using the key fob will always activate it or it can be set via the control panel. If you repeatedly activate it without driving off, the heater will stop working after an accumulated 120 minutes. If you keep trying to activate it at this point you may invoke a software bug that will crash the control panel.

 

[Wesel]

Are you certain you are using the heater correctly? The reason I ask is because "kept turning off" suggests more than once and "20 minutes" is a suspiciously round number. There are numerous threads explaining the use of the heater which I'm sure you'll be able to find (otherwise ask).

Here is the short version. There are 2 modes:

- Heat continuously: this is what you use when camping. There is no timer. It switches off only when you switch it off or you run low on fuel or battery.

- Heat immediately: use this on a cold morning to warm the car before driving off. It has a timer that can be set in the control panel menu. Using the key fob will always activate it or it can be set via the control panel. If you repeatedly activate it without driving off, the heater will stop working after an accumulated 120 minutes. If you keep trying to activate it at this point you may invoke a software bug that will crash the control panel.

It's a T6 not T6.1
No such modes

 

[yossarian]

I have a 2021 Cali Beach T6.1

Which conflicts with your profile. To improve the quality of your assistance update your profile.

 

[Wesel]

It's a T6 not T6.1
No such modes

The profile says T6 Beach, and the text T6.1
Difficult to provide the right answers

 

[TripleBee]

That is why you should manually charge the batteries for a minimum of 24 hours before a trip if you haven't got solar by plugging in to 230v. The environment crap ideas force car manufacturers to save fuel so it will never charge the batteries to full by the inverter.

That is what I also don't understand.
If my batteries are not full when I start the car. In less than 100km they are fully charged, and then, the alternator just needs to keep the batteries topped up.
Why would they just charge to 80% (~12,35V), and only charge while braking?
If I charge my batteries before starting to drive, my alternator puts 14,2V to the batteries, and then you see less than 1A charging. That way, I don't use more fuel, and my batteries are 100% when I arrive.
How much do those Bluemotion Cali's consume less by keeping the batteries as 12,35V instead of 14V?
It's just for figures on the papers, nothing more. In real life use, you will never notice more consumption.

 

[dspuk]

That is what I also don't understand.
If my batteries are not full when I start the car. In less than 100km they are fully charged, and then, the alternator just needs to keep the batteries topped up.
Why would they just charge to 80% (~12,35V), and only charge while braking?
If I charge my batteries before starting to drive, my alternator puts 14,2V to the batteries, and then you see less than 1A charging. That way, I don't use more fuel, and my batteries are 100% when I arrive.
How much do those Bluemotion Cali's consume less by keeping the batteries as 12,35V instead of 14V?
It's just for figures on the papers, nothing more. In real life use, you will never notice more consumption.

My understanding is the 80% charge is a battery longevity measure.

 

[TripleBee]

My understanding is the 80% charge is a battery longevity measure.

Ok then. Good luck getting a lifespan of 14 years then.
My starter battery is from week 44/2009. It lasted until november last year.
With that in mind, all batteries from at least 2015 and up should outlive that?
It's just for environmental purposes (on paper).
My leasure batteries are still the factory ones. I drive too much short distances, and in winter I use the air heater enough without charging.

 

[Steve1]

That is what I also don't understand.
If my batteries are not full when I start the car. In less than 100km they are fully charged, and then, the alternator just needs to keep the batteries topped up.
Why would they just charge to 80% (~12,35V), and only charge while braking?
If I charge my batteries before starting to drive, my alternator puts 14,2V to the batteries, and then you see less than 1A charging. That way, I don't use more fuel, and my batteries are 100% when I arrive.
How much do those Bluemotion Cali's consume less by keeping the batteries as 12,35V instead of 14V?
It's just for figures on the papers, nothing more. In real life use, you will never notice more consumption.

The idea, although I don't know how effective it really is, is that the charging system leaves a bit of "space" in the battery for a bit of charge at the top end, around 20%. Then when you are off throttle slowing or down hill off throttle it puts the alternator on full charge using it as a (very small) brake. This then adds some extra charge to the battery without use of fuel. For a while after this because the charge is now over 80% the alternator can turn off, or at least charge less until the charge falls back to 80%. This act of the alternator putting less load on the engine for that bit which was gained for free with no fuel is what is meant to be saving the fuel.

 

[dspuk]

Ok then. Good luck getting a lifespan of 14 years then.
My starter battery is from week 44/2009. It lasted until november last year.
With that in mind, all batteries from at least 2015 and up should outlive that?
It's just for environmental purposes (on paper).
My leasure batteries are still the factory ones. I drive too much short distances, and in winter I use the air heater enough without charging.

I don't quite understand the chunt. The OP's issues are theirs, not everyone's. My batteries are fine, I'm not overly obsessed with the % and understand both how they works as well as the charging cycles alongside my solar panel.

I'm not even convinced the OP has an issue beyond understanding the above.

If mine last as long as yours, bonus, but if not, I will understand why and replace them as needed.

 

[TripleBee]

I don't quite understand the chunt. The OP's issues are theirs, not everyone's. My batteries are fine, I'm not overly obsessed with the % and understand both how they works as well as the charging cycles alongside my solar panel.

I'm not even convinced the OP has an issue beyond understanding the above.

If mine last as long as yours, bonus, but if not, I will understand why and replace them as needed.

Exactly. When the batteries are starting to go, I will replace them.