New 6.1 Ocean handed over with dead control panel

[b1gl33]

Hello .... at last after a lot of effort I have took delivery of my new California last week.

I'll try to keep this as short as I can, but might be useful to someone in the future.

Because of Italian red tape, the van was delivered to the dealership at the beginning of April, but I only just got the registration last week (August).

Anyway, when it was handed over to me the control panel was dead, I was told its just a case of charging up the batteries.

Plugged it in for 48 hrs, but noticed there was no yellow light on the control panel to show it was connected. Checked fuses etc, could see power was coming in to the van as the 230v socket behind the driver seat was working.

Despite being on charge, the control panel would not come to life. Back to the dealers today, after a bit of messing about, they confirmed the leisure batteries were very low, as it had been sitting around for months doing nothing.

They put a booster pack on the battery behind the driver seat which forced the panel to come to life, almost like booting it up.

I drove home and plugged into the mains and now the panel is alive and the yellow light comes on to confirm the charge is connected.

So, despite a few other threads saying the control panel amy be powered from the main battery, this is not actually correct. In my case, it most definitely is powered from the leisure batteries, and because they were so low, it could not boot up and therefore could not tell the batteries to accept the external charge.

 

[WelshGas]

Hello .... at last after a lot of effort I have took delivery of my new California last week.

I'll try to keep this as short as I can, but might be useful to someone in the future.

Because of Italian red tape, the van was delivered to the dealership at the beginning of April, but I only just got the registration last week (August).

Anyway, when it was handed over to me the control panel was dead, I was told its just a case of charging up the batteries.

Plugged it in for 48 hrs, but noticed there was no yellow light on the control panel to show it was connected. Checked fuses etc, could see power was coming in to the van as the 230v socket behind the driver seat was working.

Despite being on charge, the control panel would not come to life. Back to the dealers today, after a bit of messing about, they confirmed the leisure batteries were very low, as it had been sitting around for months doing nothing.

They put a booster pack on the battery behind the driver seat which forced the panel to come to life, almost like booting it up.

I drove home and plugged into the mains and now the panel is alive and the yellow light comes on to confirm the charge is connected.

So, despite a few other threads saying the control panel amy be powered from the main battery, this is not actually correct. In my case, it most definitely is powered from the leisure batteries, and because they were so low, it could not boot up and therefore could not tell the batteries to accept the external charge.

Both Leisure and Engine batteries are involved in powering the Control Panel, and both have to have a set minimal charge state for it to work correctly.
If your Leisure Batteries were that low on charge then they have been significantly damaged. Their lifespan has been severely reduced and although they may charge up they will undoubtedly fail to retain charge as well as new batteries would.
Both Leisure Batteries should be replaced by the Dealership who failed to follow VWs instructions as stated in the Handbook, that the vehicle should be connected to EHU monthly for 12-24hrs to maintain the Leisure Batteries.

 

[b1gl33]

Both Leisure and Engine batteries are involved in powering the Control Panel, and both have to have a set minimal charge state for it to work correctly.
If your Leisure Batteries were that low on charge then they have been significantly damaged. Their lifespan has been severely reduced and although they may charge up they will undoubtedly fail to retain charge as well as new batteries would.
Both Leisure Batteries should be replaced by the Dealership who failed to follow VWs instructions as stated in the Handbook, that the vehicle should be connected to EHU monthly for 12-24hrs to maintain the Leisure Batteries.

Thanks, I had a feeling this would be the case.
I've another appointment with the dealer in 2 weeks and will bring this to their attention.
I really don't understand why they did not just plug it in from time to time.

 

[yossarian]

Both Leisure Batteries should be replaced by the Dealership who failed to follow VWs instructions as stated in the Handbook, that the vehicle should be connected to EHU monthly for 12-24hrs to maintain the Leisure Batteries.

@WelshGas is 100% correct. Don't accept sulphated batteries. And find out if the same happened to your starter battery.

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks, I had a feeling this would be the case.
I've another appointment with the dealer in 2 weeks and will bring this to their attention.
I really don't understand why they did not just plug it in from time to time.

They don’t I’m afraid. They don’t even do a PDI, Pre Delivery Inspection, on anything Camper related, only the base Transporter vehicle.

 

[WelshGas]

@WelshGas is 100% correct. Don't accept sulphated batteries. And find out if the same happened to your starter battery.

They probably charged that so they could move the vehicle around. But, you never know.

 

[Corradobrit]

Load test all 3 batteries individually and that should give you the evidence you need to present to VW to get them replaced, assuming they are damaged. Keep an eye on the rate of discharge with no load on the leisure batteries. My Coast drops about 3-4 blue bars a month without EHU hookup (not a daily driver)

 

[Paul G - 2022 Ocean]

Both Leisure Batteries should be replaced by the Dealership who failed to follow VWs instructions as stated in the Handbook, that the vehicle should be connected to EHU monthly for 12-24hrs to maintain the Leisure Batteries.

If the vehicle is used as a daily driver is there still a requirement to connect to EHU monthly to maintain the leisure batteries or will the charge fed by the alternator be sufficient for this. ie would short daily journeys be enough ?

 

[Corradobrit]

If the vehicle is used as a daily driver is there still a requirement to connect to EHU monthly to maintain the leisure batteries or will the charge fed by the alternator be sufficient for this. ie would short daily journeys be enough ?

The alternator will not charge the leisure batteries to 100% (and I have noticed this myself). EHU or a connecting a power pack like the Ecoflow to the 230V inlet is only only way I can see a full array of blue bars on the display.

 

[andyinluton]

If the vehicle is used as a daily driver is there still a requirement to connect to EHU monthly to maintain the leisure batteries or will the charge fed by the alternator be sufficient for this. ie would short daily journeys be enough ?

The manual only says to hook up if it isn't being driven.