Removing panel fuse in winter time reduces battery drain

Jerby · Jan 19, 2020

I removed the tap 5A fuse to drain the water as advised. I also removed the panel 5A fuse (because it was in the way) and to my supprice the draining of the 2 camper batteries is far lower now (I measure the camper batteries remote). Is there any drawback when panel is disconnected for a longer period (month?) and/or when driving the van? Any advice?

ArunAlec · Jan 19, 2020

Jerby said:
I removed the tap 5A fuse to drain the water as advised. I also removed the panel 5A fuse (because it was in the way) and to my supprice the draining of the 2 camper batteries is far lower now (I measure the camper batteries remote). Is there any drawback when panel is disconnected for a longer period (month?) and/or when driving the van? Any advice?

Interesting idea, but if you are driving regularly or doing a monthly charge via the mains hookup why bother removing the fuse? I doubt if you’ll do any harm. Or just switch the panel off?
How are you measuring the batteries remotely?

Hotel California · Jan 19, 2020

You simply can switch off the controlpanel , much easyer than taking out the fuse .
Imo. taking out fuses to save battery is overkill , just hook it up every two weeks for 24h your battery's will be ok .

Jerby · Jan 29, 2020

How can "You simply can switch off the controlpanel " ?
Overkill ??? Hooking up every 2 weeks or every 2 month makes a big difference to me and is better for the battery. What about parking the van on the public road or camper parking without electricity around. If you takeout the fuse for the tap it's less than a second work!

Jerby · Jan 29, 2020

I measure the battery with a wireless MySensors device (433Mhz) which also tracks the temperature and humidity in the camper. It communicates with my home automation system and signals when battery voltage get too low.

ArunAlec · Jan 29, 2020

Jerby said:
How can "You simply can switch off the controlpanel " ?

With the on/off button - I/O.

Loz · Jan 29, 2020

Jerby said:
How can "You simply can switch off the controlpanel " ?

Press the on/off button 2 times.

Jerby · Jan 29, 2020

Thanks, I'll check that.

Calimili · Jan 29, 2020

In the manual it is suggested to remove the 30A fuse for the electric roof as well , to reduce self discharging of the LBs

AlanC · Jan 29, 2020

The only thing you will loose on the control panel will be the date and time settings.

Alan

TripleBee · Jan 29, 2020

I have never unplugged any fuse.
Display is always off when not camping.
Batteries are still ok after over 10 years, and they are not maintained very well. It is my daily driver, but only for commuting 12 km per trip. Weekends, mostly staying put.

Removing fuses is way too much overkill. In my opinion that is.

Calimili · Jan 30, 2020

TripleBee said:
I have never unplugged any fuse.
Display is always off when not camping.
Batteries are still ok after over 10 years, and they are not maintained very well. It is my daily driver, but only for commuting 12 km per trip. Weekends, mostly staying put.

Removing fuses is way too much overkill. In my opinion that is.

do you have solar, or plug in once a month ?

steve_b · Jan 30, 2020

I had a go at removing the fuse for the interior lights as I wanted to fix the flexible light without it sparking and arcing. Seems that VW have put the ancilliary fusebox in the most inhospitable place possible under the passenger seat , and not documented it (well, the diagram in my manual bears no resemblance to the physical reality) and I couldn't find a way of getting anything in there to remove any fuse - never mind an intentional one - without probably taking the seat off. I would have to be desperate to remove fuses speculatively.

I gave up and fixed it "live"...

WelshGas · Jan 30, 2020

steve_b said:
I had a go at removing the fuse for the interior lights as I wanted to fix the flexible light without it sparking and arcing. Seems that VW have put the ancilliary fusebox in the most inhospitable place possible under the passenger seat , and not documented it (well, the diagram in my manual bears no resemblance to the physical reality) and I couldn't find a way of getting anything in there to remove any fuse - never mind an intentional one - without probably taking the seat off. I would have to be desperate to remove fuses speculatively.

I gave up and fixed it "live"...

Did you try swiveling the seat either 90o or 180o and pushed to the rear?

ArunAlec · Jan 30, 2020

steve_b said:
I had a go at removing the fuse for the interior lights as I wanted to fix the flexible light without it sparking and arcing. Seems that VW have put the ancilliary fusebox in the most inhospitable place possible under the passenger seat , and not documented it (well, the diagram in my manual bears no resemblance to the physical reality) and I couldn't find a way of getting anything in there to remove any fuse - never mind an intentional one - without probably taking the seat off. I would have to be desperate to remove fuses speculatively.

I gave up and fixed it "live"...

Assume you had spun the seat and moved it back toward the rear of the van?
I find that some of the fuse holders have lugs each end which doesn’t make removal easy!

steve_b · Jan 30, 2020

yes, span the seat and moved it out of the way as best possible. The problem was the fuse holder was vertical and the direction to extract the fuses was directly into the rats nest of other cables and plugs that was in the way - both blocking visibility and blocking extraction. I didn't want to move them all and find that I had caused another issue in doing so

Calimili · Jan 30, 2020

I had similar issues. That's because I have a bad habit sometimes of not using the correct tools. I took out fuses with my fingers, with some pain, in a sort of contortionist posture to reach them.
I should have just use fuse tongs !
(it's tongs without the h

)