t6.1 control panel how works

[Little owl1963]

When on battery icon comes up 59 hrs when fully charged .
Is there an automatic cut off point on there in hours , when leisure batteries will cut of an stop working ??
How many hours will this run down too ? think lowest iv seen is 22 hrs left .

Can someone explain in detail what is going on at control panel , at rest an when fridge or lights are on , or what ever else .

What is it actually tellling you from memory comes up with volts an amps , can someone explain what this all means , as dont fully understand whats going on there .

does it actually tell you what each appliance is using in amps per hour on screen ?

 

[WelshGas]

When on battery icon comes up 59 hrs when fully charged .
Is there an automatic cut off point on there in hours , when leisure batteries will cut of an stop working ??
How many hours will this run down too ? think lowest iv seen is 22 hrs left .

Can someone explain in detail what is going on at control panel , at rest an when fridge or lights are on , or what ever else .

What is it actually tellling you from memory comes up with volts an amps , can someone explain what this all means , as dont fully understand whats going on there .

does it actually tell you what each appliance is using in amps per hour on screen ?

The Hours shown is a calculation based on the amps being used at that point in time. Completely meaningless and of no use, but looks good.
The Voltage displayed is accurate and when measured at rest, no charging from mains or engine for at least 30 mins, gives an accurate reading of battery capacity left.
The Fridge and/or Parking Heater will switch OFF if the voltage drops to 11.5v at any point.
Be Warned - the habitation lights and 12v sockets will NOT switch off at 11.5 v and will continue working damaging the Leisure Batteries possibly.

 

[Little owl1963]

so only thing take note on screen is the voltage , an do not let drop to below 11.5 switch of all lights an power .
The amp readings dont need take note of those then ?

 

[Little owl1963]

ps , but volts reading only accurate when at rest , not when fridge heater on ?
So have turn them off for half hour get accurate volt reading ?

 

[WelshGas]

so only thing take note on screen is the voltage , an do not let drop to below 11.5 switch of all lights an power .
The amp readings dont need take note of those then ?

The amps are the current being used and will vary according to what electrical items you have on. The more items switched on the higher the amps/ battery power being used.

 

[WelshGas]

ps , but volts reading only accurate when at rest , not when fridge heater on ?
So have turn them off for half hour get accurate volt reading ?

Don’t get too hung up on the 30 min rest period. This just gives an accurate reading of the battery voltage at rest.
If the voltage on the screen drops to 11.5 v at any time the fridge and parking heater switch off. You may then find as the batteries came to a resting state then the voltage may rise to 11.6 - 11.8v . So you could use the lights for an hour or so but will be unable to start fridge or parking heater as on startup either one will drop the voltage below 11.5v as they are high power items.

 

[Little owl1963]

Don’t get too hung up on the 30 min rest period. This just gives an accurate reading of the battery voltage at rest.
If the voltage on the screen drops to 11.5 v at any time the fridge and parking heater switch off. You may then find as the batteries came to a resting state then the voltage may rise to 11.6 - 11.8v . So you could use the lights for an hour or so but will be unable to start fridge or parking heater as on startup either one will drop the voltage below 11.5v as they are high power items.

thanks for info very usefull to no

 

[Little owl1963]

So if batterys drop to 11.5 volts or 40%
How long would have drive van for , or how many miles to fully charge them again as estimate .
I have test this out at some stage

 

[Hawthorn37]

In truth you really don’t want to get down to 11.5V by design, if you go below this for a period then the battery could get damaged beyond repair. If you want to boost the charging whilst driving, on the 6.1 panel you can select Max Charge. This boosts the voltage while driving from around 13.5 /14V to over 15v. But suffice to say that a healthy leisure battery will keep your essentials like fridge and interior lights going for at least 3 days of normal use (we have run for around 4 days without needing to run the engine). The display gives a kind of indication of duration left while all the power consumers are in a steady state, so it is useful.

 

[WelshGas]

So if batterys drop to 11.5 volts or 40%
How long would have drive van for , or how many miles to fully charge them again as estimate .
I have test this out at some stage

So many variables but probably 2 -3 hrs at motorway speeds with the Max Charge ON to get to 100% capacity, longer at night with lights and heater On or Urban driving.
Or fit Solar Panels. 100 watt for summer only use or 300watt for all season use.

 

[RockinNRollin]

On a related note, does anyone know how the "bars" are calculated? I know they supposedly indicate battery capacity, but are they just an interpretation of resting battery voltage or is some other bizarre calculation going on here?

Back to the OP, the problem with trying to use the control panel's readings to assess anything is the load on the batteries is rarely constant - your fridge kicks in and out, if you look at it while it's running it'll show a higher draw and fewer "hours left" than when it's in a rest state. Same with the parking heater.

As a rule of thumb, using the parking heater, having the 'fridge on level 2 or 3, charging two 'phones and having some lights on we'll get around 2-3 days/nights before we're roughly half empty on power.

 

[WelshGas]

On a related note, does anyone know how the "bars" are calculated? I know they supposedly indicate battery capacity, but are they just an interpretation of resting battery voltage or is some other bizarre calculation going on here?

Back to the OP, the problem with trying to use the control panel's readings to assess anything is the load on the batteries is rarely constant - your fridge kicks in and out, if you look at it while it's running it'll show a higher draw and fewer "hours left" than when it's in a rest state. Same with the parking heater.

As a rule of thumb, using the parking heater, having the 'fridge on level 2 or 3, charging two 'phones and having some lights on we'll get around 2-3 days/nights before we're roughly half empty on power.

Sensibly the bars should give a visual representation of the voltage between 11.5 and 12.8v.

 

[Little owl1963]

ah that answers one my mysterys , when bars are full up , when on max charge although bar indicator is full up , it still continues charge on max charge .

Just got outside for simple test put control pan on at rest .
Read 60 hrs , 12.5 volts and 1 amp .

Then straight away put fridge on max setting
Control pan read 13 hr 20 min , 12.3 volts and 5 amp .

Why did hours drop from 60 hours to 13 hrs within 1 min ??? is that normal ???

So i am i right in saying the voltage is correct reading , an the amp readings are also correct , its just the hours that dont mean anything ??

 

[Little owl1963]

ps , so if 1 blue bar represents 11.5 volts , am i correct saying can run down the bars all way down to the last blue bar ??
do these bars represent correct voltage ??

 

[WelshGas]

ah that answers one my mysterys , when bars are full up , when on max charge although bar indicator is full up , it still continues charge on max charge .

Just got outside for simple test put control pan on at rest .
Read 60 hrs , 12.5 volts and 1 amp .

Then straight away put fridge on max setting
Control pan read 13 hr 20 min , 12.3 volts and 5 amp .

Why did hours drop from 60 hours to 13 hrs within 1 min ??? is that normal ???

So i am i right in saying the voltage is correct reading , a the amp readings are also correct , its just the hours that dont mean anything ??

The Control Panel is showing=

1. Leisure Batteries are at 90% capacity,

Fully charged you have 150amp capacity, but you can only use 50% without damaging batteries. So that means 75 amps available.
90% capacity means you have about 65 amps capacity.
At a current draw of 1amp/hr that give 60hrs of usable battery life.

Switch fridge on and current draw increases from 1amp to 5 amps.
Available amps 65. Divide by 5 gives 13 hrs.

However fridge compressor will switch On/Off once it gets to temperature so the current draw in amps will vary and hence the calculated battery life will vary.

2. Voltage and amps are correct to 1 decimal place. The hrs will vary depending on the state of the battery V and the current draw Amps at that point in time.

 

[Little owl1963]

thanks again for very usefull information iv wrote it all down in a book , i understand it now , thanks

 

[Little owl1963]

thanks again for very usefull information iv wrote it all down in a book , i understand it now , thanks

A usefull sun hours per day graph for ref

 

[calibusje]

You have already received a lot of explanation about volts and such: very good and interesting.
Here’s some more and some things about how to use functions so that your batteries are properly charged and not drained too quickly.
About the new screen of the t6.1: sure, it contains (too) much information that is also very instantaneous and therefore highly variable; don't be blinded by all the info on it. The screen may be a bit overdone for some, but it has some very useful functions that all previous Californias do not have:
The maximum load function: just use it from time to time and you will be able to stand free for days even with constant use of the refrigerator. You can even use this function when standing still (with the engine running, of course). To meet the emission standards, the alternator (dynamo) only works when necessary and therefore no longer charge your batteries to full capacity.
The minus before the A: the car also uses your leisure batteries. When not driving, having the screen on but also the car that checks constantly the whole cali, uses batteries (and of course there are some things like the fridge and lights when in use). Therefore: when camping, use the camping modus: that ‘disconnects’ the car from the living area and saves batteries.
The bars to show how much your batteries are charged are not very accurate and your volts show this better (but also very instantaneously, it is best to observe as some say ‘in rest').
Another little thing: there are only two settings for the grey water: empty and full and you always see on the screen like there is something in it (even when empty) and there are no further intermediate steps.
Enjoy your california!