Tell me about leisure batteries please

[WelshGas]

Good afternoon,

The entire battery charging thing is a mystery to me. The more I read about it, the more confused I get. Good that I have no issues with it (long may it last!).

Never the less, I configured the control panel to show the battery status (why I don't know, it doesn't tell me a lot). I was reading here that while driving the display should say 14.3V (or so), which mine never does, it is always about the 12.4 - 12.8.

Does this mean it is not working as it suppose to? I connect the van every month to the electricity, I drive the van every day (work ) and have an eye on the units to ensure that they are not switched on by accident.

Regards,
Eberhard

Do you see the " Generator" G symbol in place of the " Plug" symbol when driving?

 

[TripleBee]

You need to make sure that the 2 batteries have exactly the same values in A and Ah. And they both need to be in the same (good or bad) condition. Otherwise the better battery, or the higher ampère battery will discharge into the worse or lower battery.
You can try to disconnect one and then the other battery and drive and check the voltage. If the voltage does never exeed 12,4 V there is a problem with the leisure battery charging system. It might even just be a fuse blown or anything. Wait, then the batteries would already have been completely dead.

 

[Eber123]

Good morning,

I kept an eye on the control panel on the way to work this morning.

Yes, the "G" for generator is displayed. Also on the display was around 13.8 V and something between 3.5A and 5A.

I have no idea what does this tells me. Maybe I should change the display to time, because the battery information is meaningless to me. As long as it works...

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[Geesvw]

I have a 2006 SE which I believe should have 1 leisure battery under rh front seat and as an option, a second battery under the wardrobe. My recently purchased van has no battery under the seat but does have one under the wardrobe. There is wiring for battery under the seat and the battery under the wardrobe has no markings to identify it.
I presume that ideally there should be 2 batteries but I need help to know what type/size/make they should be.
I also suspect that the 1 battery I do have is old and not having decent capacity. My reasons being, when setting off on a 3 hour journey I turned the fridge box on set at 3 degrees. Initial reading from battery via the central control panel was battery charge was 13.2v and draw was 3.2a. After 3 hour drive the battery was down to 12.5v. Then after another 3 hours the reading was 12.1v and supposedly down to 30% of capacity.
So in summary, I think the battery I have is old and needs to be replaced. In addition I guess I ought to have 2 batteries but I don't know what they should be.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Brian

I recently changed my leisure batteries and opted for a pair of Exide EK800’s - I think I paid £116 from Tanya
You definitely need two batteries for the system to work efficiently. They’re linked in parallel (mines a 2008 Cali) - doesn’t really work if you haven’t got both, I’ve tried it!
Incidentally if you remove one battery make sure the live terminal on the second (in your case under the seat) is isolated, if it connects with any chassis parts it’ll fry your leisure wiring loom

 

[Domip]

Hi, this topic made me curious so I went have a look under the passenger seat, and found this... what is this as is not a battery (I presume) ?

 

[westfalia]

Hi, this topic made me curious so I went have a look under the passenger seat, and found this... what is this as is not a battery (I presume) ?
View attachment 44441

Its a controller for the tow bar electrics.

 

[Domip]

Its a controller for the tow bar electrics.

Now I know... Thanks!

 

[Kjetil]

I have a 2006 SE which I believe should have 1 leisure battery under rh front seat and as an option, a second battery under the wardrobe. My recently purchased van has no battery under the seat but does have one under the wardrobe. There is wiring for battery under the seat and the battery under the wardrobe has no markings to identify it.
I presume that ideally there should be 2 batteries but I need help to know what type/size/make they should be.
I also suspect that the 1 battery I do have is old and not having decent capacity. My reasons being, when setting off on a 3 hour journey I turned the fridge box on set at 3 degrees. Initial reading from battery via the central control panel was battery charge was 13.2v and draw was 3.2a. After 3 hour drive the battery was down to 12.5v. Then after another 3 hours the reading was 12.1v and supposedly down to 30% of capacity.
So in summary, I think the battery I have is old and needs to be replaced. In addition I guess I ought to have 2 batteries but I don't know what they should be.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Brian

Hi. I have the opposite problem. I want to install the A24 (wardrobe battery) in my Cali SE 2005 since I only have the one under the drivers seat (named A1 in the wiring diagram) and want to have a second auxiliary battery
(that is a total of 3 batteries including the starting battery). My problem is practical where to draw the wires from the wardrobe and where to connect them.

 

[vwsween]

Hi. I have the opposite problem. I want to install the A24 (wardrobe battery) in my Cali SE 2005 since I only have the one under the drivers seat (named A1 in the wiring diagram) and want to have a second auxiliary battery
(that is a total of 3 batteries including the starting battery). My problem is practical where to draw the wires from the wardrobe and where to connect them.

The opinion I heard from when I first asked about this is that all Cali SE would have been supplied new with 2 leisure batteries. So if you dont have one under the wardrobe someone has removed it. But surely they would have not have also taken the wiring out, it must be there somewhere?