Flat battery

[Pocc]

Faulty batteries aside and responding to your statement quoted.
I think it is your responsibility as a salesman in this regard, to set the right expectations and mitigate yourself from sole responsibility.
If you are going to supply him with a vehicle with this kit you should be able to boil down the limits of operation and reset his expectations or upsell him other kit like solar or plug in charging to allow him to operate in the mode he was expecting.

Thanks for the suggestions, but without knowing the full circumstances of the sale or its operation, it must be difficult to decide that there was such an obvious fault in the sales/aftersales process by us. For info, vehicle is stored in a barn with no power to it - so no solar panel solution or permanent hook up is going to work. In addition, the current circumstances of the vehicles usage and storage were never disclosed at point of sale - the original intention was to use it as his primary vehicle - but circumstances change and I am not the type to turn round and tell my customers that the problem is now theirs because they didn't disclose a change of use.

Of course I am resetting his expectations whilst also considering other technical solutions - the point of my original post was that taking the line that 'you're using it wrong/different from what we expect' does not hold water with the man in the street - especially when in this mode of operation, the 'advances' made are most definitely a step backwards for the end user.

 

[Loz]

Thanks for the suggestions, but without knowing the full circumstances of the sale or its operation, it must be difficult to decide that there was such an obvious fault in the sales/aftersales process by us. For info, vehicle is stored in a barn with no power to it - so no solar panel solution or permanent hook up is going to work. In addition, the current circumstances of the vehicles usage and storage were never disclosed at point of sale - the original intention was to use it as his primary vehicle - but circumstances change and I am not the type to turn round and tell my customers that the problem is now theirs because they didn't disclose a change of use.

Of course I am resetting his expectations whilst also considering other technical solutions - the point of my original post was that taking the line that 'you're using it wrong/different from what we expect' does not hold water with the man in the street - especially when in this mode of operation, the 'advances' made are most definitely a step backwards for the end user.

Sure, I understand, I was not criticising just trying to help really.
Can he say attach a 100w panel to the barn and with a small charge controller, and have a flying lead into the van?

I have a small 20w panel I leave on the dash and that has a lead I plug into one of the perm live 12V sockets.

 

[KevinGardner]

Plug it in 220v when not using it. Remember, the dash display also lights up every time you open a door. Turn off all the interior lights when parked in the garage. The light goes on when getting things out of the back. All these things will use power in the end. So taking power from the engine battery without it running is usually a bad idea.

 

[Pete C]

The battery on our T6 camper lasts at least 4 weeks when it is left down at the storage yard. I do fully charge the battery with a decent mains charger before taking it down there though.
I am going to have a look at those solar chargers that I can plug into the live dash 12v socket though.

Pete

 

[chriscroft]

and today I have been.........


My Vel is 30 months/35k miles old, and the Varta AGM - VW OEM, has slowly (over the past 3 months) been turning the Vel over more and more slowly; and now it has completely failed to start the van 3 times in the last 3 weeks.

I have been thinking about popping into the VW Van Centre, but I can't help but think we (I mean the mrs), have been instrumental in its decline;
We very regularly go 3-4 days without running it; we have a Thinkware 770 dash cam (twin camera) which runs until the battery drops to a certain voltage (I can't remember what we set it to in Thinkware config); we also have a Weaco
Dometic CDF-11 10.5 Litre Portable Compressor Fridge Freezer, 12 V/24 V
that again cuts out on voltage drop (although I thought it ran off the oem second battery) - will have to check.

So as opposed to getting cross with the dealer (which I have done before) I have bit the bullet put my hands up and bought a replacement bosch AGM and fitted it today.
I am now thinking through altering the cuts offs in the fridge and dash cam; and maybe thinking about a windscreen solar panel or similar.
I would love an induction charging pad, I could park the van over, and it would maintain the battery no cables).... Does this exists????

 

[Adam Lucas]

Mines being replaced tomorrow, vw said they need it for a day to run test etc but know its faulty as the aa man did a print.
I used to sit in my old 2008 t5 most working days without the engine running with the radio on and using hands free etc its my tea hut / office!
Hopefully i can still do this?

 

[Loz]

Strange, how identical they look...

 

[chriscroft]

Very Observant......
The Bosch AGM is owned/made by Johnson Controls; who own Varta; and Optima among others
I suspect the bosch is exactly the same the battery as the Varta Silver Dynamic AGM - but I don't know for sure.
The +ve battery shroud; and -ve shield swop straight across which is handy.

 

[steve k]

Just an update on my battery woes. On my second battery on my Aug 17 t6 (1st replaced June 18). 2nd one gradually degraded over the summer whilst I spent most of time travelling 000s of miles. 2nd battery is a Moll as well and has failed as per the 1st. VW have an updated test from Dec 2018, apparently some battery issues were not picked up by old test, even though it was going from full charged to almost flat (11.5v!!) in 6 days.
When the VW technician saw it he said they had had 6 skoda octavias in that week with the same issue.
New battery ordered on back order and arrived yesterday. however VW have now detected an alternator output fault and will be replacing that as well. Obviously a number of these vans have serious electrical issues and nowt to do with their general usage...

 

[chriscroft]

So I've bought a new man battery, it now starts seems fine; but I think I've got more problems, I can't seem to detect more than 11.7v in OEM second battery; even after running the van for 3 hours with low battery/electrical loading.....mmmm. Have I got more of an issue???

 

[Dellmassive]

So I've bought a new man battery, it now starts seems fine; but I think I've got more problems, I can't seem to detect more than 11.7v in OEM second battery; even after running the van for 3 hours with low battery/electrical loading.....mmmm. Have I got more of an issue???

is it connected with the factory split charge relay? . . .
how are you measuring the 11.7v? . . . . .

11.7 is a very flat battery. . . . . . 12.6v or so is a charged one.

you should at least see the AUX battery voltage rise to the same-ish as the starter battery when the van is running . . . . even with a factory SCR.

or do you have loads that are just draining your AUX battery over night giving you a low reading?

weve used these cheap 12v socket meters in the past, they double up as decent USB chargers too. (one plugged into each socket, starter/AUX battery 12v sockts)






and these . .

Both highly recommended.


Ctek battery monitor:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/CTEK-40-149-Battery-Sense/dp/B0188TGF6W



and this too...


cheaper ebay version of the ctek battery monitor

Stop/start...regen...smart Alternator... Dc-dc Charger For Leisure Battery Or Not?


.

 

[Dan M]

So I've bought a new man battery, it now starts seems fine; but I think I've got more problems, I can't seem to detect more than 11.7v in OEM second battery; even after running the van for 3 hours with low battery/electrical loading.....mmmm. Have I got more of an issue???

When I had my battery changed the other day by VW assist, believe it or not the technician had to code the battery to the van with the serial number from the battery.

 

[chriscroft]

When I had my battery changed the other day by VW assist, believe it or not the technician had to code the battery to the van with the serial number from the battery.

WOW, whats that all about?, do you think he was just inputing the capacity of the battery, for the smart alternators?

 

[chriscroft]

is it connected with the factory split charge relay? . . .
how are you measuring the 11.7v? . . . . .

11.7 is a very flat battery. . . . . . 12.6v or so is a charged one.

you should at least see the AUX battery voltage rise to the same-ish as the starter battery when the van is running . . . . even with a factory SCR.

or do you have loads that are just draining your AUX battery over night giving you a low reading?

weve used these cheap 12v socket meters in the past, they double up as decent USB chargers too. (one plugged into each socket, starter/AUX battery 12v sockts)




View attachment 35755

and these . .

Both highly recommended.


Ctek battery monitor:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/CTEK-40-149-Battery-Sense/dp/B0188TGF6W



and this too...


cheaper ebay version of the ctek battery monitor

Stop/start...regen...smart Alternator... Dc-dc Charger For Leisure Battery Or Not?


.

Thanks for the info, I need to have a play

 

[paulB]

WOW, whats that all about?, do you think he was just inputing the capacity of the battery, for the smart alternators?

So... If I purchase a New Battery, do I have to have it 'programmed' in..?

 

[Loz]

Yes.
1.10 Adapting battery monitor control unit - J367-

After the installation of a new starter battery or a new battery monitor control unit - J367- , the battery monitor control unit - J367- must be adapted.

• Connect vehicle diagnostic tester ⇒ page 299 .
  
  
• Adapt battery monitor control unit - J367- ⇒ Vehicle diagnostic tester.

 

[paulB]

Thanks Loz....
Currently got a Moll battery fitted, which has now failed to start the van on two occasions..... as I live on a Scottish Island I thought it would be easier to fit a new battery rather than go down the VW assist route. Obviously not..!!!

 

[Noddy996]

@Loz What 20w solar charger do you have / recommend? And is the cigarette lighter a permanently live 12v socket? We have a Moll battery in our camper conversion, no problems yet, but we do leave the van on the drive all week then give it a long run at the weekend... Sounds like this is what we need to keep the battery topped up.

 

[Pauly]

WOW, whats that all about?, do you think he was just inputing the capacity of the battery, for the smart alternators?

Its quite simple if you have vcds just an adaption channel, lets the van know a new battery has been fitted and resets the charging regime/parameters so you dont end up removing a flat battery and installing a fully charged one that the van thinks is flat

 

[Loz]

@Loz What 20w solar charger do you have / recommend? And is the cigarette lighter a permanently live 12v socket? We have a Moll battery in our camper conversion, no problems yet, but we do leave the van on the drive all week then give it a long run at the weekend... Sounds like this is what we need to keep the battery topped up.

I put it together with a 12V 20W Suntech Commercial panel and a 10A Sunsei charge regulator, some twin core flex and a cigar plug. Beware of the claims of the power capability of small footprint panels all over Fleabay.