Don’t go to VW unless it will be changed under warranty. Save yourself a fortune and buy your own battery and a Carista (£25ish) to code it with (2 min job). Only necessary if your battery is actually knackered.
Newly converted van going flat, advice please...
- Thread starter StevenR1984
- Start date
Already done a few posts ago - 12v plus.
Ah sorry missed that
What rate is the Bluetooth light flashing at?
There is a ton of info in the manual for troubleshooting and light status. Also detail on input lockout. Online version available here:
Orion 12/12 non-isolated manual
StevenR1984
New Member
Thanks, it pulses prob once a second then goes solid blue when connected to my phone. Thanks for the link and advice I will have a good read.
If you own a T6/6.1 having something like Carista is near essential to debug faults, but you can change the battery without coding if you have to as the BCM should self learn eventually. It just won't charge optimally at the start as it's still using the "old" health data with likely reduced capacity on the failing battery.
Starter batteries can fall off a cliff health wise. A couple of drains below 50% can set up damaged on the plates that as winter sets in just causes a cascade of damage in a very short timescale, maybe a few days.
In any electrical oddness once you've done a few basic checks it's always worthwhile replacing the starter if it's more than a couple of years old or had any flat incidents. They work hard in start stop vehicles and are essentially a consumable.
StevenR1984
New Member
Thanks for all the replies. I have had a new starter battery fitted it turned out the starter battery was no good. I have currently disconnected the LB from the starter battery to see how it goes although VW silver fleet said there was no drain on the battery when he checked. So in a few days I will re hook up the LB and start adjusting the victron settings to suit. Hopefully I am sorted now, I really appreciate all the advice I have received, thanks again.
Good news. Start with the defaults on the Victron or you may end up going round in circles. Smart alternator, lithium battery (unless you have specific values for your LB) and default engine detection.
I have a similar set up. And the same problems. Starter battery was renewed as I thought that was the problem. new battery still loses charge over a couple of days. Disconnected all my leisure set up (remover the cable from the battery to the fuse and I still get voltage drop over two days. Connected meter to read DC current and the parasitic drag was around 0.4A although this increases to 2.2A every time I open a door. I now have a cigar lighter voltage monitor so I can watch the voltage drop without getting into the vehicle. The leisure side works well and the new LiFePo4 battery remains at 13.3V
The popular around here BM2 Bluetooth battery monitor would likely help you get a picture of what's going on. They're not hyper accurate for chasing small drains but having a trace of the voltage 24/7 that you can read without disturbing the van can often really help.
0.4A is significant, I believe the ECU fault code for high drain has a threshold of 50mA (so 0.05A)
Double check that your van is properly going into the sleep state, so make sure you can measure with all doors, windows, bonnet shut and give it a good half an hour.
If you want some forum assistance probably best to start a dedicated thread with some pictures of your batteries and electrical set up
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