Trickle charge?

The biggest problem that I see is failure to 're charge the battery properly following a jump or booster start. Just driving round ain't gonna do it. This is what leads to repeated flat battery. If a battery is too low to start a van then it will require around 12 hours of charging with a good multi stage charger with an output around 5 to 7 amps.
 
The problem with short winter journeys is after those cranking amps are drawn you have lights on, heater fans running etc etc, so not much left to boost the battery and when its cold won’t absorb as well.

As Martin says, get it charged up and see how it fares.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This appears to be a good moment to refresh this thread with my first post. I would like to fit a trickle charger to my 19 plate Caravelle fitted with a 75AH AGM starter battery. It will, from time to time, sit about for a week or more esp over winter with no activity. Tracker and dashcam will add to any resting drain. Relatively short journeys won't help. Imagine will just need a fused socket that can be fed up to an access point in the front grille area. Any particular kits recommended?
Thanks all.
 
Alan Weatherup said:
This appears to be a good moment to refresh this thread with my first post. I would like to fit a trickle charger to my 19 plate Caravelle fitted with a 75AH AGM starter battery. It will, from time to time, sit about for a week or more esp over winter with no activity. Tracker and dashcam will add to any resting drain. Relatively short journeys won't help. Imagine will just need a fused socket that can be fed up to an access point in the front grille area. Any particular kits recommended?
Thanks all.
Click to expand...
I have a Ctek StopStart charger permanently wired in under my drivers seat. Whenever we’re on EHU, it charges the van battery.
 
Thanks guys very helpful esp that further link. Gone for a CTEC stop/start. Final question. Second batt in Caravelle was part of the cool box package. Low priority for alternator to get charge to this for obv reasons. Am guessing that it only powers the 12v sockets behind the B pillar and nothinge else. As such, am thinking it is safe to use the CTEK 12v socket plug to charge this battery from one of the rear compartment sockets. Correct? (This goes against the dire warnings in the VW owner's manual!) Is a shame the manual does not give any useful info!
 
Pauly said:
There was a known issue early on where vehicles got flat batteries after short periods of time stood up but VW recognised the fault and issued a product recall to fix it, mine had it done many months ago
Click to expand...

Hey Pauly -- I have a 2016 T6 which gradually flattens the battery over several weeks -- even after getting a new battery.
The previous owner of this van never went to a VW dealership for servicing -- just their local mechanic. I wonder if it never received the fix?

I don't support you know what the service notice was called, so maybe I can get in touch with a dealership now to try and get it applied?
 
If it's happening over a few weeks and no a few days then it isn't the issue that got a recall. I would say it is normal behaviour and if you regularly leave the van unused for weeks at a time you should look at putting a charger on the battery overnight once a week.
 
wintrmute said:
Hey Pauly -- I have a 2016 T6 which gradually flattens the battery over several weeks -- even after getting a new battery.
The previous owner of this van never went to a VW dealership for servicing -- just their local mechanic. I wonder if it never received the fix?

I don't support you know what the service notice was called, so maybe I can get in touch with a dealership now to try and get it applied?
Click to expand...
VW mothership "tags" vehicles for updates/fixes so it should pop up when the van is hooked into their system.
 
Several weeks!!!

I'm lucky to get 3weeks....

Anyway as above, hook up a charger or try a bit of 50w dash solar...

www.t6forum.com

[Guide] Mobile Solar Panels ? . . . - How I Did It -

Mobile Solar Panels ? . . . - How I Did It - There is loads of background to this . . . . . but for now here is a vid for you all. =] Just remember W = V*A and as a general rule a good 100W panel will give you up to 6A charge with good sun. 25w = 1.5A 50W = 3A 100w = 6A 200w = 12A 300w = 18A...
www.t6forum.com www.t6forum.com

.
 
travelvolts said:
If it's happening over a few weeks and no a few days then it isn't the issue that got a recall. I would say it is normal behaviour and if you regularly leave the van unused for weeks at a time you should look at putting a charger on the battery overnight once a week.
Click to expand...

We've been in a hard lockdown in Melbourne, Australia, for a long time -- so the van is hardly getting used.
I was wondering about getting a little dash solar panel than plugs into a cigarette socket, actually -- which is how I ended up on this thread and saw the comment about the VW known issue.. :)

It sounds like there's no problem just plugging a trickle solar panel into the dash lighter socket, yeah? (I had been worried the start-stop system might have a DC-DC controller or something in the way)
 
wintrmute said:
We've been in a hard lockdown in Melbourne, Australia, for a long time -- so the van is hardly getting used.
I was wondering about getting a little dash solar panel than plugs into a cigarette socket, actually -- which is how I ended up on this thread and saw the comment about the VW known issue.. :)

It sounds like there's no problem just plugging a trickle solar panel into the dash lighter socket, yeah? (I had been worried the start-stop system might have a DC-DC controller or something in the way)
Click to expand...
No problem at all
 
When I leave out 2013 T5 for five weeks it starts without any problem. I've not tried the 2016 T6 over that length of time yet.
 
Loz said:
Anything that takes or puts charge into the battery needs to use an earth terminal on the chassis so as not to upset the battery charge state monitor built into the battery negative clamp.
Click to expand...

Where is the best place in the engine bay to connect the negative clamp to when using one of those trickle chargers to keep the battery topped up when the van is not in use for long periods of time?

In lockdown 1.0, VW assistance/AA came out to start the van for us by connecting the negative clamp to the engine block, but I am wondering if there’s a better place to connecting when I am trickle charging.

Thanks
 
Same request as above. MY18 150 T6 cant last longer that a week in this weather without a jump start. Short journeys is what I mainly do. Got to admit I have been using both battery terminals to jump start, wasn't aware not to connect the Negative to the battery but an earthed pint. I have now purchased the CTEK MXS 5.0 to use to charge the battery. Can someone please post a photo of where they connect the Negative within the engine bay. Cheers
 
Pauly said:
There was a known issue early on where vehicles got flat batteries after short periods of time stood up but VW recognised the fault and issued a product recall to fix it, mine had it done many months ago
Click to expand...
@Pauly. Was the recall only to do with Moll batteries? or something else. What was the recall for?
 
No not battery related, it was to do with control module(s) not shutting down when the vehicle was locked up
 
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