Can't charge the leisure battery from the engine

[Jerrywho]

Sorry to hear so many others are having the same issue. I’d be interested to hear if anyone has actually managed to get it fixed through their dealer. How was the experience and how long did it take?

I reported the issue to my dealer within the first week of ownership, so I believe I still have the option to reject the vehicle under the Consumer Rights Act. I really don’t want to send it back, I like the van and I’d like to give them the opportunity to fix it. That said, I definitely don’t want six months of going back and forth to the dealers!!

Hi Kevin as said before I will be taking the T7 to the dealer to install a new circuit breaker; we have been waitting about 2 months since there was no stock worldwide; they were against this idea many times but after talking directly to the electronic guy at dealers they ordered it as the most probable cause of failure; I will come back at the end of the week.

 

[kevin1000]

I haven't seen anywhere in this thread mentions of the Max Power button. That's what makes T7 charge leisure battery during driving. I always use it since it makes StartStop system go away

Thanks! I have also been experimenting with the Max Power button unfortunatly it doesnt seem to make any difference in my testing.

My understanding was that the leisure battery should still charge without the button pressed? I think I was told that the button just makes the charging faster by increasing the engine revs. Its very possible I missunderstood!!

 

[kevin1000]

Hi Kevin as said before I will be taking the T7 to the dealer to install a new circuit breaker; we have been waitting about 2 months since there was no stock worldwide; they were against this idea many times but after talking directly to the electronic guy at dealers they ordered it as the most probable cause of failure; I will come back at the end of the week.

Thanks for the info, sounds hopeful! Fingers crossed it resolves your issue.

 

[dspuk]

Thanks! I have also been experimenting with the Max Power button unfortunatly it doesnt seem to make any difference in my testing.

My understanding was that the leisure battery should still charge without the button pressed? I think I was told that the button just makes the charging faster by increasing the engine revs. Its very possible I missunderstood!!

Your assumption is 100% correct.

 

[blind_oracle]

Thanks! I have also been experimenting with the Max Power button unfortunatly it doesnt seem to make any difference in my testing.

My understanding was that the leisure battery should still charge without the button pressed? I think I was told that the button just makes the charging faster by increasing the engine revs. Its very possible I missunderstood!!

From what the dealer told me - without Max Charge it charges the second battery only when it's quite low. The manual is a bit foggy here:


I guess I need to experiment.

But if for you it doesn't improve anything, then probably there's some other problem - the charge controller/relay/or fuse might be blown.

 

[Jerrywho]

Thanks for the info, sounds hopeful! Fingers crossed it resolves your issue.

Hi Kevin and all; the issue with the charging has been solved! several months took for the dealer to accept my proposal and 9 months with the "no charging leisure battery while driving".
I insisted on talking to the "electric technician" at dealers and after talking to him he admitted that could be the reason for the issue; the part was ordered and changed last week; the leisure battery now charges while drivng. Service attendants know nothing so please try to acces to the electric technician in charge of the issue. Here is the part (disyuntor=circuit breaker. VW Part No. 7t0959663 )
Good luck!

 

[kevin1000]

Hi Kevin and all; the issue with the charging has been solved! several months took for the dealer to accept my proposal and 9 months with the "no charging leisure battery while driving".
I insisted on talking to the "electric technician" at dealers and after talking to him he admitted that could be the reason for the issue; the part was ordered and changed last week; the leisure battery now charges while drivng. Service attendants know nothing so please try to acces to the electric technician in charge of the issue. Here is the part (disyuntor=circuit breaker. VW Part No. 7t0959663 )
Good luck!

That’s great news! Thanks for sharing the details of the repair. I’ve just dropped mine into the dealer so I’ll forward the details of your successful repair to them. Might save them a bit of time!!

 

[stoobthealien]

From what the dealer told me - without Max Charge it charges the second battery only when it's quite low. The manual is a bit foggy here:
View attachment 143653

I guess I need to experiment.

But if for you it doesn't improve anything, then probably there's some other problem - the charge controller/relay/or fuse might be blown.

It definitely fully charges it without needing to use the "max charge" button - we left Liverpool with 20% left after a night in the van and it was fully charged by the time we got home to Newcastle without touching the max charge button.

 

[kevin1000]

It definitely fully charges it without needing to use the "max charge" button - we left Liverpool with 20% left after a night in the van and it was fully charged by the time we got home to Newcastle without touching the max charge button.

Thanks for the clarification!

I'd be really interested in how quickly I should expect the leisure battery to charge, both with and without the max charge button pressed. I've seen videos suggesting 30%->100% in 15 minutes, sounds unbelievably quick!??

Also does it make a difference if you are driving the vehicle compared with the vehicle stationary with the engine turning over?

 

[stoobthealien]

Thanks for the clarification!

I'd be really interested in how quickly I should expect the leisure battery to charge, both with and without the max charge button pressed. I've seen videos suggesting 30%->100% in 15 minutes, sounds unbelievably quick!??

Also does it make a difference if you are driving the vehicle compared with the vehicle stationary with the engine turning over?

It is super quick - we had 30% in it when we picked it up from the Liverpool dealer - we put max charge on for the 20 minute drive into Liverpool and it was fully charged. We have a beach with only one additional battery

 

[Jojo1]

Following this thread as we are having the same issue on a t7 ocean cali diesel. Will try the circuit breaker

We also have the same issue our T7 , stop charging the leisure battery from the engine last week, I have it booked in to be looked at in 2 weeks time, not had any problems since new in August 25 , judging by all the threads on this forum relating to the battery issues I can see this being a battle, I’ll join the queue

 

[kevin1000]

Hi Kevin and all; the issue with the charging has been solved! several months took for the dealer to accept my proposal and 9 months with the "no charging leisure battery while driving".
I insisted on talking to the "electric technician" at dealers and after talking to him he admitted that could be the reason for the issue; the part was ordered and changed last week; the leisure battery now charges while drivng. Service attendants know nothing so please try to acces to the electric technician in charge of the issue. Here is the part (disyuntor=circuit breaker. VW Part No. 7t0959663 )
Good luck!

Good news!!! I’ve got my van back from the dealers. They made the change suggested after I forwarded the above message from Jerrywho, fitting the new circuit breaker. I’ve not tested it fully yet, but my initial view is that it’s fixed it for me too.

The leisure battery was on 70–80% when I collected it, and when I started the engine it immediately began charging. Not only that, but the amps from the engine were much higher than I’d seen before (125A and 1770W with the Max Power button pressed). I checked the battery again after about 10 minutes and it was fully charged.

I’ve also noticed that the Max Power button now seems to work. Without it pressed, I observed the engine output dropping to around 40A and 440W.

I just need to drain the battery and attempt a full recharge to complete my testing, but I’m fairly convinced it’s now working as the behaviour is so different from what I was seeing previously.

Thanks so much to Jerrywho. I think your information has been key to getting this fixed quickly.

On a final note, I’ve seen a lot of negativity around these problems. I understand this and it is really frustrating to get an almost new van and have issues. That said, I’ve been really happy with how the dealer has handled it. They’ve dealt with the issue quickly and have listened to the information from this forum that I sent them which I believe has help achieve the fix. I’m glad I persevered with the van. It seems that when the battery system works, it works really well (assuming I don't start experiencing the battery drain issues now!!).

Really hope this thread helps others blitz this frustrating problem and allows them to start enjoying their van!

 

[burton61]

Good news!!! I’ve got my van back from the dealers. They made the change suggested after I forwarded the above message from Jerrywho, fitting the new circuit breaker. I’ve not tested it fully yet, but my initial view is that it’s fixed it for me too.

The leisure battery was on 70–80% when I collected it, and when I started the engine it immediately began charging. Not only that, but the amps from the engine were much higher than I’d seen before (125A and 1770W with the Max Power button pressed). I checked the battery again after about 10 minutes and it was fully charged.

I’ve also noticed that the Max Power button now seems to work. Without it pressed, I observed the engine output dropping to around 40A and 440W.

I just need to drain the battery and attempt a full recharge to complete my testing, but I’m fairly convinced it’s now working as the behaviour is so different from what I was seeing previously.

Thanks so much to Jerrywho. I think your information has been key to getting this fixed quickly.

On a final note, I’ve seen a lot of negativity around these problems. I understand this and it is really frustrating to get an almost new van and have issues. That said, I’ve been really happy with how the dealer has handled it. They’ve dealt with the issue quickly and have listened to the information from this forum that I sent them which I believe has help achieve the fix. I’m glad I persevered with the van. It seems that when the battery system works, it works really well (assuming I don't start experiencing the battery drain issues now!!).

Really hope this thread helps others blitz this frustrating problem and allows them to start enjoying their van!

View attachment 144111

Please post back your findings after you have had more time to confirm the fix.
It's good to let others see the bug fixes getting confirmed.
Great news it is hopefully all fixed for you though.

 

[kevin1000]

Please post back your findings after you have had more time to confirm the fix.
It's good to let others see the bug fixes getting confirmed.
Great news it is hopefully all fixed for you though.

These are the results of testing the fix (installing disyuntor=circuit breaker. VW Part No. 7t0959663).



The table above shows the highlights, all charging done with vehicle stationary with no EHU.

• LB charges from 20% to 100% in 25 minutes using Max Power. In this time VB goes from 30% to 70%
• Max Power button initially doubles the Amps from the engine (28A to 74A). This moves to 104A perhaps as the batteries warm (very cold day). I have withnessed upto 128A on other charging cycles.
• After the LB is charged, amps from the engine reduces significantly slowing the vehicle battery charging. This happened around 27 minutes after starting charging.

I've no idea if this represents expected behaviour but its clearly much better than I was previously experiencing.

Its great to know that I can charge my LB from 20% to 100% in 25 minutes without moving the vehicle!

Hope this helps others solve similar problems and would be interested in anyone who is experiencing significantly better charging than this. Again, thanks to @Jerrywho for providing the details of the fix.

 

[Jerrywho]

Good news Kevin!!! I honestly expected to fix your problem. Cheers!!!

 

[nickyboy83]

Hi all...I think mine is finally fixed. leisure battery has remained on 100% since I got it back on Wednesday 18th. Have the fridge on now to deplete the battery a bit and fully test. New control module was the remedy although the wait for the part was ~2months. Props to Citygate Wooburn Green for sorting it.

 

[kevin1000]

Hi all...I think mine is finally fixed. leisure battery has remained on 100% since I got it back on Wednesday 18th. Have the fridge on now to deplete the battery a bit and fully test. New control module was the remedy although the wait for the part was ~2months. Props to Citygate Wooburn Green for sorting it.

Great news! Glad it’s all sorted.

I’m interested that your leisure battery has remained on 100% after a week. Is that with the vehicle parked up or have you been driving it? My LB still seems to drain a little whilst parked up, perhaps lose about 20% over the course of a week. Think I’ll test this again properly.

 

[PipPip]

Great news! Glad it’s all sorted.

I’m interested that your leisure battery has remained on 100% after a week. Is that with the vehicle parked up or have you been driving it? My LB still seems to drain a little whilst parked up, perhaps lose about 20% over the course of a week. Think I’ll test this again properly.

Ours is only a couple of weeks old and also tends to lose around 20% in a week if not driven at all. I think this is considered normal but I could be wrong.

 

[Gibo348]

Hi, I’m needing some help. Picked up my new T7 Cali Hybrid 7 months ago. All going great but noticed I couldn’t get any charge into the leisure battery. Had it camping at the beginning with electric hook up and it worked great however have noticed since that 2nd battery isn’t charging. Every road trip I hit the Boost button on the dash but still no charge. Tried electric mains hook up too without success,

Booked it in for a service last week and they said that due to me not regularly charging the leisure battery that a new battery wouldn’t be covered by warranty. However they said there was a recall relating to the charge system. It’s a big job they say and will need to be in for 2 days. But are saying it’s not related to my issue.

Since I bought it I have used the boost button most times I’m driving the van. I assumed that was enough to keep the pleasure battery ticking over. I also have a T2 and I’m used to trickle charging the leisure battery but just assumed with technology today and that boost button I wouldn’t need to do it on theT7.

So I’ve to go next week for the product recall but they are expecting me to pay for the new leisure battery. This doesn’t seem right to me. Anyone have any advice, just so I can go in and argue my case

 

[Juliet Staines]

I've just purchased an ex demo T7 Ocean Diesel and after the 2 hour drive home from the dealers I checked the battery levels and was suprised to see that the leisure battery was on 20%. I was expecting it to be full after such a long drive.

I've tried and EHU and it charges fine that way. I then went back to trying to charge it using the engine by starting the engine and checking the display. As the images show below, at first I got the expected behaviour, engine power was providing 30A and the leisure battery recieving 25A. But after a few seconds the engine power dropped to OA and the leisure battery quickly when back to -0.2A (the image shows 0.7A but I was abit quick with the camera!) . It would appear that I am unable to charge the leisure battery from the engine for longer than a few seconds.

Any suggestions? I'm new to the vehicle so could I be making a silly mistake somehow?

View attachment 143482
View attachment 143483

I've had the same problems re leisure battery losing charge quickly with a t7 ocean diesel. Had software updates that didn't solve the problem. I got it booked in at Liverpool and they said it is the battery isolation relay that's the issue. Have one on order so will see if this fixes the issue. At the moment just have to charge externally as if on a campsite as max power boost and usual driving doesn't charge it at all. It only started playing up when we had the first software update and ever since it's not been the same. All covered under our warranty at the moment as we use it as a day vehicle too. Will keep you posted how it goes once it's fitted with a new relay in Liverpool. Wrexham have stopped all t7 cali warranty work I think there's a lack of t7 cali specialists to work on these issues so booking on to have any warranty work done is painfully slow but the guys at Liverpool have been brilliant. Good luck sorting yours out too

 

[Perfectos]

Hi, I’m needing some help. Picked up my new T7 Cali Hybrid 7 months ago. All going great but noticed I couldn’t get any charge into the leisure battery. Had it camping at the beginning with electric hook up and it worked great however have noticed since that 2nd battery isn’t charging. Every road trip I hit the Boost button on the dash but still no charge. Tried electric mains hook up too without success,

Booked it in for a service last week and they said that due to me not regularly charging the leisure battery that a new battery wouldn’t be covered by warranty. However they said there was a recall relating to the charge system. It’s a big job they say and will need to be in for 2 days. But are saying it’s not related to my issue.

Since I bought it I have used the boost button most times I’m driving the van. I assumed that was enough to keep the pleasure battery ticking over. I also have a T2 and I’m used to trickle charging the leisure battery but just assumed with technology today and that boost button I wouldn’t need to do it on theT7.

So I’ve to go next week for the product recall but they are expecting me to pay for the new leisure battery. This doesn’t seem right to me. Anyone have any advice, just so I can go in and argue my case

What a load of BS , the factory warranty covers batteries, I had three starter batteries replaced under factory warranty.
The charging system on T7 is a known issue, therefore VW must accept that batteries must be changed under warranty. Challenge the dealer, if they don't agree, find another dealer.

Ever seen a charger fitted to a show room model ! All the time, batteries are quite often fooked at hand over due to the time the vehicle sits around after leaving the factory

 

[Toneb]

" Challenge the dealer, if they don't agree, find another dealer."

Just do what I did and conntact VW customer service and they'll put a rocket up the dealer's arse. In fact they said to me that "if there are any further problems, tell us and we will take it to management level".

 

[Jojo1]

We also have the same issue our T7 , stop charging the leisure battery from the engine last week, I have it booked in to be looked at in 2 weeks time, not had any problems since new in August 25 , judging by all the threads on this forum relating to the battery issues I can see this being a battle, I’ll join the queueAfter a 2 month wait as part was on back order, today it finally got fixed,

 

[Jojo1]

Finally the wait is over for my leisure battery issue to be sorted, due to part being on back order I have had to wait 2 months, I dropped the camper off at the garage at 08:00 this morning for the disyuntor=circuit breaker to be replaced, I got a call at 14:30 to say it was ready to collect, when I collected it the leisure battery was on 50% , after driving for about 10 minutes the battery was on 100% so I can confirm that it now charges from the engine and the power boost also works, the dealer was great from the first visit in February when they confirmed the fault to being fixed today, friendly and helpful.

 

[AdamS]

These are my current problems. It's going in on Tuesday to Breeze Poole. 25 reg PHEV. They claim it has had the battery/electrical system recall work done.

Leisure battery won't charge while driving, with or without 'max charge' function selected.

'Max charge' function will not charge either battery while stationary. This has worked once while parked on the drive, and only charged the leisure battery, but has not worked again since.

When in max charge, the battery icon next to 'engine power' will turn blue twice for a few seconds each time, then go black again, the 'engine power' reads 10W for a split second then goes back to 0, accompanied by a faint second-long 'burrr' sound from the engine bay (front of the vehicle).

Leisure battery will often drain to zero in less than a week without any use.

When plugged in to shore power, leisure battery will charge to 70% then stop, start draining, will not charge again until I unplug then plug in again. Always stops at 70%.

Camping mode drained vehicle battery, not leisure battery.

On our first camping trip, vehicle battery drained to zero from 5pm to 9.30pm after arriving at a campsite (no shore power) -use of lights and heater for about 30-40mins.