Battery management issues VW New California T7

Sacha1dog said:
Out van has been back at the dealer for 2 weeks. I just had an update that a software update has been installed (not 27H7) that deals specifically with battery drain. They “say” that this seems to have fixed the problem.
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Can you advise the software version showing?
 
I have an appointment next month to update. I'm having the same problem with the battery. I've temporarily solved everything with solar panels xd1755512733211.png
 
I picked up my Ocean just under a month ago and went on holiday for a couple of weeks pretty much straight after.

I have only really been using the Cali as a "car" since picking it up and the only thing I noticed with power was the main vehicle battery was draining quicker than I would expect.

This weekend I purchased a EHU and connected it up on Saturday evening for the first time. After connecting up the cable I could see the display showing both batteries appeared to be charging and there was stated current draw from the EHU.

I've just been out to check something on the Cali and now the leisure battery is showing empty and 5v and when I tried disconnecting and then reconnecting the EHU I get an error saying no campsite power and an orange symbol on the display.

One of the things I wanted to check on the Cali was the pass thru sockets so I used my socket tester and both sockets showed as having live and neutral reversed. I checked all my cables and even used an external camping extension lead to test and the sockets on that showed correct wiring.

So do we think that the battery issues might be affected by something being wired up wrong in the Cali?

BTW it's a Diesel vehicle.
 
HelenL said:
Traded in our T6 for a hybrid Ocean 2 weeks ago, went on a weekend camping trip. Prior to purchase checked with the dealer re battery issues as we were aware of potential problems. Were advised all was good and no updates needed.
Charged high voltage battery on arrival at campsite, no EHU but on Friday night leisure bakery was fully charged. Left the van with fridge on on Saturday morning, leisure battery at 70%, the vehicle was untouched for 7 hours. Returned to find leisure battery at 20% and 12V engine battery out of charge. Switched off fridge, but to no avail, all electrics in van stopped working - lights/doors/water pump. Shortly after when opening driver door vehicle alerted me to stop driving (?) as hybrid system not working, Shortly after this the boot and side doors were deadlocked. I called VW assistance who advised they could attend at 3am - this was 7pm. I advised we would not be leaving overnight and to delay until the morning, I asked if it was safe to sleep in the vehicle, no VW technical assistance available so was given answer that they didn't know. Lovely campsite hosts gave us a bed for the night. Assistance arrived in the morning, took 2h to get the van to move with a power pack attached and mechanic had no idea why this finally worked. 6h wait for low loader, again needed power pack and some chanting to get it to move (at one point we thought we wouldn't get it on the low loader). Vehicle should be back at dealership this morning but currently demanding our old van back and a refund - this van is at best a multivan with a bed and a non functioning water tank, it is definitely not fit for purpose as a camper van.
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How did you get on with this - have you been refunded?
 
Update, as others have witnessed my display panel says the leisure batteries are at 5V but a multimeter confirms both are just over 13V.

Ive just called the dealer I purchased the van from, which is 100 miles away so not somewhere I can just pop into, and they said that according to the VW recall my Cali isn't affected/covered by the recall.

I was hoping to pass on my findings so far in the hope of it helping them help others but they pretty much said, either bring it into them or just go speak to my local Van centre.
 
Last edited:
Hi, I’m brand new to Cali club but am joining the thread on battery drain.

I’ve had my Cali Ocean ehybrid for 2 months and about 2 weeks ago the alarm went off (internal sensors). As I’d been camping I assumed that maybe there had been a spider in it and didn’t give it much more thought. Then on Wednesday morning I heard the alarm go off again, went out of the house to turn it off and found the vehicle was dead. 3 breakdown visits later it’s still on my drive, it has gobbled at least 2.5 juice packs and we’re trying again this morning. If this doesn’t work I’ll need a tow track to get it hauled off my drive and into Lookers Newcastle.

The vehicle drove over 200 miles last Friday and was dead by Wednesday morning, so less than 5 days elapsed time. It has driven about 2,000 miles in 2 months so is in use regularly doing good miles (A66, A19 rather than around town).

I’ve also noticed that the Cali control panel in the back keeps flashing a message up about the fresh water tank being empty (filled the tank just to get rid of it) and the leisure battery is draining faster than it should.

I also have a tracker fitted and a Nextbase dashcam, wondering if the dashcam is the guilty party but who knows? Anyway fingers crossed for recovery this morning but not holding out much hope of getting across to Great Langdale on Bank Holiday Monday for a few days with Nancy the dog :(
 
Jeanette E said:
Hi, I’m brand new to Cali club but am joining the thread on battery drain.

I’ve had my Cali Ocean ehybrid for 2 months and about 2 weeks ago the alarm went off (internal sensors). As I’d been camping I assumed that maybe there had been a spider in it and didn’t give it much more thought. Then on Wednesday morning I heard the alarm go off again, went out of the house to turn it off and found the vehicle was dead. 3 breakdown visits later it’s still on my drive, it has gobbled at least 2.5 juice packs and we’re trying again this morning. If this doesn’t work I’ll need a tow track to get it hauled off my drive and into Lookers Newcastle.

The vehicle drove over 200 miles last Friday and was dead by Wednesday morning, so less than 5 days elapsed time. It has driven about 2,000 miles in 2 months so is in use regularly doing good miles (A66, A19 rather than around town).

I’ve also noticed that the Cali control panel in the back keeps flashing a message up about the fresh water tank being empty (filled the tank just to get rid of it) and the leisure battery is draining faster than it should.

I also have a tracker fitted and a Nextbase dashcam, wondering if the dashcam is the guilty party but who knows? Anyway fingers crossed for recovery this morning but not holding out much hope of getting across to Great Langdale on Bank Holiday Monday for a few days with Nancy the dog :(
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Hi Jeanette, and welcome to the club and thread. I’m sure you must have read already the info in the thread concerning battery drainage on T7. Best advice would be to call your dealer and give them your chassis number and see if your van falls in the range for the latest software update that is available to target battery issues. Also ask them if they have experience in updating the T7 as some dealers have struggled installing the update. It seems to be becoming more common knowledge as more vans get updated, hope yours get sorted quickly and back to you.
 
Jeanette E said:
Hi, I’m brand new to Cali club but am joining the thread on battery drain.

I’ve had my Cali Ocean ehybrid for 2 months and about 2 weeks ago the alarm went off (internal sensors). As I’d been camping I assumed that maybe there had been a spider in it and didn’t give it much more thought. Then on Wednesday morning I heard the alarm go off again, went out of the house to turn it off and found the vehicle was dead. 3 breakdown visits later it’s still on my drive, it has gobbled at least 2.5 juice packs and we’re trying again this morning. If this doesn’t work I’ll need a tow track to get it hauled off my drive and into Lookers Newcastle.

The vehicle drove over 200 miles last Friday and was dead by Wednesday morning, so less than 5 days elapsed time. It has driven about 2,000 miles in 2 months so is in use regularly doing good miles (A66, A19 rather than around town).

I’ve also noticed that the Cali control panel in the back keeps flashing a message up about the fresh water tank being empty (filled the tank just to get rid of it) and the leisure battery is draining faster than it should.

I also have a tracker fitted and a Nextbase dashcam, wondering if the dashcam is the guilty party but who knows? Anyway fingers crossed for recovery this morning but not holding out much hope of getting across to Great Langdale on Bank Holiday Monday for a few days with Nancy the dog :(
Click to expand...
Our van had the same issues. Its now been at the dealership for 3 weeks whilst they try to fix it. It had a software update, and is now waiting for a replacement gateway module to be fitted due to another recall.
 
Rubinstein said:
Hi Jeanette, and welcome to the club and thread. I’m sure you must have read already the info in the thread concerning battery drainage on T7. Best advice would be to call your dealer and give them your chassis number and see if your van falls in the range for the latest software update that is available to target battery issues. Also ask them if they have experience in updating the T7 as some dealers have struggled installing the update. It seems to be becoming more common knowledge as more vans get updated, hope yours get sorted quickly and back to you.
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Hi Rubinstein, yes I’ve contacted the garage and they’ve said that there is a recall on the leisure battery for a software update which has been around for a while. There is also a second software update available which is newer and this is to do with the main power supply draining when in camping mode, in anddition the 12v power supply line also needs replacing. I’m not sure how much experience Lookers in Newcastle have of updating the T7 as they don’t seem to be one of the bigger dealerships but I guess I’ll find out.

Anyway AA van and tow truck came and went this morning minus my Cali, it’s like the lights are on but nobody is in, tow track now arranged for tomorrow and I’m hoping it won’t take 3 weeks like Sasha has mentioned. I’m also hoping it’s just new vehicle teething troubles as I do like my Cali and have lots of adventures planned but unfortunately not next week by the sounds :(
 
Sacha1dog said:
Our van had the same issues. It’s now been at the dealership for 3 weeks whilst they try to fix it. It had a software update, and is now waiting for a replacement gateway module to be fitted due to another recall.
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Hi Sacha, 3 weeks and counting sounds like forever. I hope mine doesn’t take that long as I’ve booked 9 nights in September heading up to and back from Skye for me and Nancy the Dog. Hope you get yours back soon and that it’s healthy.
 
Jeanette E said:
Hi Sacha, 3 weeks and counting sounds like forever. I hope mine doesn’t take that long as I’ve booked 9 nights in September heading up to and back from Skye for me and Nancy the Dog. Hope you get yours back soon and that it’s healthy.
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Thanks. I'm hopeful that this solves all the issues, but being honest, if there are any further issues with the van when we get it back, I have had enough of it at that point, and its going back to the dealers for a refund. A brand new van of this calibre shouldn't have any issues at all. I get the feeling that VW released this model without ironing out all of the problems first.
 
Jeanette E said:
Hi Rubinstein, yes I’ve contacted the garage and they’ve said that there is a recall on the leisure battery for a software update which has been around for a while. There is also a second software update available which is newer and this is to do with the main power supply draining when in camping mode, in anddition the 12v power supply line also needs replacing. I’m not sure how much experience Lookers in Newcastle have of updating the T7 as they don’t seem to be one of the bigger dealerships but I guess I’ll find out.

Anyway AA van and tow truck came and went this morning minus my Cali, it’s like the lights are on but nobody is in, tow track now arranged for tomorrow and I’m hoping it won’t take 3 weeks like Sasha has mentioned. I’m also hoping it’s just new vehicle teething troubles as I do like my Cali and have lots of adventures planned but unfortunately not next week by the sounds :(
Click to expand...
I have faith these are teething issues with software an VW will get it sorted. The update worked on my van, however its a 2.0 Diesel so not suffering the same issues as PHEV. When the work is complete I would ask for a print out of what has been completed. Please let us know how you get on and I hope its resolved swiftly for you, Skye is quite something in September, or anytime tbh,
 
Rubinstein said:
I have faith these are teething issues with software an VW will get it sorted. The update worked on my van, however its a 2.0 Diesel so not suffering the same issues as PHEV. When the work is complete I would ask for a print out of what has been completed. Please let us know how you get on and I hope its resolved swiftly for you, Skye is quite something in September, or anytime tbh,
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Evening,
I finally got my Cali towed away this morning at the third attempt and to top it all off I’ve just been charged for the Tyne Tunnel even though it was on a low loader, that’s taking the p155. Anyway let’s see how long it takes, I’m punting for 2 weeks, the dog reckons longer. Anyway enjoy the weekend folks and think positive!
 
Hi everyone,

I picked up my T7 Ocean in May 2025, and ever since then I’ve been struggling – just like many of you – with the well-known battery management issues.
My van is already in the workshop for the second time, and it’s there again right now. During the first visit, they installed the latest software update, but unfortunately, nothing has improved.

Here’s the problem:
Within just 24 hours, using only the cool box on level 3 and with Camping Mode activated, both the starter batteryand the auxiliary camper battery dropped down to just 20%.

And then today, I received a statement from VW that honestly shocked me:
  • They said the vehicle is not designed to be used off-grid – “maybe for a few hours or a day,” but not for longer stays.
  • On top of that, they explained that the battery management in the T7 is completely different from the previous T6.1:
    • There’s still a separation relay, but it doesn’t work the same way as before.
    • The idea is that the camper battery and external power connection can be used to recharge the starter battery if it runs low.
    • As a result, the two batteries are linked and can drain each other.
This is a completely new concept, and it seems to be the root cause of the current problems.
Honestly, I’m at a loss.
If both batteries are almost deeply discharged after just 24 hours, that’s not just inconvenient – it’s worrying.
Have you found any solutions or workarounds to manage this issue?
Thanks in advance for any tips or feedback!
 
Thanks for the update. Was the statement from VW a written statement?

Our van has been in the garage for about 4 weeks. And is still awaiting parts that were, supposedly, part of a recall. I’m at a loss as to how long this takes, and frustrated.

If what you say above is the real situation, then this is just not fit for purpose.
 
Well we were beginning to think we were one of the Lucky Few.
NAH
Went out to the van this morning both batteries flats as pancakes.
Going by Vin no: our vehicle 'shouldn't' be affected
 
Sacha1dog said:
Thanks for the update. Was the statement from VW a written statement?

Our van has been in the garage for about 4 weeks. And is still awaiting parts that were, supposedly, part of a recall. I’m at a loss as to how long this takes, and frustrated.

If what you say above is the real situation, then this is just not fit for purpose.
Click to expand...
I had about a 20-minute conversation today with the VW service technician who is currently working on my vehicle.

He actually made a very competent impression and seemed well-informed, especially regarding the new battery management system of the T7.
I explained to him in detail everything I had already tested, tried, and checked myself. They are now trying to reproduce these exact steps in the workshop to better understand the issue.

The situation is actually quite simple:
Last weekend, I started my trip with 100% vehicle battery and 100% camper battery.
  • After 24 hours of off-grid use at the campsite, both batteries were down to just 20%.
  • During this time, the fridge was running on level 3, and of course, the doors were opened and closed occasionally — but nothing else was in use.
They are now trying to replicate this scenario in the workshop.
At the moment, there is no software update that I haven’t already installed. The workshop is at a loss and is being bounced around between different VW departments:
  • Some recommend checking the software again.
  • Others suggest re-measuring certain components.
That said, I do have the impression that the technicians know what they’re doing and are taking the problem seriously.
To come back to your original question: No, I do not have any written statement — this was what the service technician told me verbally during our discussion.
However, this statement is absolutely incomprehensible to me.
If it were really true that the vehicle is not suitable for off-grid use beyond 24 hours, then the vehicle would be a complete design failure.
It would be understandable if the camper battery eventually drained — one could possibly live with that.
But the fact that the starter battery also discharges to the point where you can barely start the vehicle and drive back from a camping trip is completely unacceptable and definitely not normal.

Additionally, there’s another serious issue:
Even when the vehicle is parked at home and not in use, both batteries still discharge — more slowly, yes, but after about five days, they are again in a critical range.

This is absolutely unacceptable for a vehicle of this class and price point.
 
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