Battery Status

[WelshGas]

Also if you drive the van as a car, every day? Or in that case it's not needed?

Due to the Emissions technology, smart alternator and Regenerative Braking coupled with Stop/Start the system only charges the Engine Battery to 80% capacity and likewise the Leisure Batteries are also not fully charged.
To prolong the life of the Leisure Batteries, as has been mentioned above and mentioned in the Handbook, plugging into the EHU monthly for at least 12 hrs is best practice.
Or fit a Solar Panel if parked outside with no access to EHU.

 

[Cali Down Under]

Newbie to all this - what does this mean for my understanding of the battery?

then when i have the engine running i get this:

 

[yossarian]

 

[yossarian]

The second photo shows a charge of about 4A and 14.4V. this is typically the constant voltage part of the charge cycle.

When charging using the alternator while driving you'll see the numbers bounce around a lot. The bar graph is accurate unless you mess with the wiring or something breaks.

 

[Cali Down Under]

oh thankyou Yosarrian. that all makes sense now. I am doing a lot of reading about batteries and their requirements but at my age the learning is a tad slow. I will get there and much appreciate your reply.

 

[fili villanueva]

Thanks for the thread, very useful. I have some questions. Last weekend we fitted the califaktur solar panels on our Ocean. I have landed here because I'm looking for the way to see the status of each of the leisure batteries.
If I have a leisure battery at the back, and a second leisure battery under the driver's seat (in our case), am I understanding correctly that the reading on the control panel is a combination of both batteries? If that's the case, if one of the batteries goes, is there a way to know which one it is, without physically testing it?

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks for the thread, very useful. I have some questions. Last weekend we fitted the califaktur solar panels on our Ocean. I have landed here because I'm looking for the way to see the status of each of the leisure batteries.
If I have a leisure battery at the back, and a second leisure battery under the driver's seat (in our case), am I understanding correctly that the reading on the control panel is a combination of both batteries? If that's the case, if one of the batteries goes, is there a way to know which one it is, without physically testing it?

I presume your Solar Panel controller is connected to the rear Leisure Battery?
The vehicle Control Panel monitors the 2 Leisure Batteries wired in parallel and so treated as 1 large battery.
On the Rear Leisure Battery is a 75 amp cube fuse on the +tve pole.
If your Solar Panel is wired to the rear Leisure battery BELOW the cube fuse and that fuse fails then the Solar panel controller will only show the voltage etc: of the Rear battery BUT the vehicle Control Panel will only show the voltage of the front Leisure battery. In this scenario the Solar panel controller and Vehicle Control panel will show different voltages.
If you want to monitor both batteries individually then you need 3rd party individual battery monitors.

 

[fili villanueva]

Thanks for the explanation, WelshGas. The controller is wired directly to the rear battery, therefore below the cube fuse you mention. From what you're saying, I understand that if the reading on the control panel differs from the reading on the app (the kit uses a Victron controller that you link to via Bluetooth from an app), then something is going wrong.

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks for the explanation, WelshGas. The controller is wired directly to the rear battery, therefore below the cube fuse you mention. From what you're saying, I understand that if the reading on the control panel differs from the reading on the app (the kit uses a Victron controller that you link to via Bluetooth from an app), then something is going wrong.

Yes. If the Cube fuse fails then the app will show voltage on rear leisure battery BUT the Control Panel will show voltage on Front leisure battery. All the electrics are connected to the Front leisure battery, so its voltage will change with use, when engine is running or when connected to EHU.
The rear battery voltage will only vary with Solar input.

 

[fili villanueva]

Thanks again. I guess I formulated my question wrongly, apologies. What I am trying to work out is not if that fuse fails, although now I understand it is critical, but if one of the batteries fails.

I'm coming from a T4, where I had to replace the secondary battery a couple of times because it was not charging any more. Everything was fine, just the battery's life seemed to reach an end of life. The first time, I replaced the original battery, which lasted 14 years. I was told to replace it with one as powerful as possible, but that only lasted four years, and then somewhere else I was told I had bought a battery too powerful for the alternator that the T4 has.

After these battery replacements on the T4, with the T6 I'm always thinking/expecting/worried that one of these two leisure batteries will die at some point, and wonder how I will notice, and how I'll know which of the two is dead.

I have fitted the califaktur panels, but I'm in the middle of the city, the van only sees the light at the weekends, and not all of them, and don't have a way to give it a monthly charge as some of you do.

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks again. I guess I formulated my question wrongly, apologies. What I am trying to work out is not if that fuse fails, although now I understand it is critical, but if one of the batteries fails.

I'm coming from a T4, where I had to replace the secondary battery a couple of times because it was not charging any more. Everything was fine, just the battery's life seemed to reach an end of life. The first time, I replaced the original battery, which lasted 14 years. I was told to replace it with one as powerful as possible, but that only lasted four years, and then somewhere else I was told I had bought a battery too powerful for the alternator that the T4 has.

After these battery replacements on the T4, with the T6 I'm always thinking/expecting/worried that one of these two leisure batteries will die at some point, and wonder how I will notice, and how I'll know which of the two is dead.

I have fitted the califaktur panels, but I'm in the middle of the city, the van only sees the light at the weekends, and not all of them, and don't have a way to give it a monthly charge as some of you do.

I do think you are overthinking and worrying too much. You will notice a degradation in battery output as one or both batteries fail. Then the only way to decide if that is the case is to charge both batteries, disconnect them from the vehicle and monitor the voltage of each battery daily . A failing battery will drop voltage over a few days rather than a few weeks for a good battery.
If you identify a failing battery then both should be replaced.
If you can drive the vehicle once a month, in conjunction with the Solar panels, that will be equivalent to connecting to EHU monthly.
Just use the vehicle and enjoy.

 

[fili villanueva]

Thanks for the advice, master!