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