Buy all your VW California Accessories at the Club Shop Visit Shop

6.1 Beach tour EHU

B

BikesandOcean

VIP Member
Messages
50
Location
North Cotswolds
Vehicle
T6.1 Ocean 150
So as many people with the beach tour have found out there is not EHU now there’s a leisure battery and an inverte, its a bit frustrating. But we needed 6 seats and this was the only option, in honesty the TOUR is not especially good value. so with that in mind can people pleas shame me the pictures of their retrofit EHU please so I can see wath the meet options are. Many thanks
 
Well I can't tell you how to do it as that's a bit too techy for me but I would have thought that with the "Tour" model, a good place to have the EHU socket would be in the Vehicle battery compartment under the bonnet.
 
You might have a bit of a wait, as far as I can recall you are the first person here to post about owning a tour.
 
A lot of converters connect one either under the bonnet or under the rear bumper. Have a chat with some
 
To look like factory you would have to cut open your back quarter panel . I wouldn't do that.
 
The sliding door precludes adding the external hook up on the rear quarter. The under bonnet solution at least saves panels being cut and is completely unobtrusive.
 
Not a tour, but got ours done for £300 and went for it under the bonnet so I don’t forget I’m hooked up before driving off ! (Also had the option of the usual place on the body as we only have 1 slider.

Had one socket in the usual place and one in the boot for the fridge / running extension cable to an awning.

Circuit breaker is in the Jack compartment.

 
Last edited:
Can’t do that as double sliding doors gets in the way
Some info and pictures,.
 
Another siting option is the plastic panel below rear light cluster, particularly in conversions.

Some, as per this image stolen from the net, adapt the whole panel to swing.

An easier option is to get the square original equipment style flap covered socket and mount it in the lower part of the plastic panel. ( no faffing with hinges etc.) This looks neat and there is a grommet through the bodywork for cables. Advantages are its only a plastic panel to cut through and relatively easy to buy another panel later if needed.

I've no clue where the Tour leisure battery is so I guess that would be a factor in terms of running cables.

Screenshot_20210511-055906_Chrome.jpg
 
I use this California fitting on my self-builds, obviously you don't want the water filler portion but I believe there is a similar item with just the 240v input. That way you keep it looking proper VW.

Sorry I can't find a part number for the single frame with flap, the actual socket is the same as that fitted in the caravan world.

DSCN6266.JPG
 
I use this California fitting on my self-builds, obviously you don't want the water filler portion but I believe there is a similar item with just the 240v input. That way you keep it looking proper VW.

Sorry I can't find a part number for the single frame with flap, the actual socket is the same as that fitted in the caravan world.

View attachment 78244
The problem is the Beach Tour has sliding doors both sides.
The best position on the Tour would be under bonnet as the Leisure Battery is under the front passenger seat.
 
The problem is the Beach Tour has sliding doors both sides.
The best position on the Tour would be under bonnet as the Leisure Battery is under the front passenger seat.
Ah, sorry I forgot about the twin sliders.
 
Another siting option is the plastic panel below rear light cluster, particularly in conversions.

Some, as per this image stolen from the net, adapt the whole panel to swing.

An easier option is to get the square original equipment style flap covered socket and mount it in the lower part of the plastic panel. ( no faffing with hinges etc.) This looks neat and there is a grommet through the bodywork for cables. Advantages are its only a plastic panel to cut through and relatively easy to buy another panel later if needed.

I've no clue where the Tour leisure battery is so I guess that would be a factor in terms of running cables.

View attachment 78239
I could see someone (probably me) walking into the flap and bending it back!
 
The problem is the Beach Tour has sliding doors both sides.
The best position on the Tour would be under bonnet as the Leisure Battery is under the front passenger seat.
I understand that but looking at the placement of the socket its after the. door rail? so should fit ?
 
I understand that but looking at the placement of the socket its after the. door rail? so should fit ?
My picture is of a LWB van, on a SWB the door comes too far back to clear the socket a SWB is 14inches shorter between the rear of the sliding doors and the back of the vehicle.
It looks as if there is clearance but there is too much reinforcement on the inside to get even the single 240v inlet into the body cavity.
 
I understand that but looking at the placement of the socket its after the. door rail? so should fit ?
Beach with EHU connection
Note it’s position in relation to the Rear Window.
77B19C00-0479-4159-8876-EB61FEFB1A63.jpeg

Sliding door, fully open. Note the position of the rear of the sliding door.
E9BF8D6F-3A43-46DA-AD3A-7617DC5DFE07.jpeg
 
I quite like the idea of a Beach Tour (95% of the time we use the van as a family car, rather than a camper), but the lack of EHU is a problem for a weekend away if you're not moving the van and using the battery to power a fridge etc (I assume anyway, our SE will last about 4 days without EHU and still run the fridge etc, but presumably having 2 batteries makes a difference?) Anyway, if you went down the solar route, would that provide sufficient charge to keep a Beach Tour's battery topped up while running a fridge? Or would the drain be higher than the gain?
 
Our 2 x 120w solar panels keeps the two batteries charged for continuous use of fridge on No5 in British weather for all but the bleakest winter days. Not persuaded that 1 x 100watt panel would give you the gain you are after; you should be okay with single panel in summer for 4/5 days in British summer (?) but battery would lose power after this. Just start the engine for 30 mins when battery drops.
 
If it’s any help, I used to camp in the Middle East with a fridge running constantly for 4-5 days with maybe one drive for supplies in the middle and never had problems, weather 25-35 degrees. When I ordered my beach camper did away with the EHU but ended up with one when I picked up an in stock camper. I figured I could run an extension lead and plug the fridge in if I really needed as not much else in the van to be powered. The boost charging mode on the 6.1 does a good job too. Try it and if it doesn’t work, get a retrofit.
 

Well i have found the solution this looks so smart and very OEM reckon it’s the best solution for the Tour, amazing that VW didn’t think of it, but they seem to have really scrimped on the Tour


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
If it’s any help, I used to camp in the Middle East with a fridge running constantly for 4-5 days with maybe one drive for supplies in the middle and never had problems, weather 25-35 degrees. When I ordered my beach camper did away with the EHU but ended up with one when I picked up an in stock camper. I figured I could run an extension lead and plug the fridge in if I really needed as not much else in the van to be powered. The boost charging mode on the 6.1 does a good job too. Try it and if it doesn’t work, get a retrofit.
I am pressing boost charging and is long time running noisy motor make empty leisure battery full - is not good solution.
 
Back
Top