Beach leisure battery

[soulstyledevon]

Does anyone know what size the leisure battery is on the Beach.
I want to wire a battery charger to it, so it charges the battery when on 230v hook-up. I have a CTEK battery charger from my old van, but its only a 5A charger and wondering weather this will be to small.

I have tried to take a peak but there is a cover on the battery and i cant see what it is

 

[jamesC]

I think from memory it is 80 or 90A... I have a 5A CTEK charger and it works fine, although if putting a permanent system in, I was advised to use at least a 15A charger.

One further observation is, Maxxcamp do an install kit which features the 5A CTEK!!

 

[soulstyledevon]

I think from memory it is 80 or 90A... I have a 5A CTEK charger and it works fine, although if putting a permanent system in, I was advised to use at least a 15A charger.

One further observation is, Maxxcamp do an install kit which features the 5A CTEK!!

Thanks bud.
Just double checked the CTEK website and say its good for 110ah.

Cool, i will have to get this connected up and then wont have any concerns of a flat battery when we are on our travels :cool

 

[Wengen007]

I have a beach and I have never seen a leisure battery on/ in it can you tell me where it is?

 

[jamesC]

I have a beach and I have never seen a leisure battery on/ in it can you tell me where it is?

It is under the front passenger seat

 

[Wengen007]

Ok will have a look thankyou

 

[Wengen007]

Ok I found it!! What will it power I guess just the interior lights as the electric socket seems to only work when you are hooked up to the mains.

Do the interior lights drain much power from the battery?

If you are parked up not on main electric and using the interior lights etc does this power only come from the 2nd battery and not take any power from the main battery.

I guess I am trying to make sure I don't end up with a flat battery in the morning and get left in the embarrassing position of needing a jump.

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Wengen007]

Ok will have a look thankyou

Ok I found it!! What will it power I guess just the interior lights as the electric socket seems to only work when you are hooked up to the mains.

Do the interior lights drain much power from the battery?

If you are parked up not on main electric and using the interior lights etc does this power only come from the 2nd battery and not take any power from the main battery.

I guess I am trying to make sure I don't end up with a flat battery in the morning and get left in the embarrassing position of needing a jump.

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks

 

[jamesC]

Actually the topic of what is powered by which battery is probably yet to be exhaustively agreed, but on my beach, certainly the three sockets in the rear of the van and the led lights, again in the rear, are run off the leisure battery.

As my beach has no EHU, I can't comment on the exact performance, however, my understanding is that the 240v charges the batteries and then everything runs from these batteries in 12v.

I hope this helps

 

[thesquirrelpatrol]

I see from the handbook that the rcbo circuit breaker for the EHU is in the jack/tool kit cubby hole in the beach but my question would be this, is there any read out indicator of present level of charge for the leisure batteries anywhere in the beach?

 

[James]

Traditionally VW Multivans with a leisure battery have powered every back of the b pillar, so everything in the rear of the vehicle.

The Beach appears no different, with all the lights and 12vs seemingly powered by the leisure battery.

James

 

[Iron Van]

I had a quick look in the tool cubby hole but couldn't find a breaker. I will have a better look at the weekend.

I also noticed that the 12v socket on top of the dash is still live when the ignition is off, I don't know which battery it's powered by, is there a way of checking?

Cheers

Steve

 

[jamesC]

I had a quick look in the tool cubby hole but couldn't find a breaker. I will have a better look at the weekend.

I also noticed that the 12v socket on top of the dash is still live when the ignition is off, I don't know which battery it's powered by, is there a way of checking?

Cheers

Steve

It is my belief that the dash top socket runs from the starter battery, but yes - it is always live.

I am prepared to be wrong though.

I guess the simplest test would be to disconnect the starter battery, and see what is still live.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Easier still, pull the fuses for the leisure circuits then test.
Also, peeps without the Factory EHU pre-2014 beaches won't have leisure battery charging via 230v. Battery charges as vehicle is being driven. To be honest I would be surprised if VW added charging via the factory 230v anyway.
I'm looking into installing a charger as I know all the rear lights, 12v sockets plus my after market Webasto diesel heater is powered via the leisure battery.

Might do this work tomorrow so will let peeps know what I find

 

[Iron Van]

I do have one of those plug in voltage displays.If I plugged it into first the rear sockets whilst on EHU and then in the cigarette socket with the ignition off, would that tell me what is and isn't being charged?

 

[jamesC]

Easier still, pull the fuses for the leisure circuits then test.
Also, peeps without the Factory EHU pre-2014 beaches won't have leisure battery charging via 230v. Battery charges as vehicle is being driven. To be honest I would be surprised if VW added charging via the factory 230v anyway.
I'm looking into installing a charger as I know all the rear lights, 12v sockets plus my after market Webasto diesel heater is powered via the leisure battery.

Might do this work tomorrow so will let peeps know what I find

My Beach was Manufactured in December 2012, delivered in March 2013... I have had some weird things happen recently that has made me question my original assumptions about what powers what, I would love to hear what you find.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Just incase anyone is interested for future use. The leisure battery in my Beach is 80A/h.
Just connected a battery charger/conditioner to it. Will hopefully never suffer from lack of power on my travels

 

[jamesC]

Just incase anyone is interested for future use. The leisure battery in my Beach is 80A/h.
Just connected a battery charger/conditioner to it. Will hopefully never suffer from lack of power on my travels

Did you get to the bottom of which 12v sockets are powered by what??

 

[owen_h]

Battery in my Beach is the same. Does anyone know from the part number if this is an AGM battery? Reason I ask is that Ctek chargers have a dedicated setting for these type of battery's .

 

[owen_h]

Battery in my Beach is the same. Does anyone know from the part number if this is an AGM battery? Reason I ask is that Ctek chargers have a dedicated setting for these type of battery's .

managed to answer my own question by asking Varta themselves. Quick reply:

Dear Mr Harries,

Thank you for your enquiry.
The battery is an SLI flooded battery so not an AGM battery.

Regards,
Debbie.
Customer Enquiry Team

Must admit I'm a bit surprised/disappointed about this as this SLI sort of battery is really for "starting - lights - Ignition" and not deep cycle leisure use.

 

[jamesC]

Battery in my Beach is the same. Does anyone know from the part number if this is an AGM battery? Reason I ask is that Ctek chargers have a dedicated setting for these type of battery's .

managed to answer my own question by asking Varta themselves. Quick reply:

Dear Mr Harries,

Thank you for your enquiry.
The battery is an SLI flooded battery so not an AGM battery.

Regards,
Debbie.
Customer Enquiry Team

Must admit I'm a bit surprised/disappointed about this as this SLI sort of battery is really for "starting - lights - Ignition" and not deep cycle leisure use.

I am amazed that this battery is not a deep cycle leisure battery... does anybody have a theory on why this is??

Surely this is not appropriate for it's intended use??

Also, my understanding was that batteries carried inside the vehicle would normally be Gel type??

 

[owen_h]

My theory is cost saving by VW :crazy They must buy hundreds of thousands of SLI type batteries for all the cars/vans etc so can buy them in bulk and get a really good price. The leisure deep cycle ones would only be needed for Californias' and probably cost 4x the price.
Wonder of this is Beach specific or if the SE's also have SLI batteries?

There is a vent pipe coming off the battery and dissapearing under the carpet which first made me suspicious of the battery type. My previous assumption like you was that the battery was a gell type.
When the existing battery can no longer hold a charge I will be replacing it with at least a deep cycle or more likely an AGM one.

 

[jamesC]

I am sure cost has a lot to do with it.... would love to hear from somebody with an SE Cali, to find out what battery type they have.

My fear with changing the battery type would be the charging, it is my understanding that charging profiles would be different for the various types.

Obviously the SE Cali has electronics to show charge levels etc., so it stands to reason, that these vehicles have a dedicated charge controller, which would manage the charge profile required by the batteries, which may differ from starter battery to leisure.

Also, I wonder whether the new Beach EHU Vehicles have a charge controller, and if so, what type of battery. If indeed the battery is even charged by the EHU on a Beach.

 

[Iron Van]

I don't know what type of battery mine has, or if it has a controller. But when I tested it recently (I believe) I found that on EHU it charges the leisure battery and main engine battery.

Cheers

Steve

 

[jamesC]

I don't know what type of battery mine has, or if it has a controller. But when I tested it recently (I believe) I found that on EHU it charges the leisure battery and main engine battery.

Cheers

Steve

Thanks Steve - This is what we would all hope happens, but you never know.