Low Leisure Battery Alarm After Solar Panel Installation

[SENNA94]

I have recently installed a solar panel from Solar camper solutions and when I was away the low leisure battery alarm came on the control panel. The voltage on the solar panel app shows that the battery is fully charged. It looks like the leisure battery under the front seat is not being charged by the Solar Panel. Has anyone got ideas how I ensure that both batteries are charged by the solar panel?

 

[yossarian]

Search results for query: Chassis ground

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[WelshGas]

I have recently installed a solar panel from Solar camper solutions and when I was away the low leisure battery alarm came on the control panel. The voltage on the solar panel app shows that the battery is fully charged. It looks like the leisure battery under the front seat is not being charged by the Solar Panel. Has anyone got ideas how I ensure that both batteries are charged by the solar panel?

On the Ocean both front and rear Leisure Batteries are wired together, in parallel, and hence treated as 1 large battery and both will be charged.
However you need to take note of the following.
1. The -tve from Solar needs to go to ground on the T6.1, not the battery -tve, otherwise the Control Panel is not aware of the Solar input.
2. On the rear battery +tve pole there is a 75/100 amp cube fuse.
If the cube fuse fails , and they are fragile, and the Solar input is wired above it with the red +tve lead then the front battery will be charged from Solar but not the rear.
If Solar is connected below the cube fuse and the fuse fails then the rear battery will be charged and not the front.

 

[SENNA94]

On the Ocean both front and rear Leisure Batteries are wired together, in parallel, and hence treated as 1 large battery and both will be charged.
However you need to take note of the following.
1. The -tve from Solar needs to go to ground on the T6.1, not the battery -tve, otherwise the Control Panel is not aware of the Solar input.
2. On the rear battery +tve pole there is a 75/100 amp cube fuse.
If the cube fuse fails , and they are fragile, and the Solar input is wired above it with the red +tve lead then the front battery will be charged from Solar but not the rear.
If Solar is connected below the cube fuse and the fuse fails then the rear battery will be charged and not the front.

I have checked the cube fuse and it looks ok. Also, the negative is grounded as well. I have attached photos of the fuse and the positive cable.

 

[WelshGas]

I have checked the cube fuse and it looks ok. Also, the negative is grounded as well. I have attached photos of the fuse and the positive cable.

View attachment 115624

View attachment 115625

View attachment 115626

The red Solar lead is connected below the Cube fuse so will be charging the rear Leisure battery. The Cube fuse appears OK but I've been caught out in the past and it really needs to be checked with a Multimeter for continuity. If the thick lead connected to the Cube fuse and using a Multimeter from the top of the Cube fuse to ground then that would measure voltage of rear Leisure battery. No reading would indicate the fuse has failed. Measuring from disconnected lead to ground would give voltage of Front Leisure battery.

 

[SENNA94]

The red Solar lead is connected below the Cube fuse so will be charging the rear Leisure battery. The Cube fuse appears OK but I've been caught out in the past and it really needs to be checked with a Multimeter for continuity. If the thick lead connected to the Cube fuse and using a Multimeter from the top of the Cube fuse to ground then that would measure voltage of rear Leisure battery. No reading would indicate the fuse has failed. Measuring from disconnected lead to ground would give voltage of Front Leisure battery.

So in terms of the red Solar lead where should it be connected to on the battery?

 

[WelshGas]

So in terms of the red Solar lead where should it be connected to on the battery?

Where you have it connected is fine. I have mine in the same place because connected below the Cube fuse if you have a mismatch between the Solar MPPT Leisure battery voltage and the Control Panel voltage then you know the 2 Leisure Batteries are no longer connected and that usually means the Cube Fuse has failed.
This works on the T5/6.
The T6.1 should be similar BUT the Control Panel now monitors both Leisure Batteries individually and how it would display such a problem I’m not too sure.