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Low electric power when engine off - 2012

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Low electric power when engine off - 2012

Postby Country Bear » Sat Dec 08, 2018 5:04 pm

I've searched to see if anyone else has mentioned this problem but couldn't find it. Hopefully one of you techies will be able to point me in the right direction!

When the engine is off, the interior lights are only about 50-70% bright. The central locking works, but somewhat slowly and the indicator lights look dim and feeble when it unlocks/locks. I had the sliding door open in the dark at night and the interior lights there are dim too. With the sliding door opened I then unlocked the cab and as the central locking unlocked the cab the lights in the back almost went out. With the engine running, the interior lights are bright (as are the indicators and all other lighting). I agree this sounds like the battery is shot - dim when engine off, bright when running, but I don't think it is the battery at fault as the engine starts immediately with the merest flick of the key even after being stood unused for weeks on end.

Any ideas folks? Not sure what other info you need, but please shout and I'll get back.
Thanks
Jim :)
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Re: Low electric power when engine off - 2012

Postby Altransit » Sat Dec 08, 2018 6:57 pm

You probably have two batteries, and the aux battery is on its last legs, whereas the starter battery is still OK.
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Re: Low electric power when engine off - 2012

Postby Punto443 » Sat Dec 08, 2018 7:06 pm

+1 on the batteries, sounds like the aux battery is shot.

Is there a loud click from under your drivers seat when turning the ign on?
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Re: Low electric power when engine off - 2012

Postby Country Bear » Sun Dec 09, 2018 12:29 pm

Punto443 wrote:+1 on the batteries, sounds like the aux battery is shot.

Is there a loud click from under your drivers seat when turning the ign on?


None that I have noticed - I will check shortly and come back to you.

Why would the van have two batteries? I can understand if it's been converted to a campervan with auxiliary battery, but it's only a standard 'works' van. I will check that too and come back to you.

Thanks for your replies
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Re: Low electric power when engine off - 2012

Postby Country Bear » Sun Dec 09, 2018 3:22 pm

OK, so I have been out and looked under the driver's seat and yes, there are indeed two batteries! I really am surprised! Why are there two? They look identical so I am assuming they are of the same age. Is it just one that needs replacing? How can I tell which?

Front battery
Image

Rear battery
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Re: Low electric power when engine off - 2012

Postby Altransit » Sun Dec 09, 2018 4:45 pm

It will be the front one that is poorly, but at that age, you should really replace the pair.
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Re: Low electric power when engine off - 2012

Postby bambi mk 1 » Sun Dec 09, 2018 4:49 pm

Altransit wrote:It will be the front one that is poorly, but at that age, you should really replace the pair.

X 2 or it could go pair shaped again :wink:
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Re: Low electric power when engine off - 2012

Postby Country Bear » Sun Dec 09, 2018 6:21 pm

Altransit wrote:It will be the front one that is poorly, but at that age, you should really replace the pair.

Can you tell the age from these photos? Surely they're not the originals? That'd make them about 6 years old!

So does the rear battery power the starter motor and the front power the electrics? That would make sense as it seems to start OK. If that's the case, I will probably buy a new battery to replace the 'starting' battery, and as that one still has some life in it I will move that one in place of the one that is dying. At least if it's still got a few months of use, it can die slowly and make the interior lights dim rather than just drop me in it and not start.

...pair shaped :roll:

Thanks for your replies; I really appreciate it!
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Re: Low electric power when engine off - 2012

Postby knobby1 » Sun Dec 09, 2018 10:03 pm

Country Bear wrote:
Altransit wrote:It will be the front one that is poorly, but at that age, you should really replace the pair.

Can you tell the age from these photos? Surely they're not the originals? That'd make them about 6 years old!

So does the rear battery power the starter motor and the front power the electrics? That would make sense as it seems to start OK. If that's the case, I will probably buy a new battery to replace the 'starting' battery, and as that one still has some life in it I will move that one in place of the one that is dying. At least if it's still got a few months of use, it can die slowly and make the interior lights dim rather than just drop me in it and not start.

...pair shaped :roll:

Thanks for your replies; I really appreciate it!
Jim :)


Basically both batteries are connected in parallel during start, after that, all the electrickery is run from the front battery, this is why the front one usually fails first....we recommend they be swapped front to back at least yearly to help spead the load. If the batteries are original, you've done well to get 6 years out of them.
Best to replace them as a pair as the poorly one will eventually drag the good one down with it.

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Re: Low electric power when engine off - 2012

Postby Country Bear » Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:54 pm

That makes sense now! Thanks for your advice :) I'll get around to this soon as I'd like to do it before I am stuck!
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Re: Low electric power when engine off - 2012

Postby Jim Archer » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:08 pm

The batteries in my 2010 were still the originals at 7 years old, though admittedly, the front one didn't take a lot to flatten it.

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Re: Low electric power when engine off - 2012

Postby man le-mans » Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:42 pm

I only replaced my batteries in my 2010 early part of this year and they was original. So only doing local work they did very well. I did replace with ford ones again
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Re: Low electric power when engine off - 2012

Postby aidank1981 » Sun Sep 22, 2019 3:07 pm

So is it standard for them to have two batteries as detailed above? i'll need to check my 2011 85ps to see what she has, no issues but i do regularly leave her for two weeks so they need to be reliable
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Re: Low electric power when engine off - 2012

Postby Altransit » Sun Sep 22, 2019 4:44 pm

aidank1981 wrote:So is it standard for them to have two batteries as detailed above? i'll need to check my 2011 85ps to see what she has, no issues but i do regularly leave her for two weeks so they need to be reliable

Not standard across the range, but generally the FWD has one battery, and the RWD has two, but twin batts was an option when buying any van.
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2004 Mk6 SWB T280 Medium Roof 85PS 2.0 TDDi - Vantunered (Also gone)
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