for an ad-free Fetcheveryone experience!

Fetch Camper Vans

97 watchers

Northern Exile Feb 2021 9:36pm, 3 Feb 2021 7,340 posts	Quote Pin Northern Exile That's a good question. If you treat them nicely they should (apparently) live for up to 10 years, but I've known plenty fail well before then. Of course it depends on how many leisure batteries your van has, Californias have two - one under the passenger seat and one in the rear beneath the wardrobe. I think you're talking around £400 to replace both. I did replace the engine bay battery fairly early on in our van's life, Calis have the stock Transporter battery but power things like the roof mechanism from it and therefore tend to die quickly. I upgraded the 90a item with a much better 135a Bosch unit. It's been OK since then.
♪♫ Synge ♪♫ Feb 2021 10:06pm, 3 Feb 2021 38,876 posts	Quote Pin ♪♫ Synge ♪♫ We touched on this on page 55. I've just had mine plugged in for the last week!
Northern Exile Feb 2021 10:24pm, 3 Feb 2021 7,341 posts	Quote Pin Northern Exile We did? Ooops. Sorry, my memory isn't what it was!
Angus Clydesdale Feb 2021 10:35pm, 3 Feb 2021 21,819 posts	Quote Pin Angus Clydesdale I plug the caravan into the mains once a month and try to live in it for the day ( heating, lights, power sockets and gas hob all used ). Seems to be working out ok so far.
♪♫ Synge ♪♫ Feb 2021 10:48pm, 3 Feb 2021 38,877 posts	Quote Pin ♪♫ Synge ♪♫ I figured you could easily be hooked up on a site for a week, so I'm assuming that it's fine to do the same at home. I'm pretty sure you can't overcharge the leisure battery. I don't know if it's important to draw power from it, though. Our main consumer of battery power in real use is the fridge (the bed is manual/hydraulic and so is the roof, so there's nothing else substantial). I'm wondering whether I should plus the fridge in for a day a week between charges to imitate summer use of the battery more closely ...
Northern Exile Feb 2021 10:59pm, 3 Feb 2021 7,342 posts	Quote Pin Northern Exile Hmmm. I don't know the answer to that one, this is sort of why I asked. The battery's potential should (in theory) slowly decline with time but there comes a point when it can't be restored to it's previous level of charge, hence the importance of keeping it from going completely flat. I suppose what I was hoping to get was people's thoughts on how often they charge it and for how long. It's never occurred to me that it should be placed under load as part of the conditioning process.
Northern Exile Feb 2021 12:27pm, 4 Feb 2021 7,345 posts	Quote Pin Northern Exile Lots of discussions on the Cali forums at the moment about inflated van prices, this latest one has caused a bit of controversy. It's clearly a very nice van, but it's a 2019 model and for the same money you can get a brand new van. Yes, there are lots of nice accessories but you'd get the majority of those chucked in with a new vehicle purchase anyhow .... I guess it comes down to the fact that if someone is willing to pay it, can you blame the owner for chancing it? vwcaliforniaclub.com
Northern Exile Feb 2021 12:28pm, 4 Feb 2021 7,346 posts	Quote Pin Northern Exile p.s. the title is misleading. You can only get the Cali in SWB and based on a LHD chassis, this means the sliding door will always be on the "wrong" side for British roads.
Angus Clydesdale Feb 2021 2:37pm, 4 Feb 2021 21,825 posts	Quote Pin Angus Clydesdale Must live in a house with really big windows!! 🤣
♪♫ Synge ♪♫ Feb 2021 2:58pm, 4 Feb 2021 38,890 posts	Quote Pin ♪♫ Synge ♪♫ I'm not convinced I'd ever want to buy someone's second-hand porta potti or mattress topper.