Dead Battery

[cianof]

I think I may have killed my 1st battery. Charged van last night. This morning it was 94% and wouldn't take anymore charge.
Have to check pack voltages.

[Richard Elliott]

When mine had a poorly cell the electrical fault light came on when you encountered a hill it went in to limp mode and that was time to head for home and pray! Charging then cleared the fault light until the next time. The charger then started switching off at an ever lower percentage charge at which time I set out to fix it. (See 'Richard Elliott's Berlingo') A year on and my shoulder's still getting over the battery removal challenge of the stuck torx bolts!
I guess we need to see how you get on over the next few days using up the 95% charge, how the voltage is on the battery packs and what the charge reaches next time. It may just be a passing aberation with the control unit?
Richard Elliott

[ChrisB]

Sometimes if you havent discharged the van below 50% this can happen too, or if your driving habbits have changed somewhat this can again upset the Energy meter.
As Richard says normally a duff battery will show itself with the eco/recharge light coming on early.

Do a gentle range test and see what range you have currently.

ChrisB

[cianof]

Ah okay. I think it could be due to that fact that I went down to 10% for the first time. Hopefully it will fix itself. I think I would get 38 miles atm judging from the current readings. I live at the top if a hill and there are some smaller hills around that could decrease my mileage. I haven't been driving so long in the Berlingo so my current range could also be due to my driving style.

[ChrisB]

The energy meter, I've found, isnt exactly that clever and can get confused.

I've had odd times things have gone pear shaped with it when you do something different or drive different.

You need to do several runs that are very similar before you can be sure theres a fault when this sort of thing happens.

ChrisB

[tim.strutt]

Hi cianoff, what range are you getting now?

I see you mentioned " I live at the top if a hill and there are some smaller hills around that could decrease my mileage."

Be careful not to overcharge the vans if you go down hill after 100% charge, if you have EVans box of tricks try a few trips to see what happens - of the top of my head I was warned to try to keep it below 200v!

We also live in very a hilly area, and near the top of a large (c1200ft) hill, and on ano board I posted one of our daily trips, mentioning the drop. We were quite rightly warned of overcharging the van. Apparently despite the fact we can get 60 miles on one charge (NOT on the flat these vans are not designed for rural hill climb events.

I have been known to knock the van into neutral, and try to keep the speed down to say 30 if I take the downhill route after 100% charge while using the brakes. I can also easily hit 60 even in gear on the downward leg trying to keep the needle on the ECOmeter @ 0 - but only in real emergencies!

TimS