Cynic-al Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 I bought a new pickup a few months ago with a Euro 6 engine which despite being ordered with 13-pin electrics didn't come with the switched live, used for running the fridge and charging caravan leisure batteries etc. Not the end of the world to add it, I think I've found a company that do a kit, however someone has brought another problem to my attention, anyone any experience of this? My car (and apparently all Euro 6 engines) has regenerative braking. When you let off the power the alternator kicks in and I'm told can push out 2kW of electricity. To give this energy somewhere to go the car battery never charges beyond about 80%. Once it's at 80% charge the alternator goes into an idle mode which saves fuel and leaves the 20% of space in the battery for the regeneration. The problem comes that when you plug in your caravan with a fully charged battery power actually flows from the caravan to the car and the alternator doesn't do anything until both batteries are down to 80%. I've been advised to fit a DC to DC charger (sterling power wildside seems to be recommended) on the caravan which will push the battery upto full charge and not back flow to the car. Anyone any experience of this... apart from to get my 80's Range Rover back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbarton Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 This was discussed in depth on another forum and concensus was that as modern car charging systems rely on the ECU to control the alternator, a DC-DC charger is the way to go, it prevents back-feeding and just looks like another accessory to the vehicle charging circuit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arjan Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 I'd suggest you go back and get them to fit the tow electrics you'd ordered. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted July 31, 2017 Author Share Posted July 31, 2017 Well I explained my case to both the dealer and VW Commercial UK and asked them to fit the 13 electrical pins as advertised or give me £200 to take it to someone who would. They told me they don't offer a fully functional 13-pin socket and to do one like any self respecting insignificant pleb should do, so I complained to the advertising standards agency who agreed with me and told VW commercial UK marketing department they had to change their advertising to reflect what they were actually selling. They only made the decision a few days ago, once the details have made it to the public part of the ASA website I will bring it to the attention of VW Commercial UK Customer Services and ask them if they would be willing to reconsider helping me get the 13 electrical pins which I paid for. If they are not then I will use the ASA decision as evidence to try the small claims court route. So that's kind of in hand it's just the drawn out process of who's going to pay for it. However that still leaves me with the voltage problem which rtbarton confirms that it looks like I will have to fit a dc-dc charger on the caravan :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbarton Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 43 minutes ago, Cynic-al said: Well I explained my case to both the dealer and VW Commercial UK and asked them to fit the 13 electrical pins as advertised or give me £200 to take it to someone who would. They told me they don't offer a fully functional 13-pin socket and to do one like any self respecting insignificant pleb should do, so I complained to the advertising standards agency who agreed with me and told VW commercial UK marketing department they had to change their advertising to reflect what they were actually selling. They only made the decision a few days ago, once the details have made it to the public part of the ASA website I will bring it to the attention of VW Commercial UK Customer Services and ask them if they would be willing to reconsider helping me get the 13 electrical pins which I paid for. If they are not then I will use the ASA decision as evidence to try the small claims court route. So that's kind of in hand it's just the drawn out process of who's going to pay for it. ... Go for it, it's not as if VW has a reputation to worry about. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil110 Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 And it might be about to get a lot worse. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jul/24/vw-calls-crisis-meeting-to-discuss-eu-cartel-inquiry-source-says Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted August 1, 2017 Author Share Posted August 1, 2017 I guess I'm not their biggest headache Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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