Disconntecting vehicle battery during winter

I have a 2019 Kingham Autosleeper on a Peugeot Boxer van.  I've been advised to disconnect my battery during winter to preserve battery life whilst my Campervan is not in use.  However, when we disconnected the battery, we were then unable to use the central locking on the key fob, and had to manually lock the vehicle doors.  However... the big problem is, we can't seem to work out how to lock the habitation door.  Anyone have any helpful tips please?

Presumably you disconnected the vehicle battery, which is why your key fob doesn't work, not the leisure battery?

I've modified our 2019 Kemerton XL so I'm uncertain how an unmodified van functions. If the EC700 is off at the PSU, am I right in thinking the solar panel defaults to supporting the vehicle battery?
I'm thinking that you first give the van a run or charge the batteries up on EHU, arriving where you park the van make sure you press out (off) the black isolation button on the EC700 PSU. That may be all you need if solar supports the vehicle battery and the EC700 system is fully off.

Does the 2019 have the red vehicle battery isolator button by the ignition switch? If so, that’s the easiest way to do it as it will allow you to get out and lock all the doors with the fob. Re-entry is then by means of the driver's door via the key. Full details are in the Peugeot handbook.

Tinwheeler wrote:Does the 2019 have the red vehicle battery isolator button by the ignition switch? If so, that’s the easiest way to do it as it will allow you to get out and lock all the doors with the fob. Re-entry is then by means of the driver's door via the key. Full details are in the Peugeot handbook.

There is a little red tab beside the ignition switch yes.  I was not aware of what this did.  I have not managed to find any reference to it in the Boxer manual.  I bought this van privately a few months ago, so I have not had a formal "handover" from a dealer. Can you enlighten me as to how it works?

Relaxez-Vous wrote:Presumably you disconnected the vehicle battery, which is why your key fob doesn't work, not the leisure battery?

I've modified our 2019 Kemerton XL so I'm uncertain how an unmodified van functions. If the EC700 is off at the PSU, am I right in thinking the solar panel defaults to supporting the vehicle battery?
I'm thinking that you first give the van a run or charge the batteries up on EHU, arriving where you park the van make sure you press out (off) the black isolation button on the EC700 PSU. That may be all you need if solar supports the vehicle battery and the EC700 system is fully off.

Yes, the vehicle battery had been disconnected, so that we don't have to keep going back to the storage site to keep turning the engine over. Being unable to work out how to lock the main habitation door though has slightly defeated the object of disconnecting the battery.  I'm unsure what is best to do - have a flat vehicle battery, or a unsecured open door?!

Either lock the hab door from inside, push the handle in on the Hartel door , (I think) and exit by the driver's door. Or the Hartel should have a outside key lock, same as the external lockers, so use the key.

Alexandrew6967 wrote:

Tinwheeler wrote:Does the 2019 have the red vehicle battery isolator button by the ignition switch? If so, that’s the easiest way to do it as it will allow you to get out and lock all the doors with the fob. Re-entry is then by means of the driver's door via the key. Full details are in the Peugeot handbook.

There is a little red tab beside the ignition switch yes.  I was not aware of what this did.  I have not managed to find any reference to it in the Boxer manual.  I bought this van privately a few months ago, so I have not had a formal "handover" from a dealer. Can you enlighten me as to how it works?

Sorry, Alex, I can’t remember the detail of the operation but it was definitely in the Peugeot handbook, although somewhere obscure I think. The local Peugeot dealer had no idea! Apparently, the system has been known to malfunction.

Ah, ha! I explained it all to someone on the CAMC forum back along. You’ll find it in the thread linked below.
https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-together/discussions/welcome-hobby-talk/introductions/peugeot-boxer-ignition-barrel-red-button/

Details on Page 91 of the manual they don't give you at the dealers!

https://carmanuals2.com/get/peugeot-boxer-2018-owner-s-manual-112733

Another link is here:

https://public.servicebox.peugeot.com/APddb/

The Battery Standby System works well.  Press the red button when the key is taken out of the ignition and then lock the vehicle in the normal way using the central locking.  7 minutes later a relay will activate on the negative terminal of the vehicle battery effectively isolating it and turning the vehicle electrics off.  The central locking won't then work so enter the vehicle using the key manually in the driver's door.  The main downside of turning the vehicle electrics off is that an armed vehicle alarm if fitted will trigger and can't be re-armed.  As has already been said, when the EC700 is shutdown which is essential, all the solar charge goes to the vehicle battery which may be sufficient to keep the vehicle battery topped up without isolating it.  If the vehicle battery is isolated no solar charge will reach it.

cobs wrote:Details on Page 91 of the manual they don't give you at the dealers!

https://carmanuals2.com/get/peugeot-boxer-2018-owner-s-manual-112733

Super helpful - thank you so much.

Caraman wrote:Another link is here:

https://public.servicebox.peugeot.com/APddb/

The Battery Standby System works well.  Press the red button when the key is taken out of the ignition and then lock the vehicle in the normal way using the central locking.  7 minutes later a relay will activate on the negative terminal of the vehicle battery effectively isolating it and turning the vehicle electrics off.  The central locking won't then work so enter the vehicle using the key manually in the driver's door.  The main downside of turning the vehicle electrics off is that an armed vehicle alarm if fitted will trigger and can't be re-armed.  As has already been said, when the EC700 is shutdown which is essential, all the solar charge goes to the vehicle battery which may be sufficient to keep the vehicle battery topped up without isolating it.  If the vehicle battery is isolated no solar charge will reach it.

Very helpful - thank you very much. 

Caraman's is a better link and probably the one i used originally.  When I got my Broadway the dealer never explained about the red button so until I knew better I used to press it (as I thought) to get the key out.  As you can imagine this caused no end of problems, not least of which it made the Sargent Tracker report zero voltage from the vehicle battery despite a volt meter showing 12+ volts.  Looking back now it's obvious what was happening but the strange thing was that when I described the symptoms neither motorhome dealer, Peugeot dealer nor Sargent had any idea what was happening!  Discovering the manual made it all clear.  

In case you're wondering how it works, it's a simple relay on the negative terminal of the starter battery with a small bypass wire to keep radio codes etc. intact as per picture below.

Funnily enough it was one of the few things I was told about on handover.  I used it once by accident.  I must have pressed the button when I removed the key.  I was parked in a supermarket.  When I came back to the van I discovered the alarm had been going off and when I turned the ignition back on it went through a series of checks.  I had previously experimented with it on my drive but I don't use it as I rely on the solar charge to keep the VB topped up when the van is out of use (with the EC700 off) and I need the alarm to work.  That said, I have considered using it when on a site without an EHU as not activating the central locking, habitation step and entry lights every time we lock and unlock the van will reduce DC consumption.  Without load, the VB will be fine for a few days.  Unfortunately this won't work for PCVs as the side door won't open without the central locking.

The item is a relay
TYCO ELECTRONICS
p/n v23130-c2021
190 amp
this is just to isolate some items but some have a direct earth to keep them with power

Disconnecting the battery for long periods can cause ecu to fail especially the airbag