Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2000 21:54:19 -0400
Reply-To: Derek Drew <derekdrew@rcn.com>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Derek Drew <derekdrew@rcn.com>
Subject: Wiring And Amperage Tips For 2nd Battery & Winching
In-Reply-To: <000e01bffdae$4ad6ef40$1ba21c3f@0016543113>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
At 05:52 PM 8/3/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi, Derek.Thanks for sharing your great practical experience with winching.
>Do you have a special battery set up? alternator? DJ.
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Derek Drew" <derekdrew@rcn.com>
>To: <Syncro@egroups.com>
Ok, I will break my silence on the issue of wiring and electronics.
I have two batteries, the factory battery and a marine deep cycle group 27
size under the driver seat. I had to modify the van just slightly to get
this to fit. This deep cycle battery is quite a monster and supplies a lot
of power before it runs out of its stuff.
To connect this, I stripped off the insulation off the regular battery
cable where it drops down out of the vehicle and used a copper bugnut to
squish a new positive lead on there from another wrecked vanagon. I ran
this new positive wire across the vehicle and up to where the group 27 is,
and it is permanently affixed there. That is, both positive posts of both
batteries are always connected with each other, and with the rear of the
vehicle where they terminate at the starter and alternator.
I control which battery is connected not by any voodoo (I don't believe in
isolators, and decided I didn't need a switch either). The way I do it is
to simply pull the ground strap cable off one or the other battery. Duh!
Normally, I have the marine battery connected and every month or two I
connect the driving battery instead and give it a nice charge. I run the
marine battery down to nearly dead many times when camping, so they last
with me only about two years.
When winching, theoretically the automotive battery gives more poop, but I
usually just use the marine battery because I have seen no practical
increase in power by connecting the regular car battery too. I have seen an
increase in winch pulling power when keeping the vehicle running, however,
so apparently the alternator is able to contribute something to the pulling
effort.
The physics suggest otherwise, as the stock alternator supplies just 90
amps, whereas my winch draws something like 340 amps at full power, so the
majority of my pulling is coming out of the batteries.
In the early days of the list I described additional theory of battery
choice and wiring choices so you can get more than this email by searching
there.
Many people on the list choose to hook up their 2nd batteries through the
factory relay and I have to laugh at this because that relay is so puny it
cannot really pass much juice. Others connect their 2nd battery with 8
gague or 6 gague cable, and I consider this too small as well. The factory
cable is something like 00 size, which is a little thicker than a 1 gague
cable. It seems a pitty to install a 2nd battery, and then not connect it
with a cable of such size that it can start the car when needed.
I also run an extra length of 4 gague cable from the alternator forward
because, as Dennis Haynes has pointed out, the factory alternator isn't bad
with 90 amps, but its puny output cable cannot handle its own current flow.
I bet that little wire is something like gague 8 or gague 10--not enough!
You can actually feel that wire getting really hot when everything is on
including the air conditioning, as it tries to roar juice out to the
thirsty and starving consumers elsehwere in the car. (And yes, for you
techies, there is a significant voltage drop between the alternator and the
fusebox in such circumstances.) The extra 4 gague cable I installed
attaches to the alternator at one end and runs up along side the stock
battery cable, and the two cables have their insulation stripped off and
are squashed together with a heavy duty copper bug nut somewhere about the
lattitude of someone's feet sitting on the rear bench. There is no harm
done in doubling up an electrical path from the alternator forward in this
way. In other words, I did not disconnect the factory wire but simply added
this new fat one.
One thing I am not happy about is the lot voltage of 14.4 or less from the
alternator, which isn't enough to recharge my batteries as quickly as I'd
like. (I really like to run them down, hence, I really like to run them
up.) Accordingly, I purchased a kit so I could turn a dial on the dashboard
of the vehicle and dial up the output voltage of the alternator a volt or
so until I was happy the batteries were well charged. I have not installed
this kit yet, however. It is a special regulator for our vehicles that is
originally for ambulances, I was told.
_______________________________________________
Derek Drew New York, NY
CEO & Co-Founder
http://www.ConsumerSearch.com/
80 South Street, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10038
derekdrew@consumersearch.com
derekdrew@rcn.com
212-580-6486
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