>There are many other ways of putting a second battery > in your van, with their own pros and cons. And yes, you could buy the parts > at Radio Shack etc. to assemble your own relay kit, search the archives for > info on how to wire it, and probably save (literally) a few bucks. If you have a Westy there is need to buy ANYTHING from Radio Shack... or the Hella Kit.... You already have everything you need... No need to sepend the $19 plus $5 or so shipping... many have used the simple directions at http://www.vanagon.com/info/faq/#electrical to wire their 2nd battery... But we're > only talking $19 here for the complete kit, and I suspect that many people > simply decided that the effort of "growing your own" was not worth the > savings. Don't have to "grow your own".... everything you need (except maybe a connector or two) in in your Westy already... If you buy the kit you will likely be going to http://www.vanagon.com/info/faq/#electrical to learn how to install it anyway... It's basically the same thing as the Hella Kit.. less the fuse... you could add one, but the existing wiring isn't fused anyway... > The list member whose comments resulted in the huge surge in popularity of > this kit happens to be a battery engineer at Exide. His comments are useful > because they provide a good explanation on how and why such a relay works. > (I also appreciated them because even though they were of general > informational content and not intended as a product endorsement per se, Becketts comments were not an endorcement... he only said that the small wire size of the Hella Kit was safe... and he also said that the small wire sizes of the Hell Kit will result in a longer time to charge the 2nd battery...
Bill |
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