Just a reminder for those interested in adding a second battery, that I sell a genuine Hella dual-battery relay kit designed specifically for this purpose. The kit includes a fused relay, wiring, and instructions. When the van is running, the two batteries are wired in parallel and the alternator "trickle-charges" the camping battery; when the van is shut off the two batteries are separated so you cannot kill your starting battery even if you completely drain your camping battery. The use of a relay for this purpose, as opposed to an isolator, eliminates the intrinsic voltage drop caused by the diodes in an isolator. Also, in my experience it is more reliable than an isolator, and less likely to leave you stuck with a dead starting battery in the event of failure (which has happened to me several times with isolators in VW vans) The third advantage is cost - just $18.95 for the kit. Part # 1738. - Ron Salmon The Bus Depot, Inc. (215) 234-VWVW www.busdepot.com _____________________________________________ Toll-Free for Orders by Part # 1-866-BUS-DEPOT |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.