Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 23:25:09 -0400
Reply-To: Laurence Smith <laurence@ALANASMITH.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Laurence Smith <laurence@ALANASMITH.COM>
Subject: Re: auxilliary battery hookup
In-Reply-To: <001401c24d32$73a08b40$e7ed2b42@oemcomputer>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Jean
Terminal 30 goes to the fridge. As your know it can only run on 12
volts when the engine is running.
Terminals 87 and 87 are both hot. There are two of them.
Terminals 86 and 85 are the trigger which tells one of the hot 87
terminals to connect to terminal 30 and run the fridge. This
triggering happens only when you start the engine. This is how this
relay works. Is is rated at 30 amps.
This 5-pronger relay is used to provide:
* constant hot for the interior light, the water pump and LED panel
(one of the 87 terminals - outside one I think)
* 12V power for the fridge only when the engine is running (terminal
30)
If you connect the +'ve wire of your aux battery to terminal 30 then
you would have a charging source for your aux battery. This connection
will only be made when the engine is running - just like you had with
the fridge. Do not attach your AUX battery to any terminal 87.
If you do this then the fridge wire would be looking for a home so you
could also attach it to the aux battery +.
For my Westy I have installed an additional 4-pronger relay that is
triggered by two branch wires (86 and 85) from my original 5-pronger.
I have run a separate 10 gauge wire from my MAIN battery + and
attached it to terminal 30 on the 4-pronger. Leading from the 87
terminal (on the 4-pronger) there is a 30 amp fused 10 guage wire to
my AUX battery +. I believe this how most people do it. There has
been talk on this list about a heavy duty relay 4-pronger, I use a
plain old 30 amp one from Radio Shack. Others prefer to use a battery
isolator which is connected to the alternator regulator. Again, most
people use a separate system to manage their AUX battery rather than
tap into the 5-pronger relay. I think the Bentley wire diagrams also
shows a separate 4-pronger relay.
Hope this helps.
Laurence Smith
Hamilton, ON
90 Westy (fanumbos)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List
> [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
> Of Jean Whetstone
> Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 2:58 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: auxilliary battery hookup
>
>
> Hi, I have an 83 Westy I'm trying to hook an auxilliary
> battery up to,
>
> This model has the small silver cube under the driver's
> seat in the auxilliary battery compartment. I guess this is
> some kind of relay or isolator. It has five wires connecterd to it.
>
> 4 of the connections are labelled 30, 85, 86 and 87 the
> fifth connection is unmarked.I just want to get my
> auxilliary battery hooked up so it gets charged while the
> van is running. I also want to be sure I can't accidentally
> drain juice from my primary battery .The only stuff I've
> found on this has been for late 80's vans , someone said
> the early 80's vans were wired differently.
>
> Can I simply ground my auxilliary battery and connect the
> +ve terminal to terminal 87 on the relay box?
>
