Date:         Wed, 26 Mar 2003 19:52:38 -0800
Reply-To:     Harald Rust <harald_nancy_vw@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Harald Rust <harald_nancy_vw@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: dual battery (yes, again)
Comments: To: lists@SLAPNOSE.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Anthony,
The simplest would be to duplicate the bus depot
kit. That kit (someone correct me if I'm wrong,
since I don't have the kit, only read about it)
activates the dual battery relay directly
from the ignition.
Ignition on - relay goes on, even if engine
is not running.
Because the kit probably use small wires,
which creates resistance, the main battery
is not discharged by the aux. battery.
A battery is a passive user, so the small
wire does not overheat.
It's actually safer to use a small wire
to charge your aux. battery rather too large
a wire.
You could buy the BD kit, and follow those
instructions. It might take somewhat longer
to recharge your aux. battery, but for most
people, it's probably sufficient.
Then you don't have to worry about messing
around with the alternator D+ terminal, which
could mess up your alternator charging light.
Personally I've only worked on westies.
If you need a real strong charging system,
you could install the battery isolator,
but that's somewhat more involved.
There are also instructions on isolator
installation on my website:
http://www.geocities.com/harald_nancy/
For the isolator, you don't need
the westy trigger circuit. The
isolator installation is the same on
a nonwesty vanagon.
Harald
'90 westy


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