Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 10:43:11 -0800
Reply-To: mark drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: mark drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject: Re: more on problems with second battery
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Joy, the Separator is small enough to mount in the compartment with the
second battery. The relay is even smaller.
I recently purchased a SurePower Separator 1315 for $70 plus tax.
The Separator is the simplest solution as far as hooking it up.
The relay is almost as simple.
The Isolator is the most involved of the options, and most people should
avoid it on Vanagons.
For the record, the Separator IS A RELAY!!
The Separator is also a solenoid. For our purposes here the 2 things are
the same. Sure Power takes an off the shelf industrial relay and adds a
'smart module' to it. The 'smart module' can tell when the relay should
be activated and does so automatically to charge the batteries. You can
accomplish much the same thing with just the industrial relay. The Hella
kit is not a good idea as it has an inadequate charging rate for typical
uses though that can be compensated for by leaving the fridge connected
to the main battery as is.
The Separator and relay is nothing more than a remote control switch. A
manual switch would do the same job if you could always remember to turn
it on and off at the right times.
Isolators can work fine when properly installed. So do separators,
relays, solenoids, switches, whatever.
Mark
Joy Hecht wrote:
>
> Thanks very much to everyone who provided all the details on our problems
> with the isolator.
>
> It looks like there are two reasonable choices open:
>
> - Exchange the Sure Power isolator for a Sure Power separator and install
> that. I don't know how much the separator costs - I assume it's in the same
> range as the isolator ($70). It sounds from some of the emails like it may
> be easier to install, because we can do it between the two batteries and
> don't have to rewire to the alternator, but I'm not sure if I've got that
> right.
>
> - Return the isolator (the RV place said if it's in good shape, which it
> should be, they'll give me most of my money back) and buy the Hella relay
> kit that Busdepot sells for $20. Some people have sworn by the Hella kit,
> others have said the separator would be better.
>
> I'd appreciate anyone's knowledge of pros and cons of the two options,
> particularly regarding:
>
> - ease of installation - what we have to be able to access to wire it,
> whether we can use the setup we already organized - Optima battery in its
> hole, separator or relay in the cabinet under the sink, wires running under
> the carpets from batteries to sink), and
>
> - performance - does one setup or the other have significantly better
> power management characteristics or less waste or not recharge fully enough
> or other things?
>
> And another question - I now have some understanding of what a diode is, and
> therefore what an isolator does. If anyone could explain to me - on about
> the level of a high school shop course - how relays and separators work, I'd
> appreciate it!
>
> Oh, and for all who said I need the Bentley - yes, yes, I'm ordering it
> today.
>
> Joy
>
>
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