Date:         Tue, 11 May 2004 20:54:04 +0100
Reply-To:     Dodgy Bugga <dodgybugga@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dodgy Bugga <dodgybugga@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      1983 Vanagon Westy auxilliary battery wiring question
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I have a question regarding the wiring for the auxilliary battery in a 1983 Vanagon Westy. I had the small silver relay under the driver's seat and I have done what the instructions suggest in the FAQ on the Vanagon website and everything appears to be working as expected (so far!) But, I have a question about the short brown wire. It came off the relay and I am not sure where it came from.

+-----------------------+
|                       |
|        -----87        |
|   86             85   |
|   |               |   |
|   |    -----87    |   |
|   |               |   |
|          |            |
|          |30          |
|          |            |
|                       |
+-----------------------+
(I hope my dodgy ascii art of the relay terminals turns out ok. If not, please ignore it - apologies)

At the moment there is a red wire attached to the upper 87, a blue wire attached to 85 (both these wires come from a common black cable which goes forward underneath the drivers seat - I'm not sure where they go to yet and I'm not sure what they do. I am guessing one is power from the alternator and one is to the ignition?)

There is nothing attached to the lower 87 (middle pin).

I have attached the positive terminal of the auxilliary battery to terminal 30 (as suggested by the  instructions in the FAQ on the Vanagon website) and also attached the two red wires originally from the relay (can't remember which terminals) to the positive terminal of the auxilliary battery.

The question I have refers to the short (7cm) brown wire (I assume it is earth or ground) that is attached to the bolt which holds the relay onto the battery box wall. The other end of this wire was originally attached to the relay but I am not sure which terminal  it goes on to as I accidentally knocked it off when I was fiddling around putting in the aux battery. I have put it onto terminal 86 but I want to know if this is correct or not. Any ideas? If anyone could set me straight I would really appreciate it.


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