Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 13:42:14 -0700
Reply-To: mark drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: mark drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject: Re: Switiching accessorys from main battery to auxilary battery?
In-Reply-To: <005901c46dbd$059342c0$36148304@avtron.corp>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Who said anything about a switch?
The following description is only intended for moving the Westy kitchen
cabinet electrical items over to the aux batt in a 86 and newer. Other
years may be similar or total different. Caution should always be
exercised. You will be working with wires that are live all the time
unless the battery ground cable is unhooked. Idiots should not do any of
this.
To move the kitchen electrical stuff over to the aux battery requires a
change to one factory wire. You can do it either on the back of the dash
fuse/relay panel or under the driver's seat. If you are putting the aux
battery under the driver's seat then that is the more logical place to
change over the kitchen to run on it, not the dash end.
To do it on the dash relay panel either run a separate fused wire from
the aux batt or just add a second pigtail wire about 6" longs to the
wire run from the aux batt to fuse #3 in my earlier description for
moving the radio, interior lights, and cig lighter over. Use 10 gauge
wire for the whole run. The pigtail needs an insulated male spade. Then
drop down the relay panel and identify which red wire plugged into the
"P" rows is the one for the Westy kitchen.. One end of the "P" row has 2
very large male spades with 1 or 2 very large red wires connected to
them. Those are NOT the wires for the Westy kitchen but it should be
nearby in the row. Make sure that the Westy LED panel goes blank when
you pull the correct red wire from the "P" section. Now plug the removed
wire end into the male spade on the pigtail. The Westy LED panel should
be alive again. Now tape up the connection so that it can't short to
anything and put the fuse panel back in place.
To do it under the driver's seat, find the small relay under there. One
of the2 largest red wires will have 12 volts even with the engine off.
This is the other end of the wire described above. Unplug that wire and
make sure the Westy LED panel is now blank. Tape that wire end off so it
never contacts metal. Run a new fused wire from the aux batt with a
female spade on the end and plug it in to the relay where that red wire
was removed. The Westy LED panel should be alive again.
Mark
Tom Miller wrote:
>OK, which wire is moved and where? I guess a single pole, double throw
>toggle switch will do the job?
>TEMiller
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "mark drillock" <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
>To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2004 10:21 AM
>Subject: Re: Switiching accessorys from main battery to auxilary battery?
>
>
>
>
>>It is no work at all to move everything over to the aux battery on an
>>89. No cutting or moving or unplugging of any wires is required to move
>>over the radio, all interior lights, and cig lighter. Only one wire to
>>unplug and reconnect to move the whole kitchen All the 86 and newer are
>>very simple to do this on. I think Harmon has an 82 so more work is
>>needed for him.
>>
>>Mark
>>
>>MC wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>You may want to consider only switching only the high current consumers
>>>and those operate constantly over to the aux side to minimize the amount
>>>of work.
>>>I switched only the appliances that are used frequently during camping.
>>>This including the fridge fan, audio head unit, CD changer and the audio
>>>amp, the Carver P4 furnace and all the other portable appliances like
>>>cell phone charger, DC/AC inverter, notebook computer etc. I also
>>>fashioned a power distribution panel where I have 4 12V dc outlets for
>>>all the portable accessories. On this panel 2 ports draws from each
>>>battery so I can choose which to use base on their charge.
>>>
>>>I recommend leaving the interior lights on the primary side as it
>>>entails a lot of work to move them. They consume relatively little
>>>current and you don't always have them on. I took out 2 of the 3 bulbs
>>>in the factory galley light which I rarely use. Instead I installed 3 5W
>>>halogen marine light from Germany which I found at West Marine. 5W
>>>hardly put a dent on the battery even with extended use.
>>>
>>>Unfortunately I didn't keep a record of how I made the switch. I just
>>>did it on the fly with reference to the electrical diagram of the
>>>Bentley manual. What ever you do make sure you always have a fuse as
>>>close to the battery as possible.
>>>
>>>- Vince
>>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
>>>Of Harmon Seaver
>>>Sent: Friday, July 16, 2004 5:33 PM
>>>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>>>Subject: Switiching accessorys from main battery to auxilary battery?
>>>
>>>
>>> I'm sure this has been done many times. I put an couple of auxilary
>>>batterys (deep cycle) in my westy, fed by a relay which isolates them
>>>
>>>
>>>from the starting battery, and now I want to switch the light over the
>>
>>
>>>sink, pump, stereo, etc. over to the auxilary batterys.
>>> Is there a simple way to do this? Any websites with good diagrams or
>>>pictures, like there are for hooking up the relay and aux batt itself?
>>>
>>>--
>>>Harmon Seaver
>>>CyberShamanix
>>>http://www.cybershamanix.com
>>>Hoka hey!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
>
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