Date:         Tue, 31 Oct 2006 09:03:14 -0700
Reply-To:     John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Dual battery install questions
In-Reply-To:  <20061031135345.57311.qmail@web37403.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

On 10/31/06, Mike Rouby <mikerouby@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 1) Where exactly do I get the alternator 'trigger' signal from?  Which wire is it on the alternator?

The blue wire on the alternator goes to 12v when the alternator is
generating power. Like Mark says, it may already be under your
driver's seat if you have a westy. If not, it's probably easiest just
to run a fresh wire yourself than try to find the existing one in the
harness.

>
>   2) Can I get the ground to my house battery from the ground off the main battery (negative post)?  Will that work?

Sure. Though I would ground to the other end of the main battery
ground, where it bolts to the body, just for simplicity's sake.

>   3) I'm assuming I drill holes into both battery boxes from below and feed the wires underneath the van.  Is there a better solution?

Nope, that's about it. Drill a pilot hole down from above, near the
center aisle edge of the battery well, just like the main battery.
Drop the fuel tank and drill up from below. A nice step bit makes it
short work. Fit a grommet to the hole, shove the wire in, and put back
the fuel tank. Actually, for the wire grommet: figure out what wire(s)
you'll be running, choose a grommet to fit the wire(s) and then drill
the HOLE to fit the GROMMET.

If you're just running a couple #8 or even #6 wires, you could
probably finagle them in from above without dropping the fuel tank. My
battery is under the rear bench and my underseat space is a huge
wiring and relay subpanel. I was running a bundle of wires the size of
a baby's arm in there-- 2 #6's for ground, a dozen-plus #10's for all
manner of things-- so I had to drop the tank.

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"