Hey Jake. Yuppers, the "can" is a solenoid. Kinda looks like a bad "Robbie the robot". As it turns out I did put a piece of 10 gauge from starter batt to aux. Thanks! Neil. On 4/11/07, Jake Beaulieu <jbeaulie@nd.edu> wrote: > "Is it advisable to run a new 10 gauge red from pos. of starter batt. > to one end of cut-off relay (switch portion) for aux batt., as opposed > to using the stock 12 gauge red to supply 12V to same?" > > I think people generally prefer to run a wire directly from the positive > pole of the starter battery to the aux battery. The rationale is that > the "stock" wire probably has a longer run length and may go through > several connectors before supplying current to the aux battery. This > additional length and extra connectors translates to lower voltage at the > aux battery than at the starter battery. Lower voltage limits how well > your aux battery get charged. By running a beefy wire directly from the > starter battry to the aux battery you deliver a good voltage to the aux > battery. The size of the wire you use depends on how much current you > want to be able to deliver to the aux battery. There is a post in the > archives where somebody measured a deeply discharged Optima deep cycle > pulling 50amps. I don't think you are going to see much more than that. > There are tables on the net that display the relationship between wire > gauge, run length, and the max current that the wire can handle. You > should double check this, but I am pretty sure that a short run of 10gauge > wire can handle over 50amps. This is what I used in my van. > > BTW I think the "can" is a solenoid. Check out the solenoid that GoWesty > supplies for aux batteries (http://tinyurl.com/3carma). Does it look like > the little can in the picture? >
-- Neil Nicholson. 1981 Air Cooled Westfalia. |
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