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Date:         Mon, 1 Oct 2007 18:21:36 -0300
Reply-To:     David Etter <detter@MAIL.AURACOM.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Etter <detter@MAIL.AURACOM.COM>
Subject:      Re: Nice Feature With Surepower 1315 Seperator
In-Reply-To:  <86476e250710011129m698f2960h911d4b994d9129a8@mail.gmail.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

Loren: Great discovery there. And yet these changes and additions (jiggery-pokery) are a two edged sword. I revel in and admire the detail some of us put into our Westies but am reminded of what my SO says about these details. The next person to get the van will have a real headache trying to fathom all the wiring and plumbing. To say nothing of oneself getting confused if you haven't made copious notes over the years. I discovered a relay mechanism I had installed a few years prior to an episode requiring repair in an old MGB I used to own. I swore at the complexity of the gibberish I was unravelling only to discover that it wasn't the source of the problem and had functioned perfectly well over the years. But! damned if I could figure out why I did it. 'Old Age' I guess. Still in all, keep up the 'Rube Goldberg' extras as I really want to inspect your Van one day, it sounds like a marvel of ingenuity.

Regards! David (dls82westy)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loren Busch <starwagen@GMAIL.COM> wrote: >I ran into a nice surprise on a recent trip. The Surepower 1315 installed >in my '90 Westy works in two directions. I'd missed this feature in reading >the specs but re reading the factory spec sheet confirms what I saw. >For those not familiar with the Surepower Battery Separators they are a >relay controlled device that separates the engine/starting battery from the >auxiliary battery but in a more efficient manner than the battery isolators >that use diodes to achive the same effect. They are also much easier to >install and wire than the diode isolators. With the Surepower Seperators the >starting battery charges first when the engine is running and when the >voltage level reaches a certain point the aux battery is connected to the >charging circuit and is then charged. Simple enough. But wait, there's >more. What I discovered is that with the engine off, if a charging device >is connected to the aux battery, once it is up to snuff then the starting >battery begins to charge also! As I said, re reading the specs this should >be expected but I'd missed that feature and was presently surprised to see >this happen. (I have a small digital voltmeter permanently mounted and >attached to both batteries with a switch to select which battery is being >read). >Oh yes, another feature of the 1315 is that a switch can be added (and some >wiring beefed up) and if the starting battery is low when needed the aux >battery can be paralled into the circuit to get you going. I point this out >because in the middle of my recent trip the starting battery crapped out >completly and had to be replaced. I haven't added the extra wiring or >switch so I was not able to take advantage of this feature. That item is >moving to near the top of the 'To Do' list....


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