Date:         Sun, 4 Jan 2009 18:42:14 -0500
Reply-To:     craig cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         craig cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Westfalia instrument panel.
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Hello Vanagon Gang!
I just finished wiring an aux battery circuit into my '85 passanger van
turned full westfalia and have a few questions. I wired it up to accept a
house battery which i do not have yet and am open to suggestions for, so i
temporarily hooked up a little 7.5ah gel cell just for a proof of concept
setup. I attached a voltmeter to the battery which is trash and only holding
2 volts, just to see that when the car started and the revs went up
triggering the alternator fed relay, 12+ volts were found at the battery.
Well that part works fine. The Westfalia kitchen attaches to the aux battery
with two connectors. As i understand it, the red main wire is used to
actually feed power to all the westy bits, and the second wire is in some
way related to the operation of the fridge on 12volts when the car is
operating. I am yet to hook that up to anything. Well with the red main wire
hooked up and the car started, the aux battery recieving 12+ volts, and the
fridge lit, the water level sensor lights came on (properly), the fridge lit
light came on, and the battery level light came on as to be expected.
The Interior is from a 1980 westfalia, and does not have any kind of swtich
built into the panel. My question is, does this mean the panel lights will
be on ALL THE TIME? Do i need to install a switch?

-Craig
'85GL turned WESTY