Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:19:10 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Battery/Charging system questions.. A lot of info included..
In-Reply-To: <4A384345.3090405@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
So, you guys...
Like I said, I'm pretty much an electrical dunce and now I
have......What? Just 'throw a new coach battery at it?'...Since it worked
ok for a year and a half and nothing has changed...With the meagre knowledge
I have, getting it all to work properly for a couple of years was a huge
acomplishment for me..I know some on the list are really acomplished
electrical engineers when it comes to the systems of their vanagons...Me, I
am just happy with stuff that works and leaves me free to enjoy places I
can be in my van..
My "Plan", devised when my alternator went out on the road near Alturas,
Ca. two years ago now, was to get two identical batteries and when the
oldest one went bad (that was the coach battery that we're talking about
here) I'd get another identical battery and put that into the Vehicle
battery position and rotate the starting battery over to replace the older
coach battery...
So, two springs ago, with the help of the Vanagon list, from a Hot Spot in
Alturas, Ca...(Pop about 3000?) I/we diagnosed a bad alternator and ordered
one to be delivered to my house, appx 500 miles from Alturas...I then went
to the Napa store and got a second battery, identical to the one running my
van, charged them both fully as possible and took off north on a "full-loss"
electrical system..Made it to Lyle, Washington, no problemo..Installed the
replacment alternator and wired in the second coach battery as described in
my original post. All was good, till recently.
Now, a couple of years of abusing that small battery by running it way
down listening to the BBC out in the desert and reading way too late into
the night..It has finally got worn out...So maybe I should stick to my plan
A and get another NAPA 42 BCI cheapo (I think I only paid about $40) and
I'll be good to go for another two years...
Or, I could spend some "quality time' with my wires, that electron-meter,
a couple of textbooks, my checkbook etc. and make it all precisely right..
I think I will go with plan A... I am trying to learn about electrons as I
need to rather than as a passion...So..
Thanks for the ideas...I have some 'stuff' to look into now...
Don Hanson
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 6:13 PM, Rocket J Squirrel <
camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
> Or two 12 batteries in series less the unexplained 4v difference measured
> from one battery's + to the other battery's +.
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
>
>
>
> On 6/16/2009 5:49 PM jeff ensing wrote:
>
> If I had to venture a guess here I would say you are measuring both
>> batteries in series somehow and one is 12+ - volts and the "coach battery"
>> is 10 volts + - ( Bad ) and is why your accessory's are not working.
>> jeff
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 3:14 PM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> From a dummy...
>>>
>>> The last few months my coach battery hasn't seemed to be staying charged
>>> up as well as in the past. I've changed nothing recently.
>>> So I got out my handy dandy Radio Shack digital meter today and began
>>> poking around. I find lots of Volts. Dunno what it should be, but I
>>> seem
>>> to have too many at the Vehicle battery and plenty at the Coach
>>> battery..however, my water pump is kinda slow and the Westie Indicator
>>> lights are on the Red bulb most of the time (when the engine is not
>>> running)..
>>> My system:
>>> I have two identical NAPA batts. of around the same vintage (aug '07)
>>> These are "sure start 65" BCI 42 with 500cca and 250amps. One under
>>> the
>>> passenger seat (the vehicle batt) and the Coach batt under the driver's
>>> seat. I have a big wire (fused, of course) across (vehicle to coach
>>> batt)
>>> which feeds a big 'mechanical' can 3 terminal relay, also under the
>>> drivers
>>> seat. This relay is controlled by a wire from the ignition and the wire
>>> is
>>> also switched (that supply wire from the ignition to the relay)...I
>>> wasn't
>>> sure about starting the vanand how the two batteries would inter react
>>> during start up, so I began by having that secondary switch off whenever
>>> I
>>> started up...That proved to be un-necessary but it is nice to be able to
>>> cut
>>> the power to the secondary battery without shutting off the van..
>>> Ok, so I run the van and check the relay...Flip the switch from the
>>> ignition to excite the relay and "Click!" it works fine..
>>> But the numbers (from my digital meter) don't make sense....Oh yeah,
>>> when
>>> the van is running, the Westie stove-front power indicator light goes
>>> Green...engine off..Red...on Green.
>>> From my digital meter: Vehicle battery..Van off reads 20.6 Van running
>>> reads 21.8
>>> Coach battery...Van off reads 17.3
>>> Van
>>> running and relay active reads 21.7
>>> I double checked with an older analog meter and my Radio Shack one is
>>> functioning fine...though I wasn't sure which scale to read on the analog
>>> meter, it is consistent with the digital one.
>>> So how come so many volts? Is this bad? Or is my meter simply screwy
>>> or
>>> my testing technique faulty?
>>> Also, across my 'mechanical' relay (a silver cylinder with two (+/_)
>>> large
>>> terminals and a 'supply' terminal..I am seeing (I think) some current
>>> when
>>> there shouldn't be any. I see about 4 volts across the two main (+ (in
>>> from
>>> the vehicle battery) and -(out to the accessories in the coach))
>>> connections. That shouldn't be, unless perhaps the relay is now faulty?
>>> Anybody care to take a shot at this weirdness?
>>> I am thinking I probably have a couple of things going on here..Maybe my
>>> meter is reading wrong and maybe the relay is faulty.
>>>
>>> The setup has worked pretty well for me for about 18 months including a
>>> prolonged (4 months) outing where the Van was used as a second bedroom
>>> and
>>> work/play vehicle daily..I would get about 2.5 hrs of satellite radio,
>>> incandescent light and some computer time before my coach battery went
>>> down...At present, I'd guess maybe I'd be getting about 1/4 that, so
>>> something is out of whack somewhere...I know I could have a more
>>> appropriate
>>> electrical system but I don't want to re-do the whole thing right now.
>>>
>>> Don Hanson
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Jeff Ensing
>> Ensing Remodeling
>> 3327 hidden acres Drive
>> Atlanta, Ga. 30340
>> 678-549-8430
>>
>>
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