Date:         Thu, 8 Sep 2011 06:13:04 +0000
Reply-To:     Marius Strom <marstrom@MICROSOFT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Marius Strom <marstrom@MICROSOFT.COM>
Subject:      Re: 91 Westfalia ground points, battery charging amps
Comments: To: Steve Williams <steve@WILLIAMSITCONSULTING.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <4E684E98.3000008@williamsitconsulting.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Don't use dielectric grease for this - dielectric is non-conductive, and while it's probably OK to smear it over the connection points once there is a solid connection, you don't want that in your connections.

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Steve Williams
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 10:12 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: 91 Westfalia ground points, battery charging amps

Hi,

I am starting to familiarize myself with my 91 Westfalia's (2.1
standard) electrical system in preparation for a bit of a road trip.

I have been a lurker/occasional poster on this list and from my eavesdropping, it seems like there are the following ground points:
     - Engine to chasis
     - Transmission to chasis
     - Fuse block
     - Battery negative cable (?)

I intend to remove the ground connection (both ends, one end at a time), clean wire and ground point (wire brush), thin coating of dielectric
grease and re-assemble.   Have I missed anything?

I am also curious about what current the battery (or batteries if I put a 2nd one in) charge at.  I realize that it changes over the charging cycle, but what current would generally be expected to end up running down the wire with the battery at maximum discharge (60% or whatever, not FLAT) with a standard (90 amp?) alternator?  Ballpark kind of figure...  this would be regular lead acid batteries.  (Assume good grounds/cables and full alternator voltage getting to the batteries, which I understand is not always the case).

Does the "charge time" roughly correlate to "discharge time"?  For example, if I used 5 amps out of the battery for 4 hours and the alternator recharges at 20 amps, would it take (ballpark +/-50%) 1 hour to "replace" the juice I used?

I'm trying to figure out driving time vs. recharge time..  bit new to this all.

Thanks,
Steve Williams