Date:         Thu, 7 Feb 2013 14:40:17 -0800
Reply-To:     Steve Williams <sbw@SBW.ORG>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Williams <sbw@SBW.ORG>
Subject:      Re: Shore batteries
In-Reply-To:  <502136B1.1030908@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Last August, Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
>For charging the deep-cycle battery I use a Powerstream
>PST-BC1212-15 DC-to-DC charger <http://www.powerstream.com/DCC.htm>,
>an early version which is set to provide 15 amps peak charging
>current, about perfect for my 130 A/h battery.

I'd like to know more about this, if you have time.

The charger you linked to is 7.5 A peak, so what's this about an
"early version"?

How do you have this wired into the van?  For example, how did you
set it up so the radio runs off the house battery (downstream of the
DC-to-DC charger) when the engine is off, but off the alternator when
the engine is running?

How do you connect the DC-to-DC charger's input and the starting
battery to the alternator when the engine is running, but disconnect
the charger from the starting battery when the engine is off?

I'll come clean: I have extensive electrical knowledge and an
avionics technician certificate, but I've never bothered to decipher
the schematics of my '84 camper's charging system or understand how
the GoWesty aux battery kit modified it.  Sorry I'm asking this
question without first doing my homework.

Thanks!

I added a couple of skeleton pages to the wiki, if you'd like to respond there:

http://www.vanagonwiki.net/wiki/House_Battery_Articles

http://www.vanagonwiki.net/wiki/Charging_House_Batteries_from_Alternator