Date:         Wed, 7 Aug 2013 10:03:05 -0400
Reply-To:     Andrew Graydon <andrew@GRAYDONS.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Andrew Graydon <andrew@GRAYDONS.CA>
Subject:      Re: Fiamma and Aux Battery Kits, in Canada

Just a quick update on this old post regarding my BusDepot plus size awning
and walls, and also on the aux battery setup I described.

We have now done about 2,400km and 5 days over two weekends to test the
awning and walls before we do our road trip in two weeks. After putting up
the awning and walls on my driveway, I decided to mod the design as per a
post I saw on the Samba. I took the seams of the front wall and sewed them
all the way up the side walls, this made the walls all one piece. After this
I sewed a single piece of velco along the edges of the awning and
corressponding velco on the tops of the walls. This has made the full awning
an absolutely AMAZING piece of equipment for camping. Between two people, we
can put on the GoWesty rainfly and full awning and walls in about 20 mins
which is perfect even for single night stays. Between the extra space for
seats, camp kitchen and taking everything out of the back of the vanagon,
the space increase is amazing. We've even sat through massive thunderstorms
on two nights and no problems.

On the battery setup I described earlier, I did find one small issue. With
the current from the alternator while driving split between the original 10
gauge wire to the relay and then the 4 gauge wire to the new aux circuit,
there is not enough current getting to the fridge to operate in 12V (it
needs 8 amps). This was a bit annoying as this is the main way we keep the
fridge cool during road trips.

However, easy fix, still using the relay to control the circuit, just
replace the 10 gauge wire from the alternator on the relay with a connection
to the aux circuit. This will allow the fridge to draw while the aux circuit
is charging but will switch off when the relay closes when the alternator is
off.