Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2013 10:51:08 -0400
Reply-To: Jason Ellsmere <j@BEAUS.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jason Ellsmere <j@BEAUS.CA>
Subject: Re: Fiamma and Aux Battery Kits, in Canada
In-Reply-To: <vanagon%2013080710030598@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Since I originally posted this I guess I should update also.
I ended up going with the 10' Fiamma awning from GoWesty. Tried to find a Canadian supplier but couldn't find one. GoWesty was great to deal with the sales manager there personally got involved and contacted Fiamma to put a rush on it, it showed up a week early in Niagara Falls NY. I drove down and installed it in the parking lot, the packaging is huge and heavy so dealing with it there made more sense. I also ordered the 3rd bracket and some odds and ends from GoWesty with no issues. Since I'm in Toronto I have it shipped to a company called US Address just across the border.
Went with Fiamma for ease of deploy since a lot of our upcoming trip will be mostly single nights. With a baby and all his gear to set up ease of use was key and since we have a crib, car seat... to carry space is a premium.
Used the opportunity to camp at 4 Mile Creek State Park, nothing exciting to report but it was close to the border.
I also installed an Auxiliary battery which took more to plan than to install, there is way too much information online about this and I got too wrapped up in the details.
Install:
Battery: ABS12-40 from Royal Battery in Toronto
Blue Sea ACR 7610
Inline fuse holder at starter battery (tight space)
2 Blue Sea Maxi Fuse Holder (PN 5006)
2 80 Amp Maxi fuses
4 Guage wire for batteries and ground (Red and Black)
8 Guage to fuse block
Blue Seas fuse block with Bus (PN 5025)
Bunch of Ring Terminals and heat shrink tubing (this adds up $)
Payed a premium and bought all the parts from a Marine shop local to me. Justified this by the fact that I didn't know what I was doing and knew it would take a few trips to the store. They also had a large crimper for rent that saved me some money.
It was a lot easier to do than I had built it up in my head. Made a little mount to wedge the battery in and hold the Maxi Fuses with the ACR underneath. Have not tested it enough to be 100% confident but it seems to all be working fine.
Had a new stereo installed and it was wired into the fuse block so it now runs on the Aux battery only. Also installed a 2 lighter 2 USB port box that sticks on (no holes) the counter behind the drivers seat.
Jason
Toronto
On 2013-08-07, at 10:03 AM, Andrew Graydon wrote:
> 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.
