Date:         Thu, 16 Oct 2014 05:46:39 -0400
Reply-To:     Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Lake Piru
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252

        John, I have that set-up in my ’87 Westy.  Installed some 5 years ago and those batteries are still working like new.  The batteries I have are Tempest.  Also, that 80w solar panel is not nearly enough.  I have a 7 year old 130w Kyocera panel on the roof and it is not the best because it’s old tech.  I have two 100w panel on my big RV that came from Windy Nation and they are much better than that one 130w panel I have.  The new ones make power in very low light conditions whereas my older Kyocera panel does nothing unless the sun is hitting it at 90 degrees.  That 4x22Ah AGM battery set-up is as good as you're going to get for under the drivers seat.  Bigger and better batteries can be had, but they will have to find a location elsewhere, like under the rear bench.  That being said, I do have one 85Ah Kirkland normal flooded deep cycle battery under my rear bench as I have removed my rear heater as I have a Propex so it was not needed.  Therefor, I have 173Ah of aux battery which works just fine for me.  That Kirkland battery has been replaced once already as it does have a much shorter life cycle than those 22Ah AGM batteries.  BTW, I have installed the 4x22Ah AGM battery set-up for a few of my customers and all are working just fine.  I use a Sure Power 1315 battery separator in all these installs, it is the best small separator there is.


On Oct 15, 2014, at 9:31 PM, Automatic digest processor <LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
> 
> Our last camping trip for a while, we went to Lake Piru. Our 80W solar panel=
> was in the shade for the whole weekend and hardly charged my 50Ah house bat=
> tery which had me looking at other options. I still want to keep it in the l=
> ocation under the drivers seat and have been reading about putting 4x22Ah ba=
> tteries in parallel for a total of 88Ah. Does anyone here have any experienc=
> e with this type of set-up??? Or other options under the drivers seat having=
> more than 50Ah?



Cheers,    

Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 VW Westy, '00 Kawasaki 250 Sherpa, "98 Ducati 750 Monster & Lionel Trains (Collection for sale)
Frank Condelli & Associates - Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
BusFusion a VW Camper camping event, Almonte, ON, June 05 ~ 08, 2014