Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2020 00:55:25 +0000
Reply-To: Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Subject: Re: Trickle charger on hard to access House Battery
In-Reply-To: <1144990915.211494.1603577122393@mail.yahoo.com>
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I am a little baffled. Just for fun, I hooked up an old cigarette 12VDC plug into the outlet connected DIRECTLY to the Aux Battery. Digital meter said: 16.3 V No way!, I said. Got out a second junk cigarette 12VDC plug and into outlet again. Digital meter said: 16.3 V
Yikes! Any idea of what is going on here? NOTHING auxiliary connected to the House Battery.
(BTW....meter is a freebie from Harbor Freight...I DO have an old analog meter from Radio Shack, yes, I will give that a try later.)
Rich
San Diego
On Saturday, October 24, 2020, 3:07:21 PM PDT, Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Mine is an 85 tintop. I added the GoWesty auxillary battery setup 12 years ago with a group 41 Walmart battery. I'll have to check my records to see if I've ever replaced that battery. Here is the kit: Auxiliary Battery Kit [1980-83 Air-Cooled Camper and 1980-91 Non-Campers] | GoWesty
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Auxiliary Battery Kit [1980-83 Air-Cool...
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I added a bunch of cabinetry to my van behind driver seat, making access to the Aux Battery a little hard to get to. I also used a Greenlee sheet metal punch to provide a hole just behind parking brake lever to add a 12 VDC cigarette lighter socket; the idea was to have a convenient port operating directly off Aux Battery (I added an inline fuse). The setup has been working just fine these last 12 years; at least I think so, it always works and I'm assuming the alternator via the relay in the kit is doing it's job; my camping electrical needs are very minimal, but I do run a laptop and some interior lighting; and also for charging phone and camera batteries.
But with Covid, my travels lately have really declined. So....I got this bright idea that maybe I should trickle charge my Aux Battery with a cigarette plug into the nearby outlet and connected to my trickle charge? I assume there will be minimal Hydrogen gas being emitted during the charging process but should quickly rise and ventilate out of garage. I assume all of this would work and be safe...but wanted to pass it by the Vanagon brain trust before I do it.
Rich
San Diego
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