Date:         Sat, 23 Dec 1995 09:29:55 -0600 (CST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         David L Finet <finet@students.uiuc.edu>
Subject:      Re: Camper cabinets



On Fri, 22 Dec 1995, Perry,Clay wrote:

> Happy Solstice Vanaganoids!
> 
>  My questions are: is this 
>  a fair price? Is the electric fridge worth the hassle of dealing with 
>  battery drain? Do the internal stoves work well? I was looking for 
>  something similar in functionality to my 71 which was pretty simple 
>  but the thought of on board propane has my interest up.
> 
> Thanks Clay
> 

Hey Clay,
	My '71 camper conversion has an electric fridge and I really like 
it.  It runs off the car battery while you are running and then if you go 
to a campsite with electrical service, you simply hookup and throw the 
switch to run off of household current.  We have found that we can leave 
the fridge on the car battery overnight and still have enough juice to 
startup in the morning. (We have also found out that you don't want to go 
much past ~12 hours)  Another possible safeguard against battery drain is 
to put a spare battery on the left side of the engine compartment and 
connect it to the main battery with a resistor(?) which I understand 
allows the spare to charge while you are driving but keeps it from 
discharging totally when you are parked, thus assuring enough power for 
start up.  I think an RV shop could help you figure something out on 
this.  We have a propane stove, but haven't used it yet.  I have no idea 
what a fair price would be...but what they are asking doesn't seem too 
outragous IMHO.  hope that helps,
dave.

PS how's your auxilary heater coming along?