Date:         Sun, 3 May 1998 22:07:57 -0500
Reply-To:     Steve Manning <smanning@EXECPC.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Manning <smanning@EXECPC.COM>
Subject:      Aux Battery: Life span of charged battery
Comments: To: vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Last fall I installed a deep cycle 32amp/hr wheelchair battery as an
auaillary for my '84 westy. I have it wired through the relay under the
driver's seat. Everything in the sink/stove/fridge area will run off this
aux battery while camping, etc. I understood that if you ran the fridge
off the aux, you would get a max of 3hrs out of the battery.So, instead of
using the fridge i used an Igloo plug-in cooler which I plugged into an
accessory outlet I have wired in off the aux batt. This
also killed the battery within 3hrs. Should this have died this quickly? I
would think the cooler would draw much less power than the fridge would. I
mean, this is the same type of battery that goes into a wheelchair and
those can go for a whole day. Both of my batteries charge off the stock
alternator with no modifications made except tapping into the existing
relay under the driver's seat.

 I think I'll try to fix the propane on the
fridge.

-steve-