Well sure. I was thinking of putting an aux battery under the seat. And just use an off the shelf isolator. Think that would work? Just so it works the toaster right. -----Original Message----- From: David Katsuki [mailto:dkatsuki@WORLD.STD.COM] Sent: Wednesday, October 07, 1998 8:59 PM To: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM Subject: Re: Adding the second battery to the early vanagon ('80)
The problem with just connecting the second battery in parallel is that they both discharge at the same rate and at the same time. A primary reason for wanting a second battery is to avoid the embarrassment of needing a jump start after using your 12v camping appliances too much (12v blender for the fish, 12v dishwasher, etc.) When the aux battery is hooked up either with a diode isolator, or with a relay isolator, the two batteries can discharge (or not) independently but are both charged from the alternator when it is making whizzies. Late model campers (at least) have a relay under the driver's seat that prevents the fridge from running off 12v unless the alternator is making the previously mentioned wizzies (a technical term), and so the easy way to hook up an aux battery when the isolation relay is there, is simply to put it in parallel with the fridge. I actually connected mine through a 30A fuse to avoid even more embarrassing fires. Dave 87 Wolfsburg 90 Westfalia <snip> |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.