Date:         Fri, 9 Apr 1999 08:33:21 -0700
Reply-To:     Kevin Sullivan <ksull@MBARI.ORG>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Kevin Sullivan <ksull@MBARI.ORG>
Subject:      Re: Batteries & MXT's
Comments: To: George Nahrebecky <George.Nahrebecky@STMARYS.CA>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Our Westy is not a daily driver and has eaten two batteries in the last
six years. I mounted a blade switch on the narrow panel between the
sliding and passenger doors  and wired it in series with the ground
terminal. I didn't do any previous testing for parisitic current, just
figured
it was sucking the battery slowly since I've wired in variety of electrical
devices (amps, converters etc). It starts every time now even after sitting
for a month as long as I remember to disengage the switch.

Kevin

-----Original Message-----
From: George Nahrebecky <George.Nahrebecky@STMARYS.CA>


>Hi folks,
>
>        I put my camper in heated storage last fall with an almost-new
Sears
>battery that seems to lose most of its charge within  six weeks (red
>LED).The alarm system is off, and the radio detached. I used a 2 amp
charger
>to get it back up to snuff (green LED)a couple of times, but the last time
I
>tried, I couldn't get it back up to full (green) charge, even after more
>than 24 hours. The guy at Sears said that low amp chargers sometimes won't
>bring batteries back up, and that I should drive the van on the highway to
>see if that does the trick. I won't be ready to do that for another month
or
>so.
>
>I have two questions: Are Westfalias prone to parasitic current losses
>because of all the stuff on board? I know the battery should be
disconnected
>if the van is to be stored for an extensive period, but even so, six weeks
>seems like a short time for it to go flat in.
>
>Is the Sears guy right? Does it need a blast on the road? I have doubts
>about this, because my little charger never failed to bring even the old
>dying battery up to green before.