Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 20:33:33 EDT
Reply-To: Ssittservl@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: S Sittservl <Ssittservl@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Fw: What circuit runs the cabin light?
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> Date: 5/26/99 5:56:36 PM CDT
> From: bpchristensen@MINDSPRING.COM (Brent Christensen)
>
> > > Even with the aux battery relay removed and all the wires disconnected,
> > > the cabin light still lights. One of my primary reasons for auxiliary
> > > batteries
> > > was to run the light(s) without fear of running down my primary
battery.
> > > What circuit does the cabin light run from and how can I run it
directly
> > > from the auxiliary batteries instead??
>
> After reviewing the Bentley, I see that the cabin light runs off the same
> circuit as the front light, radio, etc. (all from fuse #3). So it would
> seem that with one fell swoop, I could put all these devices on the
> auxiliary battery circuit by bypassing the connection to the main battery.
> Is this as simple (ha) as disconnecting the main battery lead from the fuse
> panel and running a "hot" wire from my battery bank to this fuse?
Yes, that simple. I don't think you can exactly "disconnect the main battery
lead from the fuse panel" for just that one circuit, though - I think there's
probably a single lead that powers every circuit on the panel through the
panel's internal bus. (I assume. I haven't actually checked it out.)
Instead, you can just pull fuse #3 and run a fused wire from the auxiliary
battery to the "load" side of fuse #3's socket. (That's the side that doesn't
show 12V when a voltmeter is connected between it and a ground.) That's
what I did, and so far nothing's caught fire. A male quick-disconnect
connector will fit nicely where one leg of the fuse would normally plug
in. (Details of my installation are at
"http://members.aol.com/ssittservl/Westfalia".)
A couple of other notes on adapting the existing wiring for an aux. battery
(you may already know these): The existing relay under the driver's seat
merely switches the 12V power to the fridge on when the engine is running,
and off when it's not. It's really too small (low amp rating), and the wires
connecting it to the starting battery are too thin, to use it as the
connecting relay between an aux. battery and the starting battery,
although some people have used it for that purpose successfully. I don't
think the Bentley manual makes the relay's purpose very clear. The
"switched" circuit controlled by this relay leads to the "fridge fuse", and
then to the fridge's 12V cooling unit (actually a heater, oddly). An
unswitched circuit leads from the relay to the "pump fuse", and powers
both the water pump and the fridge's 12V coil fan. So, the fridge actually
runs from two separate 12V circuits. The coil fan needs to be on an
unswitched circuit because it's used in 110V and propane operation.
The 12V cooling unit is on a switched circuit to keep the battery from
being run down when the engine's not running (it wouldn't take long -
the fridge draws a lot of power).
-Steven Sittser
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