Date:         Thu, 4 Nov 1999 05:31:23 -0800
Reply-To:     "Alan J. Flint" <ajflint@ITSA.UCSF.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Alan J. Flint" <ajflint@ITSA.UCSF.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Aux battery kit from Bus Depot (fwd)
Comments: To: Vgonman@aol.com
In-Reply-To:  <0.587d3a9f.2552105a@aol.com>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Sean B:
        Thanks for your reply, but I still have a couple of questions.
        Are you saying that only those electrical items specifically wired
or rewired to the new aux battery can be run off of it while
camping?  Then the aux battery is "isolated while driving?".
        I would think the best arrangement would be for the usually in
cabin electrical items (sink pump, overhead light, dash radio) and added
things like aux heater would be run off the aux battery via the standard
wiring while camping, and that the starter battery would be
"isolated".  One could then listen to the whole red sox division series,
wash dishes, read by overhead lamp, all while camping, without risk of
having an inadequate starter charge when it was time to drive away.
        Most everything that I want to use while parked is already wired
to the starter battery.
        Does this make sense?

Alan
'87 Syncro Westfalia


On Wed, 3 Nov 1999 Vgonman@aol.com wrote:

> I believe I may be the owner of the new Hella aux bat wiring kit. Let me see
> if I can answer your question.
>
> First and foremost, when you put in the aux battery, you will need to
> manually wire accessories to the new battery. With the ignition off, the aux
> battery is isolated from the rest of the "original" electrical system. Ex.;
> You wire a TV&VCR to the aux battery and go camping. You then watch videos
> for the entire time you are camping (not practical because you went camping
> to get away from things in the first place, but it works for our example.),
> thus draining the aux battery. When you turn the ignition on (and hopefully
> start the engine soon after), the 2 batteries are connected in parallel (+ to
> +, - to -), and the alternator charges both batteries.
>
> As soon as the ignition is turned off, the aux battery is isolated again.
>
> Hope this helps a little,
> Sean B.
> '90 V'gon, "Happy Bus"
>