Date:         Wed, 17 Mar 2004 16:07:21 -0700
Reply-To:     Geo Hahn <ahwahnee@CYBERTRAILS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Geo Hahn <ahwahnee@CYBERTRAILS.COM>
Subject:      Re: Another 2nd battery issue/question
In-Reply-To:  <C366551B-7848-11D8-8E2D-000A959B3796@knology.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

Jim Felder wrote:

> There's still a small problem. Where's the best place to wire into the
> camper stuff to run it off the aux battery?

Since I haven't seen a response I'll offer what I did -- let me
emphasize that this is simply that: 'What I did'.  There are many ways
to wire up aux power and the best thing is to think thru what you want
to run from that battery and how the original loom can be safely used in
conjunction with the add-ons.

My aux battery is under the rear seat and charged through an isolator in
the engine compartment.

1. I ran a wire (with an inline fuse) from the aux battery to the
interior light circuit and removed the #8 fuse from the fuse block.
This put all interior lights and the lights I added to that circuit on
the aux.  It also puts the brake lights on the aux -- not that that
seems to matter.

2.  I removed the #9 fuse from the fuse block and snapped in a little
copper jumper to bridge circuits 8 & 9.  This put the clock, radio &
cigar lighter on the aux (I am not running an amp or any sound system
that would have a big current draw).

3.  I ran a separate wire (with an inline fuse) to the supply for the
refrigerator fan.  This I set up with a (SPDT center off) toggle switch
to power the fridge from main, aux, or completely off (the last bit is
required when you live in Arizona as the ambient temp can get so high
that the fridge fan would run 24/7 even when the fridge was off).  This
change also made the water pump and indicator lights (including battery
condition) operate off of whichever battery the circuit was switched too.

To add some versatility the plywood box that the battery is in also has
a (fused) cigar lighter socket on the side for 12V compressor, camera
battery charger, small power inverter, etc.

That's about it -- interior lights, radio, water pump and fridge are the
things that run on aux cause they're the things that get used when we're
parked for a week in one place.  This has worked for me for many years
-- hope you find what works for you.

Geo Hahn
84 Westy
Mt Lemmon, AZ