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eche_bus
Samba Member
Joined: October 07, 2007
Posts: 1318
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 Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 9:11 pm Post subject: A pair of pretty well-fitting batteries |
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This didn't seem to quite fit in the recent "Duralast vs Optima" thread but I wanted to get the word out about a couple of good batteries that fit well in my late Westy. I'd posted photos in my build thread before, but couldn't locate the part numbers until just now.
The first is the starting battery, an Interstate MT-41. Fits the space, terminals in the right order, and has the flange to allow it to slide into the OG tray bracket and use the OG hold-down plate.
The second is for those with Deluxe Westies or otherwise looking for a good deep-cycle auxiliary battery. It's a Sears Die Hard Platinum Group 65 (Item #22850065). Loads of capacity (similar to Optima, but a lot less money) and also has the flange to allow it to slide into the OG tray bracket. The OG hold-down plate can be used as well, it just needs to be angled up due to the battery's larger size.
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purplepeopleeater
Samba Member
Joined: July 23, 2005
Posts: 3117
Location: E. Washington
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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your engine compartment is horrible...
horribly clean 
I have two 41's waiting to go into mine once I get the engine back in. |
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dugfresh
Samba Member
Joined: November 04, 2012
Posts: 651
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 9:42 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks! I'm looking to get my leisure battery system backin operation. One of the first things I did was cut all the wires the PO had messed up with that system.
_________________
78 Riviera
http://flic.kr/s/aHsjDRJPa1 |
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eche_bus
Samba Member
Joined: October 07, 2007
Posts: 1318
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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| purplepeopleeater wrote: |
your engine compartment is horrible...
horribly clean
I have two 41's waiting to go into mine once I get the engine back in. |
Yeah, that's on account it hasn't been driven since late last fall until just today. Good luck with the engine install. I don't think I was able to find a Group 41 battery in a deep cycle type, or at least not one with the right mounting flange. What did you buy for yours?
| dugfresh wrote: |
| Thanks! I'm looking to get my leisure battery system backin operation. One of the first things I did was cut all the wires the PO had messed up with that system. |
Glad the info is helpful. I had to do a lot of the same thing with wires the PO had added in the leisure (aux.) battery area to support towing the bus as a trailer. Total mess. |
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Stuartzickefoose
Samba Post Whore
Joined: February 07, 2008
Posts: 10350
Location: SoCal for now...
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:27 pm Post subject: |
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must be nice to have battery trays....
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Stuart Zickefoose
2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual
206-841-7324
[email protected] |
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Alan Brase
Samba Member
Joined: March 28, 2004
Posts: 4532
Location: Cedar Falls, Iowa
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Stuartzickefoose wrote: |
| must be nice to have battery trays.... |
that's why they invented plywood.
Wow. Beautiful green!
Do you have any pics of the battery relay?
Al
_________________
Al Brase
Projects: 67 sunroof bug, 67 Porsche 912 Targa, 70 Westy
Dec 1955 Single Cab pickup WANT 15" BUS RIMS dated 8/55, thru 12/55
To New owners: 1969 doublecab, 1971 Dormobile
Vanagons:
80 P27 Westy JUL 1979, 3rd oldest known US
83 1.6TD Vanagon, 87 Wolfie Westy daily driver, swap meet home |
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DougB
Samba Member
Joined: January 09, 2007
Posts: 1076
Location: Falls Church, Virginia, USA
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| Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 2:21 pm Post subject: |
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| purplepeopleeater wrote: |
your engine compartment is horrible...
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LOL, I know. It would be much nicer if it had age-cracked tar undercoating, ZieBart & cosmoline like mine 
_________________
'75 Campmobile (tin-top to SpaceRoof)
'73 Fastback
'52 BMW R67/2
'41 Zundapp KS600
'55 Puch SGS250
A very, very understanding wife |
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eche_bus
Samba Member
Joined: October 07, 2007
Posts: 1318
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| Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 4:16 pm Post subject: |
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Hey, you can have battery trays too, just do what I did (assuming you have enough metal left) and cut down a replacement tray, remove the old rusty metal and seal and screw down the tray over the remaining flange. The key is to only leave solid metal and seal the daylights out of everything.
69doublecab - here's a photo of the battery relay:
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aerosurfer
Samba Member
Joined: March 25, 2012
Posts: 1602
Location: Indianapolis, IN
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| Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 6:12 am Post subject: |
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Im trying to Un-do the PO wiring hack on my second battery system. Im comparing your picture to my current wiring and just want to confirm how your is wired...
On the grounds, the larger wire in the bottom screw is the Negative ground from the second batter.....
Where does the ground on the top screw go?
The Positive battery cable I assume is the red wire with sheathing on the right (as pictured) prong on the relay?
Thanks
_________________
Rebuild your own FI Harness..My Harness
77 Westy 2.0L Rockin and Rolling Resto!
72 Sportsmobile (sold)
79 Tran$porter... Parts car money machine (gone) |
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Manfreds78bay
Samba Member
Joined: February 27, 2009
Posts: 754
Location: PNW
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| Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 9:19 am Post subject: |
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I bought a 12V 35Ah Werker Deep Cycle AGM Battery for my leisure battery and put the Bus Depot charging system on it. It works great and kept a charge all winter without a battery tender.
It's a golf cart battery. I have come to love the Batty Plus stores near me and the guy I spoke with told me that people use these batteries for all kind of things and they rarely go bad. It's heavy that is for sure and kind of big. Fits under my rear bench fine and the price is right. 78 bucks.
http://www.batteriesplus.com/product/45886-WKDC12-...tor-2.aspx
_________________
1978 2.0L FI Campmobile
1982 AMC Eagle SX4 4.2L FI |
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Manfreds78bay
Samba Member
Joined: February 27, 2009
Posts: 754
Location: PNW
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| Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 9:23 am Post subject: |
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I bought a 12V 35Ah Werker Deep Cycle AGM Battery for my leisure battery and put the Bus Depot charging system on it. It works great and kept a charge all winter without a battery tender.
It's a golf cart battery. I have come to love the Batty Plus stores near me and the guy I spoke with told me that people use these batteries for all kind of things and they rarely go bad. It's heavy that is for sure and kind of big. Fits under my rear bench fine. I and the price is right. 78 bucks.
http://www.batteriesplus.com/product/45886-WKDC12-...tor-2.aspx
_________________
1978 2.0L FI Campmobile
1982 AMC Eagle SX4 4.2L FI |
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eche_bus
Samba Member
Joined: October 07, 2007
Posts: 1318
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| Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 1:13 pm Post subject: |
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| aerosurfer wrote: |
Im trying to Un-do the PO wiring hack on my second battery system. Im comparing your picture to my current wiring and just want to confirm how your is wired...
On the grounds, the larger wire in the bottom screw is the Negative ground from the second batter.....
Where does the ground on the top screw go?
The Positive battery cable I assume is the red wire with sheathing on the right (as pictured) prong on the relay?
Thanks |
Those are good questions - I should have pointed out a couple of things when I posted that photo.
The topmost ground screw is from a connection a PO added. Please ignore that.
The bottommost ground screw provides a connection to chassis ground for the aux. battery (thick black wire) and the relay coil (brown wire).
The black/red pair that comes from the alternator on the other side of the engine compartment connect to the left/rear terminal (black) and the middle/middle terminal (red).
The aux. battery positive wire (thick black-jacketed red) connects to the right/rear relay terminal. |
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eche_bus
Samba Member
Joined: October 07, 2007
Posts: 1318
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| Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 1:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Manfreds78bay wrote: |
I bought a 12V 35Ah Werker Deep Cycle AGM Battery for my leisure battery and put the Bus Depot charging system on it. It works great and kept a charge all winter without a battery tender.
It's a golf cart battery. I have come to love the Batty Plus stores near me and the guy I spoke with told me that people use these batteries for all kind of things and they rarely go bad. It's heavy that is for sure and kind of big. Fits under my rear bench fine. I and the price is right. 78 bucks.
http://www.batteriesplus.com/product/45886-WKDC12-...tor-2.aspx |
There's a few important differences between the Sears DieHard AGM I posted and the one mentioned here:
The Sears Battery is a Group 65 rated at 75 Amp/Hours @ 20A rate. It incorporates the necessary lower edge flanges to allow reliable mounting using the original VW/Westfalia parts. Although the terminals are reversed from ideal, they are of standard automotive type and I had no problem with the original wiring reaching the reversed posts.
In contrast, the Werker AGM is a 35 Amp/Hour capacity battery (less than 1/2 the capacity) with non-standard terminals and no mounting flange.
Perhaps, as Manfreds78bay points out, when mounting the Werker under the bench seat the smaller size and other differences are to an advantage. I just wanted to emphasize that for driver side rear mounting, the Sears Group 65 AGM seems an ideal solution. It costs quite a bit more, but it's a lot more battery, too. |
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