Aux Battery & Accessory Setups: Pictures & Diagrams

[crazyvwvanman]

The diagram doesn't show a ground wire for the ACR. Can't see one in the photos. It must have one to work.

Mark

[lucianosanchez]

[coqcitywesty]

House lights (pucks) are linked here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012ZOI44C/ref=sxr_rr_xs...0&sr=2

Reading Lights are linked here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074RX4JL7/ref=sxr_rr_xs...1&sr=1

The galley light is from SuperBright LEDS, but there are a few identical versions floating around.

Typically, I shy away from gimmicky types of mods, such as the reading lights, but there was not really any other option to get the desired outcome. I will look to post a night shot of the house lights, but these shots produce a lot of glare and not that effective. I can attest that they are bright and light the interior well, but not overly so. And yes they sit flush and look stock, which is the look I was seeking.

[coqcitywesty]

[lucianosanchez]

[Abscate]

Do you guys remember to down rate the fuse when you go from filament to LED lighting? Typically your amperage drops by 8x, so you should total the load and add 33% or so for the load rating on the fuse circuit

Leaving in the 15 amp fuse from the original lamps isn’t good practice.
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.ssS!

[coqcitywesty]

[fxr]

[Abscate]

The smaller the fuse the better protection for the circuit, both load and wiring

Matching the fuse to the load means a fault condition is also more readily detected.
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.ssS!

[coqcitywesty]

[Alaskaberrys]

[coqcitywesty]

[lucianosanchez]

Looks really good. Nice job and thanks for the night pictures.
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1983.5 Aussan Brown Westfalia | 2016 to 2020
1983.5 Beige Westfalia | 2019 to Current

[blockhead squarewheels]

This is my PROPOSED setup.(not all fuses pictures) 87 tintop i dont plan to ever use shore power. A few questions.

1. Am i in danger of overcharging with the solar? Or will the controler keep things ok.

2. Is there any real benefit to adding a battery selector switch? I feel like the ARC will take care of my needs by itself.

Sorry for the bad photo my phones broke

[fishgo]

[coqcitywesty]

Apparently, I missed the query on this thread, so to close the loop, see comments below:

I'm making a new headliner for the front of my van (and looking at puck lights) and looking to update some of the back lighting with puck lights like these. Several questions:
1: It looks like the four round lights all work on one switch?

A: That is correct - all four wired to one switch.

2: Would you consider adding a dimmer to that circuit to lower light level? Is it necessary?

A: I have not found a need for a dimmer, despite the fact that these really light the 'room'. We typically have a rechargeable, dim-able UCO table lantern that we also hang from the tent support bar that has a blue light feature that we find handy at night so we are not blinded.

Link to UCO lantern here - its awesome: https://www.ucogear.com/tabletop-led-lanterns/madr...anterns%2f

3: The very rear lights: Are those good as reading lights? I like to sit on the bench to read at night before folding down for bed. Lighting there is not too great so was looking for a better solution.

A: We both love them as they provide ample light for reading at night and with the blue rings also serve as a night light if needed. These are also dim-able and can be pointed towards the engine compartment as needed for any repairs.
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1991 Westfalia EJ251, 1972 Volvo 1800 ES

[lucianosanchez]

[Cee-Dub]

Hey All,

I've been devising plans for a from-scratch aux battery setup in my new-to-me '88 full camper. Thanks to The Aux Battery Wizards for the tremendous amount of reference information available here -- it's been hugely helpful.

So... here is what I'm planning (don't mind the graphics; it's allergy season and I'm bubble boy right now). Click to enlarge..:

My Objectives:

- Overall: A reliable, safe, and fully automatic house electrical system to support 3-14 day camping excursions with intermittent shore power.
- Relocate the dashboard accessory loads (cig/radio/clock/et al) onto aux battery (via the fused-12V-supply-to-OE-fuse-slot-#3 method).
- Relocate the kitchen loads (12VDC fridge and water pump) onto aux battery, while retaining the OE fridge relay (duh), but deleting the OE 8A & 16A fuses (while functionally retaining equivalent circuit protection).
- Supply all owner-added 12VDC accessory loads (USB outlets, fan, future Propex/lighting/blah/blah) from one fused terminal block.
- Minimize excess connections directly at the battery terminals. To this end, I've included small +ve bus bars for each battery, and am (ab)using the -ve terminals of the BlueSea fuse block as a -ve bus.
* (My pipe dream vision is to mount all of this hardware in a nonmetallic electrical enclosure, nominally 8"H x 10"W x 6"D, flush-mounted in the cabinet panel behind the driver's seat, with just the battery monitor and control switches visible, and all the components and wire entries safely enclosed in the space below the sink drawer.)
- Take care of a new matched pair of Odysseys, by providing reasonably correct charging and float voltages.

* Charging source #1: Alternator w/ adjustable voltage regulator from Volvo Dave.
* Charging source #2: Shore power charger - ProSport 12 dual-bank. (I already have this charger, so am working with it. Although I wonder if ditching it for a single-output charger-inverter wouldn't solve a couple of my headaches.)
* Charging source #3: Solar [future].
* Charging source #4: Waterlily portable microhydro turbine [not shown for clarity; connect via 12V dashboard socket for 0-1A @ 14.6V].
* Battery monitor: Yes.
* Battery combiner: I've chosen the SurePower 1314A. I chose a unidirectional because of future solar intent. As well, in the process of trying to prevent interference between a dual-output shore charger and combined batteries, I'm just using the combiner as 'a big relay,' controlled by 'a small relay' and sometimes a switch (more on that below).

Some Comments:

1. I'd hugely appreciate any general feedback on my plans. Concerns, issues, suggested improvements? See any problems?

2. So I already have that dual-output ProMariner charger, and don't like the thought of the batteries always being combined whenever I'm on shore power (which any voltage-sensing combiner, uni- or bi-directional, would cause if left to its own devices).


(a.) Initially I was contemplating to add a 120V relay that would disable the 1314 whenever shore power is energized (as suggested by BlueSea in this tech article).

(b.) But, I thought, we've already got this perfectly good blue wire right over here at the fridge relay, why not use it... So instead I've used that "alternator charging" signal to activate a second relay which then provides a ground to the 1314. So I've kind of turned my operating modes logic inside out -- instead of stopping the Combiner from combining when 110VAC is present, I'm instead only allowing the Combiner to combine when alternator charging is available. So the batteries will only combine when the van is running. Great - and as long as I never start the engine while still plugged into shore power, I shouldn't be sucked into the singularity...

(c.) Now, I also wanted to include capability to Force Combine, so that I have self-boost-starting capability (because why not). After reading the entire internet, I eventually found a momentary DPST pushbutton switch, which I'll use in parallel to that "small relay," with the two poles used to supply the 1314 with (i) a ground, like above, and (ii) 12V to its "momentary boost" pin. Lastly with this switch, I'll use the 1314 "start lamp output" pin to illuminate the DPST switch's LED halo as confirmation from the Combiner that it has complied with the force.

(d.) And, lastly, I also had wanted to include Force Separate capability. (Again, just because.) But, with my "Combiner Enable" relay arrangement, I really scratched my head over what purpose a Force Separate button would ever serve.

3. The reason I didn't pick the Yandina is because I read a couple anecdotes of people incurring multiple-tenths-of-volts difference in charging voltage between their house and starting batteries (including from a frustrated TPPL house battery owner) -- which I'm striving to avoid.

4. Battery Monitor gurus, do you foresee troubles from my proposed voltage wiring? Or should I plan to run the +ve and -ve connections all the way to each battery post?

TIA for any pointers, constructive critique, or more elegant solutions!
Cee-Dub

edit: Updated with SPDT pushbutton for Force Combine, abandoned a manual Force Separate switch, refined bus bar selection, fixed a PNG transparency problem.
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'88 Westy auto; '02 Golf 8V.

[Muftobration]

Cee-Dub, I'm very impressed with your huge detailed graphic, but I did not finish reviewing it because my poor old ThinkPad crashed when I tried to view it at 100% size.

I've been doing some research this evening for my own (existing, from previous owner) AUX battery setup and came to many of the same conclusions you did. I'll comment on specific things below. I see your post is from almost a month ago now, so I'm sorry you did not receive any replies yet. Yours is a worthy first post.

[Cee-Dub]

Hey Muftobration - Thanks for replying! Happy to wait a month if it's for a thoughtful multi-quote response...