Westy Electrical Guru Needed...

[ShootingFish]

I have a couple of issues going with the westy right now. The first is the fact that I have a phantom electrical drain that I can correct when I pull the wire that is connected to the #85 pin on the relay that is located under the drivers seat.


This wire is a red wire with a black stripe(top center in photo). When the wire is disconnected from the relay the relay pin #85 reads battery voltage(but obviously zero drain). When the wire is connected to the relay it then reads .056 Volts. The fridge is in the gas position and no other electrical is turned on in the back.

Thoughts?

The second issue is resulting from a PO who installed a dual battery solenoid incorrectly(I think). There are the usual wires; one red on either side and then a white that leads from solenoid to the frame(ground).

The red wire on the left side is connected to the aux battery located under the rear bench seat. The red wire on the right side is connected to the body in the back of the engine compartment(makes zero sense to me) and the phantom black wire off the center post is completely disconnected. These are the only wires on the solenoid. I would have thought that the right side red wire would have gone to the alternator post to provide power to the solenoid and that would have charged the aux battery.

Rather confused by the PO's work...

SF
_________________
SF

Props aren't just for boats....

'88 2WD ALH-TDI Westy
'90 Syncro 16 Doka

[jmranger]

Definitely not a guru, but I just checked mine.

Wires to 85 & 86 were swapped compared to Bentley page 97.33b. Seems to be the same for you. Doesn't change anything.

The red/black wire (that connects to ignition at start position) tests as a ground when key is in off or on position.

The blue wire (from alt D+, completing the "control" side of the relay) tests as 0V when key is off, 1.5V when key is on but engine not running (not enough to cause relay to close), and 13V with key engine running. Same voltages connected and disconnected from relay.

So my guesses would be bad relay, mixup in wire connections to relay, or unpredictable changes made to wiring by PO causing it to stay on full time.

Also, keep in mind that that relay is only used to power the fridge in the 12V setting. If you never use it in that mode, you could disconnect everything from the relay and just jump the two wires that used to connect to the two 87 posts (see Bently diagram for details).

Can't help with the solenoid, no experience with those beasts.

Good luck,

JMR

[Californio]

Not a guru either, but regarding the solenoid, I would start by disconnecting it and removing it entirely. Save it--it may be useful in future to link two batteries--but for now it's a source of confusion. Also an example of why it's good to use color-coded wire when possible, even if you have to buy two rolls, which your PO obviously didn't do.

If you have a Bentley, the schematic on 97.34 will help you sort it out. It's not really that complicated, just a matter of making sure the right wires are connected to the right terminals on the relay.

[ShootingFish]

Well, I think that I have decided that it is just time to get in and pull the old PO junk and start over with a new system that will allow me to split the house into Start and Aux battery systems.

I have the Blue Sea 7610 already.

I wondering, would you suggest the Fuse Block with Ground, or without ground?

Fuses??? 3? One 30Amp between the Start Battery and the ACR, one 30Amp between the Aux Battery and the ACR, and one 30Amp between the Aux Battery and the Distribution Panel?

_________________
SF

Props aren't just for boats....

'88 2WD ALH-TDI Westy
'90 Syncro 16 Doka

[thatvwbusguy]

There is no real need for a ground bus on the fuse block since the van uses the chassis as a common ground. The fuse block with the ground bus is more applicable for use on a boat, which is what all Blue Sea Systems components are ultimately designed for.

Place your fuses (sized at least one step below the wire's maximum ampacity) as close to the positive post of each battery as possible. There are also some nice inline circuit breakers available at reasonable prices that will avoid the need to carry extra high amperage fuses.

I generally try to size my circuit protection just above the maximum expected draw for the circuit it is protecting. To figure this out, determine the total wattage of all of the end consumer appliances and divide by 12 (Amps = Watts / Volts).

Likewise, circuit protection for the feed wire for the auxiliary fuse block should be placed as close to the positive post of the auxiliary battery as possible and should be sized according to the gauge of the wire being used based on a standard ampacity table for stranded copper wire.
_________________
Jay Brown
'85 Zetec Westfalia
Newmarket, NH


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