a second battery ..? Is it really nessasary? Whats up?

[sharky805]

how long will my wesy last in the woods with a 2nd battery?
should i do it?

[oasis]

My '93 Westy was a weekender. The second battery was nice in that it would run the interior lights and the cooler independently. Now, doing that non-stop will wear down a battery but the secondary battery will charge back up when the engine is running.

While mine was a EuroVan, if you have a Vanagon, I imagine it would be wired similarly to get the same results.

I don't know about full campers but, again, I can't see why it wouldn't be the same.

If you have a standard passenger Vanagon or EuroVan, you would need auxiliary items you would want to run independently for it to be worthwhile, and have it wired such that a running engine will charge the secondary battery.

It seems to me the cooler could run overnight in the woods if memory serves me correctly. Of course, if more items are being run, the drain will be faster. That's the best answer I can give.
_________________
Now: 2003 New Beetle Turbo S / 1990 Single Cab Transporter / 2014 Tiguan R-Line 4motion / 2013 Tiguan S / 2002 Golf GLS TDI
Past: 1974 Thing Acapulco / 2009 Eos Komfort / 1997 Jetta GT / 2002 Cabrio GLX / 2002 Passat GLS / 1971 Super Beetle / 1993 EuroVan MV Westfalia / 1981 Pickup LX / 1985 Vanagon / 1986 Jetta GLI

[McVanagon]

Piece of mind. No more worrying about if you have enough juice in your main battery to get home. You always will.

Look into a combiner/isolator instead of a little relay/solenoid for faster charging of the second battery if you go that route.
_________________
'69 Mike
'85 GL
'87 Wolfsburg Hardtop

[tds3pete]

[Terry Kay]

If you have any plans on running the Dometic reefer while your out and about---a deep cycle second battery is the way to fly.

It eliminates sucking down yor starting battery while your parked while running the refrigerator.

You can add a 12 volt accessory recepticle in back for fans, electric blanket, wire your rear interior lamps to the 2nd battery--whatever, and never run your main battery down.

It's totally independant of the starting battery when wired into the relay under the driver's seat.

Good accessory to consider.
_________________
T.K.

[backcountrymedic]

Aye! If you run the reefer on 12v for any length of time, it'll kill your main battery lickety-split! But if you've got an auxilary battery with a relay or better yet, an isolator, your van will always have plenty of juice to get running down the road again.

Cheers!
_________________
No need to bear the weight of your worries, you let them all fall away...

Sector 9 longboard
Kona Kikapu Deluxe MTB
Novarra Big Buzz
Electra Cruiser
'01 Toyota Tacoma 4x4

[DBibeau]

depends on how much you use the interior lights, etc. even if you run the fridge on propane the fan runs off the battery so you'll still kill it... i killed the battery in my '82 westy in about a week (although leaving my headlights on for a while didn't help at all).

I just went through the decision process on that one myself... decided to add a solar panel rather than a second battery (didn't want to give up any of my storage space). 'course if you're always camping in the woods a solar panel won't help much, but i'm in the deser a lot, so... perfect!

another option if you just want the piece of mind - i can't remember what it's called at the moment, but they make a little device that you just hook up to the battery and it will shut down the battery when it gets low on juice so it never gets too low to start the car. anyone know what i'm talking about???

[Waldemar Sikorski]

Could this be it?
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-converters/battery-brain.htm

[captainpartytime]

I thought the fridge will only run off 12V if the motor is running..or does the key have to just be in the ignition?
_________________
-Kerry

1982 turbo diesel Westfalia

[1621]

[backcountrymedic]

Yup, fridge runs anytime it's switched to 12v, regardless of key position. Unless of course it's been tinkered with.

-Jared
_________________
No need to bear the weight of your worries, you let them all fall away...

Sector 9 longboard
Kona Kikapu Deluxe MTB
Novarra Big Buzz
Electra Cruiser
'01 Toyota Tacoma 4x4

[DBibeau]

[Rodknock]

[Dogpilot]

My 86 would commit battercide if I put the fridge in 12V and forgot to shut it off. The draw is 3-5 amps on the heating element the 12V selection uses to boil the ammonia. You do not need the second battery if you always park with the nose pointing downhill and you have a manual transmission. I have killed my second battery once before, and the act of running it down ruined it. I would personally hate to have done it to my main battery.

Many of us have put in the Oddessy battery and the Yandina module. This seems to work quite well. It is a bit on the pricey side, but after you kill a battery or two it seems quite reasonable.
_________________
Geology with a Syncro rocks!
86 Syncro Westy AKA "The Bughunter"
98 Disco I
08 Range Rover SC
08 VW Rabbit S
1951 O-1G

[Lanval]

I have an Odyssey battery, but I left the original relay in, because I liked the automatic shift to charge; generally, more choice is better (Yandina), but my forgetfulness worries me.

I also use dual solar trickle chargers for the batteries; this works fine here in sunny so-cal, and I never strain the second battery. We use it, but not heavily. You could go with the second battery, and add a smaller solar array as back-up to minimize your exposure to battery death. Dogpilot had a pretty nice setup which he upgraded recently. That seems optimal to me in terms of power sourcing, flexibility and compactness.

Best,

Lanval

[backcountrymedic]

[Terry Kay]

<<My 86 would commit battercide if I put the fridge in 12V and forgot to shut it off. The draw is 3-5 amps on the heating element the 12V selection uses to boil the ammonia.>>

Absolutly--
Guaranteed--DOA Battery after a long draw from the fridge.

Here's the biggest probem--VW jipped the job.
While they did offer an area for a delegated house battery--the sure did make the accomodations awfully small for a decent amp hour battery, so a guy could go out in the boonies & camp for more than a day or two.

1000 CCA is a minimum I would even consider for a house battery--but there is no way in a Westfalia--not unless you wnated to use up the space below the rear seat.
( I met a real wild man a couple of years ago that was real proud of having almost all of his floor space in his Westfalia loaded with Caterpillar big amp starting batteries--the isle and all--
His claim to fame was being totaly electricaly independant--Nuts--)

What I have installed in my 87 Westy is a Schumacher battery maintainer charger mounted on the wall uder the sink--plugged into the extra outlet there.

I don't ever Boonie Camp--so I'm always plugged in.

Both of my batterie are always up to snuff, I can either use 110 accessory items in the Van or 12 volt with no penalties to pay when I'm ready to roll again.

Solar panels big enough to be able to get ahead of the battery drain of the reefer & any other 12 volt sucker's would be too large, expensive, and make the Van look like the circus has arrived --

The 110 plug in routine works for me- and is really simple to accomplish without a degree in electrical engineering ~ 8 )-

I think it's time for me to be building auxillary battery boxes--one or two battery units that would bolt to the naked floor area in front of the sliding door.

If a guy could drop one or two 1000 CCA deep cycle batteries in under the floor--that would allow him to be pretty well set for juice for a longer period of time---and without hanging, "going to the moon" , big buck solar panels all over the pop top, & luggage rack of his Westy---
_________________
T.K.

[Waldemar Sikorski]

Terry, there is a battery that meets your requirements.
http://www.energy1batteries.com/specs.html
the NSBG2700 does fit under the drivers seat if you cut off one handle.
Now, that info has not been confirmed by me. My friend, the late Jack Ibarra,
about whom someone has posted a while back was the one that researched that battery and had a few installed.
It's not cheap - Jack got them for 230.00 - I was quoted between 270.00 & 300.00
On a different note - Dogpilot mentioned his admiration for electric cars.
Jack actually started a company to retrofit and build electric cars.
http://zevrev.com/welcomehome.htm
He will be missed.

[Terry Kay]

Your not kidding--not cheap.

Here's another electrical accessory item that could be avoided, if there was just some more easily accessable house battery room.

I mean if you could drop 2000 CCA's into your Van without sucking up under the rear seat space--this would be the cat's meow.

And the lead/acid deep cycle house batteries are about $89.00 each.

I'm going to work on a couple of sealed, under the floor battery boxes.
_________________
T.K.

[kevtherev]

Not sure if this helps but here's a rudimentary wiring diagram.

and for the record I think that true deep cycle batteries are commonly called traction batteries.. (fork trucks and stuff)
they like to be arranged in banks of 6v or 9v cells

marine /auxiliary/leisure...whatever.... just strengthened crankers in my opinion .