Yandina on Sale

[PDXWesty]

In case anyone was thinking of purchasing one in the near future, they are on sale. I ordered two C-100 this week and they just arrived. Woohoo!

http://www.yandina.com/index.htm

[westy87]

Thanks for the heads up! I just ordered the same one!

[madspaniard]

would you need the 150 version if you go with a 3rd battery in the back? sorry, I'm really clueless when it comes to this stuff

[GWTWTLW]

[whafalia]

2 Yandinas for 3 batteries would seem a simple way.

[singler3360]

Well, I guess this was the incentive I finally needed to get this ball rolling and begin Westapotamous' aux. battery install. Thanks for the alert.

[PDXWesty]

I plan on using two yandina's, one for each auxillary battery. I will connect them both to the main and see how that works. I'm running different things off each battery. Then I just have to figure out where to connect my solar panel for the most benefit. I still think the 90 amp alternator will be fine.

[GWTWTLW]

[koolmoe]

Always looking for deals and as an aux battery hookup is definitely something in my short-term plans, I should get one.
However, I'm not clear on whether these are necessary or just nice-to-have? I've a 1990 Westy GL and think I've read that it already has an isolator relay....but maybe not?
Any clarity for me out there before I buy? Any way for me to easily check?
Or is the Yandina C-100 just better overall and I should get it anyway...
Thanks!
KM
_________________
--
Current: 1990 Westy GL (Savannah. Good to be back!)
from '95 til 2008: 1995 Pathfinder (frame rusted out, charitable parts donation)
from '91-'95: 1982 Westy Diesel (Smokey. Traded in for far too little!)
from '87-'91: 1980 VW Rabbit (my econoPorsche - passed on)

[1621]

[singler3360]

Koolmoe,
I'm a complete, and as yet untested, novice when it comes to automobile 12v wiring. Over last month, I've searched, read, reread and posted to threads all over Samba on this subject. The advice of 1621, Tencentlife and others has been very helpful in getting the info needed to get a handle on how to start an aux. battery install. My goal was to not cut corners, not get too overboard and to keep it as simple and reversible as possible. There are ways to get the stock relay under the driver's seat to work but I finally settled on the Yandina due to the load reasons 1621 describes, the fact that one day I'll install an all-electric compressor fridge in place of the stock Dometic, and the simplicity of install. Depending on what you want to run on your aux. battery, your mileage may vary but that's a question for the experts, of which I am not one. Good luck.

[r39o]

Crap. 150s out of stock now! Crap.....
_________________
"Use the SEARCH, Luke" But first visit the Vanagon FAQ!

1990 Multivan EJ 22, Rancho trans 0.82 4th, Small Car front AC, CLKs w/ 215/65-16, homemade big brakes 303mm, Konis, Recaros, etc....

Click to see my ads for Cup holders, Subaru clutch fix and CLK wheels (no wheels currently)

[MarkWard]

I thought they were always on sale. I happened to order one a week ago. Lucky me. I installed it last Saturday along with my auxilary battery. Two things of interest. The wiring instructions on the web refer to a blue wire for controlling overcharging Gel type batteries. It was cut flush with the Yandina. I called and they advised it is no longer needed. It installed relatively easily. One thing that had me concerned was that it seemed to be cycling on and off a lot. I did not realize it was noisey and mounted it to the door pillar above the stock auxilary kitchen fuse box. It seems to amplify the sound. What was odd, was that I had nothing attached to the auxilary battery. I did not have my volt meter, and the directions stated it was possible for the unit to switch on and off as the batteries caught up with each other. I am a little baffled, but not enough to contact Yandina yet. It seemd to calm down after 24 hours of sitting. I was concerned that it had a mind of its own and would draw the batteries down equally while sitting. I used the 4 small gel type batteries with a bus bar I made. http://westyventures.com/images/UBauxbattery.jpg I don't think I would do that a second time. It is a very tight fit for the batteries under the driver's seat on my 82. They need to be angled to slip in or out. I had mine in and out a few times. Ended up slightly bending the stock battery hold down bracket for more room. The cover hinge also needed to be screwed back not riveted. You will need a strap under the batteries for removing them. I used the 8mm weld nut for the hold down bracket for the grounds. It is too close to the positive bus bar. Unlike the picture above, I ran an seperate power and ground out of the battery box and the Yandina ground and power leads into the box. Net step is to install my auxilary fuse pane. It has a ground bus along with a power bus for the 6 fueses. http://bluesea.com/category/5/21/productline/126 Most likely will delete the original auxilary fuse box for the kitchen if time permits. We are heading out on a 2 week vacation from Fla to Nova Scotia. Regards
_________________
☮️

[GWTWTLW]

I wouldn't be concerned about the cycling. Mine does it too. If the Aux battery is drawn down at all, it will cycle on and off until it catches up. Sometimes a heavy load on the primary battery will disconnect it too if my RPMs are down.
_________________
89 Syncro Westy - GW 2.5, now with a double knob job
@gwtwtlw

[tencentlife]

My 100A Yandina has been in use a couple years now, and it does not oscillate. Once the engine has run a moment, the starting battery V rises, I can hear the unit close, see the green indicator, and it stays closed until a few minutes after the engine is stopped. Cycling seems abnormal to me. You should verify your connections, especially grounding, and watch that the overload LED doesn't glow at any time during operation, because when that glows it will cycle off. If all is in order I would put in a call to Yandina to get their advice.

If I was doing multiple aux batteries (actually, I wouldn't, but as a hypothetical) I would put an independent combiner between each and the primary charging circuit, or connect the aux batteries in a series chain by order of charging priority with combiners between each. I saw in another thread that Mark the crazyvwvanman suggested connecting the Yandina's red lead directly to the alternator + pole, or the starter's. Either is fine; both those poles are always electrically common with the starting battery's + pole anyway, so there's no difference as far as the circuits are concerned. The only difference might be in voltage present if there are substantial drops due to resistance on the main starter wire or the short wire from starter to alternator. At the moderate charging currents you would see, if you are taking aux charge off the main battery + even a degraded main starter wire wouldn't drop V noticeably because the wire is so huge, but there can easily be drops on the much smaller alternator lead when output is high. Modifying that to a larger wire is a good idea in even a stock setup. Other than that, connecting the combiners directly to those locations may offer more convenience, so that's a nice option if, say, you planned on placing a battery under the rear seat.
_________________
Shop for unique Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/

Please don't PM here, I will not reply.

Experience is kryptonite to doctrine.

[MarkWard]

[Texxxxx]

[GWTWTLW]

[crazyvwvanman]

Keep in mind that the starting battery is never the charging source. The true source is the alternator. We often connect to the starting battery when it is convenient to do so but the charging voltage and current must come from the alternator. The wiring from the alternator to the starting battery must carry additional load when we connect our aux batteries to the starting battery. This has consequences.

Mark

[tencentlife]

Texxxx,

If your two aux batts (both brown in your drawing) were not interconected by the 6ga. wire as shown, then you would use separate combiners like you drew. But if the two aux batts are premanently paralleled, which is what you did draw, then only a single combiner would be used. But you do not want to parallel dissimilar batteries, as their internal resistances are apt to be quite different, so charging would be uneven within such a pack and that would cause one portion to receive unequal charge and in all likelihood die a premature death. If your two batteries are dissimilar, then treat them as two separate batteries and use independent combiners for charging.

That's why, as I said in an aside, I wouldn't use more than one auxiliary battery. To do it right, right being not only effective delivery of cabin power on demand but also the proper charge distribution to maximise battery performance and lifespan, I would only design a battery system that used as few parallelled cells as possible, as few interconnects as possible, and where all the cells were the same type and age. Then if there were any parallel routings I would be sure to wire it such that all current pathways thru the battery were equal in length.

These considerations are small potatoes when it's just a couple small cheap cells; they die early, but so what? They're cheap, and small cheap batteries don't usually live long no mater what you do. As you start buying real batteries and adding up to some real energy storage, it starts to represent a real investment. At that level, these small considerations of design make the difference between getting two or three years of service vs. eight to ten years of service. Quality deep cycles are more often killed not by how they are discharged, but by how they are charged.
_________________
Shop for unique Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/

Please don't PM here, I will not reply.

Experience is kryptonite to doctrine.