Schumacher 1.5 amp/hour automatic trickle charger.   It's charging  the auxiliary battery when the van is plugged into 110 volts.   We have it mounted under the sink and it is weather resistant so a little bit of water leaking on it won't hurt it.   Not that our sink leaks, but we have had rain blow in the window (when it's open) above the sink and water will run down behind the sink.   Now we make sure we keep this window closed if it looks like it could rain.

Vector Maxx 350 watt continuous/700 watt peak DC to AC inverter purchased at Wal-Mart (available at most autoparts stores) for around $40.   It has two outlets and is wired directly to the auxiliary battery.   Powerful enough to run computers, TV's, VCR's, drills, and other
assorted items.   If you mount one of these somewhere, make sure you have adequate
ventilation around it.   They can get pretty warm when you have a high load on them.

<--Battery relay

Auxiliary battery:  Optima gell cell marine deep cycle battery model D-34.   The marine one is nice because it has an extra set of threaded studs that make it handy to attach all of the
accessories you will want to hook to it. 
The battery compartment behind the driver's seat in a Vanagon is not tall enough for 99% of all deep cycle batteries.   The reason you are able to use a gell cell battery in this location is because it can be turned on it's side without fear of leaking acid.   These batteries can be mounted upside down and they won't leak.
To do this you must remove the seat swivel mechanism (on those Vanagons that have swivel seats).   In order to use this location some of the metal plate that the seat swivel mechanism is mounted to must be removed.   This is quite a job, because the steel is very heavy gauge, and in order to prevent getting metal dust everywhere (which will turn to rust within weeks) you must tape off and mask areas to catch the dust.   
The amount of metal that needs to be removed won't affect the strength of the seat swivel mounting plate.   Make sure you thoroughly vacuum up any dust found, them prime and paint where the metal was cut.
We placed a relay normally used for accessory lights on ambulances made by GP/Sorensen. It is the model SS-74 rated for 80 amps continuous and 160 amps intermittent current.   It cost about $20 at Discount Auto Parts.   When doing this, make sure you use a relay and not a solenoid.   Solenoids are only built for brief periods of current, not sustained loads.   
A battery cable was run from the positive side starting battery (behind passenger seat),
under the van to the input side of the relay.   Another short battery cable was run from the output side of the relay to the auxiliary battery's positive post.
There are two small posts on the relay in addition to the larger battery ones.   One small post is a ground.   Make sure you ground this well, it can be under quite a load.   The other small        post is the one that activates the relay.   This is connected to the small fuse box located to the left and behind the driver's seat on the Westfalia (there isn't one on regular Vanagons).   This is the fuse box for the refrigerator.   Make sure you connect it to the wire that is only hot when the ignition is on.
We made a short (heavy-duty) jumper wire with large alligator clips on it so we could jump the starting battery from the auxiliary battery just by opening the lid and connecting the clips.   It has come in handy once or twice when we had a short in the system from the previous owners odd wiring for the stereo system.

Previous page

Next page