Steve:

I don't know about in '85, but in '89 the Westy has a relay that sits in the
compartment under the drivers seat.  I used this existing relay, in
conjunction with a 30 amp in-line fuse and followed the instructions found
at:

http://www.vanagon.com/info/faq/#electrical

Been doing it this way for a little over a year with good results.  I also
ran a wire  (with fuse) to the #3 fuse in the dash and bypassed the fuse
there.  This powers all the accessories (interior lights, stereo, cigarette
lighter) from the auxiliary batteries.  I also have another heavy gauge wire
running to a fuse block/bus bar which is located in the "secret compartment"
behind where the interior 110vac outlet is located.  This gives me a
take-off point to run additional 12v accessories in the rear portion of the
cabin.

Brent Christensen
'89 GL Syncro Westy "Klaus"
Santa Barbara, CA

----- Original Message -----
From: "steve guzzi" <sunzuug@yahoo.com>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2000 3:03 PM
Subject: reuse fridge relay?

> Hello List,
>
> This is my first post, so I should say what a cool
> group this is!  I setup a separate email account to
> handle all the messages.  Is this what other people
> are doing?
>
> Also, I recently (a week ago) bought an '85 vanagon
> westfalia, which is my first VW of any kind.  Ive had
> friends whov'e had westy's, but this is my first time
> in the captains chair.  Im so excited I've been
> sleeping in it even though its only parked a few
> blocks from my house.  (dont tell the neighbors!)
>
> So Im definitely going to be putting in an auxillary
> battery, and I saw the faintest mention the other day
> in some post about reusing a relay associated with the
> fridge for the auxillary setup.  Is this possible, do
> many people do it, is it a good way to do it?  Seems
> like it would be cool to somehow give existing system
> components new roles like that.  I havent sat down
> with a schematic yet, so I dont really know the
> lowdown, jus thought I would see if anybody was in
> fact doing it this way.
>
> ciao
> steve guzzi
>
>
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