At 11:30 9/29/2000, 1980 VW Westfalia \"Pokey\" wrote:
>2) Did we ever determine if there was any advantage to the Hella kit over
>the fridge relay modification on <http://www.vanagon.com>www.vanagon.com?

If you leave the original 2.5mm supply wire to the relay, the battery will
charge slower.  If you change to 6mm the way VW did it, you *might* shorten
the life of the relay, in which case you could replace it -- however rumor
has it that the existing relay has a fairly hefty rating.  The Hella kit
makes sense if there is not already an installation (and if you look
closely at the label on the Hella kit, I think you'll find it says
"fridge/aux batt" or equivalent).  I don't know what size wire Hella supplies.

>3) I want to be able to start from the auxiliary. To do this with the
>fridge relay I have to jump to the starter battery, do I have to do this
>with the Hella Kit?

Absolutely.  A parallel arrangement that would let you actually start from
the aux battery would involve starter-size cables and monster switches.

david
David Beierl - Providence, RI
  http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage"
'85 GL "Poor Relation"