Fellow Listees.

I finally picked up a Westy.  Got a GREAT deal on an '86 Wolfsburg Weekender
with 97000 miles.  Made an interesting discovery soon after bringing it home.
The PO had just put in a new battery and had complained about the previous one
always running down.  I checked and sure enough there was auxilary battery
under the drivers seat.  It looked to be original and was stone dead.  From
what I've been learning the two batteries will try to equalize each other while
the vehicle is running.  Meaning that the dead battery will eventually kill the
good battery.  I pulled out the aux. battery last night and disconected the
signal wire from the relay so the positive cable wouldn't be hot when the van
is running.

So here's the question(s) to ponder:

This is a base model Westy.  The only accessory I can find inside that might
have been wired to the aux battery is the lighter socket mounted in the base of
the passenger seat (I haven't checked it yet).  The aux battery was factory
installed and even has venting which I didn't think was done.  So the question
is, why would this vehicle have been assembled this way with an aux battery and
nothing for it to operate?  I suppose it could have been specifically ordered
this way but it seems unlikely.  I'm debating whether to put a battery back in
there any time soon.  If I do, it would seem prudent to install it along with
an entire suite of aux powered devices such as converter, extra lights,
charger, meter, etc.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Jeff Warner
'87 Vanagon GL
'86 Westfalia Wolfsburg
Camper