Check that there is continuity between hot side engine battery and hot side
camper battery when the alternator is running.  Mine wasn't and I had to add
a new connection wire.  I presume the original got broken somehow.

Mike
On 11/26/02 7:41 AM, "Neil Wasbrikoff" <wasbrikoff@NETSCAPE.NET> wrote:

> Hello Vanagon community,
>
> I've run into a recent issue with my 1987 Westfalia camper's 2nd battery. I
> thought I will ask for suggestions here.
>
> On a recent road trip to California, over hundreds of miles ... my brand new
> second battery failed to charge. We used it till it was low, when we were
> camping the day before, and thought it would charge on the 800 mile road trip
> we took the following day. It didn't.
>
> Any suggestions for what to check, to allow my aux battery to charge when I
> drive? Should the aux battery charge when being driven?
>
> I have the camper with no appliances, and am wondering also ... what all does
> the second battery power?
>
> I ask, because, when our second batter died, my interior fluorescent light
> kept shinning bright, as if it were running off my main battery under the
> passengers  seat. I thought the fluorescent light in the main area was powered
> off the aux battery. So, I tried and experiment. Knowing my aux was low, I
> disconnected my main batt. My fluorescent light went out, suggesting it was
> powered off the main batt.
>
> Would this occur, because my aux battery was low/dead?  I am trying to figure
> out, what the aux battery powers, if my fluorescent light seems to be wired to
> my main battery. Can I change the wiring easily, so that my interior lights
> can be wired off my aux and not my main?
>
> just trying to learn more about my van and it's wiring...
> thanks,
> Neil
>
>
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