Edward, yes that is the better setup. The factory aux battery gets
charged from a shorter wire path between the two front boxes. The weak
method tries to use a wire from the dash fuse panel to charge the aux
battery.

Mark

Edward Maglott wrote:
> Mark,
> My van started life as the 86 Wolfsburg "weekender" with the aux battery
> and the portable fridge that plugged into the receptacle on the passenger
> seat podium. Is this the set up with the "better wire" already there?
>
> Edward
>
> On Sun, Mar 4, 2012 at 6:16 PM, mark drillock<mdrillock@cox.net>  wrote:
>
>> Dave, the Vanagons that came with an aux battery have an stock wire
>> running from the main battery compartment to the aux battery compartment
>> that is used for charging the second battery via a relay. That wire is
>> stock for dual battery vans. Some people with campers try to add a
>> second battery without adding this wire that theirs didn't come with.
>> Instead they try to use the stock wire under their driver seat that
>> comes from the fuse panel and which is there to provide power for the
>> camper kitchen and camper 3 way fridge to run on 12 volts. The first
>> stock wire works fine for its intended purpose of charging the battery.
>> The second stock wire works fine for the Westy kitchen/fridge but poorly
>> if asked to charge a battery.
>>
>> The stock aux battery wiring works fine for charging the battery but few
>> vans have this stock wire.
>>
>> The stock fridge wiring works poorly when converted to charging a
>> battery without adding a separate charging wire from the main battery.
>>
>>
>> Mark
>>
>