Good grief, my head is spinning after following this thread.  My old EVC had
a built in charger, and my only problem with it was forgetting to unplug the
extension cord before I drove off.  Those electrical connectors were about
$40 each, and I destroyed two of them because the ground terminal broke off
each time.  Now I just run the cord to a smart charger through a cracked
open driver's side window.  Can't miss it now, I'd strangle myself if I
drove off.

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Rocket J Squirrel
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2012 7:20 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: [Nearly Off-Topic] Seeking Battery Switch

BTW,

"You're really just adding complexity for almost no benefit."

B-but I like baroque wiring and lots of switches and gauges. It's fun!
At least those are items I understand and can troubleshoot. It's all the
whirling, heavy and noisy stuff in the engine compartment and those obscure
huge bits of cast metal on the underside that intimidate me.
Lemme have my fun, don't harsh my buzz, man.

--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
Bend, Ore.

On 09/20/2012 05:18 PM, Dennis Haynes wrote:
> You're really just adding complexity for almost no benefit. Use the
> smart charger for your solar array since you may then have power for
> enough hours for it to matter. Install a proper 110 volt charger such
> as one of the progressive dynamic units for when the van is home or
> when shore power is available. Do keep in mind that each time you "top
> off" (80-100%) the battery you are doing a charge cycle which is
> limiting factor of battery life.