One of those situations that is obvious to veterans but a nagging mystery
to neophytes:

I plugged my 84 westy in (120v shore power) tonight to try the 12 pack
chill-down test. Fridge works well - brought them down to proper temp in
approx 1.5 hours. 

But,

Does plugging in to 120v disable the 12v system? The interior lights won't
work as long as I'm on shore power. Seems sort of silly to me. 

A different but related question: What are the odds that the shore power is
charging the battery during plugin time? If it doesn't work that way is
there any way I can get it to? For some reason I have minor nightmares
about camping in some remote location, using battery for various things
and discovering that I don't have enough juice to get started again. It
would be reassuring to know that shore power=trickle charging so that I
can have a relatively clean conscience about battery upkeep. Wish I had
that dual battery, only drain one for camping, other for starting, kind of
setup.

As my van has an auto trans push starting isn't an option. And before you
say that auto trans owners get what they deserve bear in mind that some of
us don't have all the necessary limbs to operate a manual trans. I'm a
left leg amputee so its auto or nothing. 

Any advice would be appreciated. I'll even toast answerers with one of my
chilled Upper Canada Lagers!

Thanks.

--
Sean O'Neil | "listen, it was so savage and brutal and powerful that even
Ottawa CAN  |  though it happened out of the blue I knew there was nothing
            |  arbitrary about it" 
	    |  -Christopher Dewdney-