At 10:14 PM 5/17/98 -0700, Don Hundt wrote:
>Hi all,
>I am in the process of camperizing my '82 w/rabbit 1.6l  motor. I have
>added an aux. battery with an isolator but I seem to be having a
>problem. If  I run headlights and heater fan (or anything else with a
>big draw) my van will idle roughly and try to die. if I disconnect the
>aux battery it idles fine.
>I think the isolator is robbing too much power from my 65amp alternator
>and not sending enough juice to the fuel pump, thus causing fuel
>starvation at idle. I am wondering if  a high power relay in place of
>the isolator will cure this problem, also what relay to use and how to
>install it.suggestions, comments?
>thanks,
>Don
>
The isolator itself should not draw much current from your alternator. It's
probably the aux battery that's sucking the current. Try charging the aux
battery with an external charger and then see if your engine will idle
properly. If so, you're still stuck with the idle problem when you load your
alternator. I don't know much about the 1.6l rabbit engine, does it have an
idle stabilization mechanism like the 1.9 and 2.1 engines? If not, you'll
have to bump the idle up a bit to compensate for the additional load you
sometimes put on the alternator. Using a relay in place of the isolator
won't fix this problem.

Mark McCulley