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Subject:2nd Westy Battery - An Easy Method?
From:Marty Wallace
Date:Mon, 31 Aug 1998 09:59:00 -0700

I'd like to put a second battery in my 1984 Westy, and there are lots of
good - although slightly complicated - ideas out there.

I'm thinking of something very, very simple - what about hooking up
another battery in parallel with the existing battery, and include a
swich or connector so that the second battery can be disconnected while
camping?  When you're ready to leave, simply re-hookup the 2nd battery to
start the engine.

Details are:

1. Install a battery (that is small enough to fit) under the driver's seat.

2. Ground the new battery to the sheetmetal, and run a heavy duty wire
from the (+)terminal on the new battery to the (+)terminal on the
existing battery.

3. Somehow allow for this (+)to(+) connection to be disrupted - either
some sort of connector or a switch.

Has anyone tried this?  Any auto-electro-mechanical-engineering-types
have any theoretical reasoning for or against this idea?

...

[If you read about a battery explosion, fire, or somesuch event related
to a 1984 Westfalia in Northern California, it'll be a pretty good bet
that it was me. 8~) ]

Marty Wallace (1984 Westy "Heisenberg")
Chico, California

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