Electrical question

[Damon Foster]

Hello - I just brought an 84 West Vanagon. If I plug it in will it automatically draw power from that and not th ebattery....or do I need to flip a switch?

 

[Kevin W Colvill]

The shore power plug on the 84 will only power the fridge (if you flip the switch to 110v)  and the outlet by the back seat. There is a wall plug with two outlets under the sink that the fridge is plugged in to.  If it is stock the service light over the sink still runs off the start battery. The aux battery only powers the fridge (if the switch is flipped to 12v) in the typical Westfalia relay configuration.

[Damon Foster]

Hi Kevin - Thanks for the reply. Im kind of a meat head when it comes to this so I apologize if it comes across dumb. My van is an 83' Vanagon.

 

So, If I have the van plugged in from the outside.....it only will run the fridge. It doesnt flow power to stereo, lights, whatever electrical I might be using?

[Gary Marrs]

It will only run the fridge if you select it on the fridge, it doesn't switch over by itself.  If you have the aux battery, you can wire the stereo and lights etc. to run off the aux battery. I have put a battery doctor on my aux system to keep my battery charged up when I'm plugged in to shore power. It's a battery charger that when the battery goes down will turn on and charge your battery. They only charge at about 1.5 to 2 amps. So after you go to bed it keeps charging til your aux battery is fully charged and will turn itself off. Works like a champ and I always have power for everything when plugged in.

[Kevin W Colvill]

No worries any question when needed is not a "dumb" one.  I have an 84 Westfalia which is darn near the same animal if yours has a radiator up front. It seems VW only worried about the fridge with the 110AC power. And you have to select it's power usage on a switch inside the fridge door. Everything in your camper needs to run off a battery and then something charges it. Most campers did not come with the aux or camper battery under the drivers seat. That is the first thing to check. The "stand alone" camper functions were left up to the dealer, camper shops like Adventurewagon or the end user. The only automatic camper function on the stock van is a relay under the seat. The relay cuts 12v power to the fridge so the start battery won't get killed when parked. The good news is there lots of different ways to add "stand alone" power and shore power to add charge when you plug in.

Damon Foster said:

Hi Kevin - Thanks for the reply. Im kind of a meat head when it comes to this so I apologize if it comes across dumb. My van is an 83' Vanagon.

 

So, If I have the van plugged in from the outside.....it only will run the fridge. It doesnt flow power to stereo, lights, whatever electrical I might be using?

[Damon Foster]

THANK YOU!

Gary Marrs said:

It will only run the fridge if you select it on the fridge, it doesn't switch over by itself.  If you have the aux battery, you can wire the stereo and lights etc. to run off the aux battery. I have put a battery doctor on my aux system to keep my battery charged up when I'm plugged in to shore power. It's a battery charger that when the battery goes down will turn on and charge your battery. They only charge at about 1.5 to 2 amps. So after you go to bed it keeps charging til your aux battery is fully charged and will turn itself off. Works like a champ and I always have power for everything when plugged in.