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Westfalia / Re: Westfalia Weekender aux battery, upgrades, solar, etc thread.

« on: August 16, 2016, 10:22:23 am »

If your seat base is not modified you have some options. Mostly your limitations are height and width.
I have replaced the OEM battery with an Interstate SLA 1180.
It fits nicely and is AGM.  You will need to replace your ground wire with a longer one and need to rig up a simple way to secure it.  Others have used slightly larger flooded batteries. 
http://vauweh.com/wp/2015/07/21/more-on-batteries/

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Westfalia / Re: Yakima roof tracks on a Westfalia top.

« on: July 31, 2015, 07:43:17 pm »

I spaced ours about 3 inches from the last bolt - in hindsight i should have tried to go a tad further back. On the other hand, if you want to put something on the crossbars, a bit further front allows you to use the step on the sliding door to get up there. The real issue is that the van is pretty tall to pack something on top of the crossbars.
FK

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Westfalia / Re: Westfalia Weekender aux battery, upgrades, solar, etc thread.

« on: July 31, 2015, 03:48:47 pm »

Ok, i bite and post.

I have recently installed the following:
- Solar panel (100w) on the roof (removable)
- Morningstar charge controller
- replaced aux battery with AGM SLA 1180 Interstate (65Ah) under the driver seat
- added second aux battery (same type) in parallel under the passenger seat
- added additional power outlets
- replaced rear facing driver side seat with ARB compressor fridge.
- added main fuse to protect sine wave inverter and ALL outlets that are driven off the aux battery

On order:
- Low voltage disconnect thingamagig to protect the newly added outlet under passenger seat.

Issues encountered:
- when changing battery to SLA 1180 you need to update the ground wire under the driver seat (original is too short)
- you also need to create / fabricate a strap/bracket to secure the battery. It does not have a lip like the OEM flooded
- when adding battery under passenger seat you need to run 4AWG wires between the seats. No issue in our van but if you have no rubber mat you need to figure out how to do that without tripping
- Also, you need a battery retaining system under the passenger seat. You can try to find an OEM battery tray or fabricate something.
- Its much easier to work it when you remove the seats. For that you ideally need a very low profile hex allen wrench with a small ratchet. the front bolts are half covered by the seat and its a bit of a pain to remove / reinstall.
- If you add fuses etc., make sure you make the wires long enough that you can access the fuse holders from the front of the seat once everything is reinstalled.
After much futzing it all seems to be working fine.


Details here:
http://www.vauweh.com