RAC Van - what do the 2 batteries do?

[Dickydee68]

Pauly submitted a new download:

RAC Van Wiring Diagram - Official RAC Wiring Schematic



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Apologies if this seems a daft question, completely new to this, as I read the diagram, the main battery starts the van and the auxiliary battery does everything else, so does that mean you can't dispense with the auxiliary without a mahoosive rewire

 

[roadtripper]

Not a daft question at all @Dickydee68 and welcome to the forum.

Broadly the start battery does all the "car" things, so starting and running the engine, all the road lights, dashboard, radio, front interior lights.

The auxiliary battery powers the things you want to use when parked, protecting the starter battery so if the worst happens and you run the auxiliary down you still have plenty of power to start.

Rough rule of thumb if you remove the auxiliary battery everything you need to drive still works.

With the RAC fit out the Auxiliary battery is put in at the factory by VW and then almost all the RAC equipment is powered from that. The only exception is the very high current jump start sockets and the folding trailer - these are very high power so are wired from the starter battery but would be used with the engine running so that both the battery and alternator can provide power. The van will.also be ordered with the high power alternator to help with the load.

I had a discussion with @smithson15 about this recently you might find useful:

No continuity between main battery +ve and OEM split charge relay. Could it be this cable?

Got an ex RAC van with all their cabling cut out. All the split charge wiring seems to be in place fine, with working fuses and relay (continuity all checked with engine on and off). Looked at the main battery and saw this cable wasn’t attached to anything though. Failing this I’ll assume it’s...

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