Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 21:44:23 -0800
Reply-To: laurasdog@WEIRDSTUFFWEMAKE.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Steve Delanty <laurasdog@WEIRDSTUFFWEMAKE.COM>
Subject: charging woes/charging joy
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Well, last week I had charging problems. The bearings on
my alt were toast and also the charging voltage was very
low. The smart thing would have been to have the alt rebuilt
at a good auto/electrical shop, but I *really* wanted to use
the van for a 450 mile excursion the following day, so I just
bought a rebuild from Kragen instead. (I know better, but...)
All was well for the first 390 miles of the trip. Then... BING,
on comes the charging light. Crap. Pull over and take a quick
look. Hmmmm.... Belt is still on, wires look tight, nothing
obvious, but no charging. Sigh... only 60 miles to go and
it's daylight, so just go for it!
Only 15 miles from home, heading up a moderate grade
and the game is over. The van dies suddenly. Only about
2 seconds warning that something is wrong. Rats... game over.
Hit the key to crank it and... nothing.
Push the van about 50 feet to a safe place off the road
and walk 1/4 mile to a house with a phone.
Call a friend to come get us and take us home.
Come back with a fully charged battery, set it in the van,
hook it up with jumper cables and VROOooom... starts right
up. Drive it home.
Troubleshooting reveals that the regulator is DOA. Rats...
The alternator itself tests O.K. and looks nice inside, so
instead of taking it back to Kragen for another one
(Lifetime warranty = spend your lifetime changing them) I
decided to keep this one and swap the internal regulator
for an external Ford regulator. I prefer external regulators
anyway because they can be set up to sense the charging
voltage right at the battery instead of at the alternator output
and also can be mounted on the chassis away from the heat
and vibration of the alternator. And I had a spare Ford regulator.
Anyway, the transplant was a great success and the battery
voltage now is a delightful and constant 14.3 volts even with
all lights and accessories on instead of the measly 13.8 volts
with NO lights and accessories and 13.0 volts with
highbeams on that I had with the internal Bosch regulator.
My headlights got noticeably brighter too, and they were
already pretty bright after doing the headlight relay conversion
last week.
Volts are good... Volts are your friend.. (-:
Steve
