Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2003 19:27:37 -0400
Reply-To: Derek Drew <derekdrew@RCN.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Derek Drew <derekdrew@RCN.COM>
Subject: Re: Vanagon alternator too weak for Optimas.
In-Reply-To: <5.2.0.9.2.20030721161856.00bb0f38@pop.everyone.net>
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<font size=3>Has anyone actually confirmed that the link below leads to
kits that can be installed in our vehicles? <br><br>
These kits seem like a great way to be able to temporarily push a lot of
juice into the batteries in order to get them charged up fast and then
let the voltage come down after that. <br><br>
At 04:20 PM 7/21/2003 -0500, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Or you could do the Volvo
fix<br><br>
<a href="http://www.linkline.com/personal/dbarton/AdjustableVoltage.html" eudora="autourl">http://www.linkline.com/personal/dbarton/AdjustableVoltage.html</a><br><br>
Mike<br><br>
At 01:21 PM 7/21/2003 -0700, Steve Delanty wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>At 12:42 PM 7/21/2003, you
wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>i read in the archives that Optima
does NOT recommend<br>
anything less than a 15 volt alternator output, if<br>
this is true, then we are all undercharging our<br>
optimas becouse the vanagon's Alt charges around<br>
13-14V.</blockquote>[snip]<br><br>
The stock Bosch alternator is actually a pretty good piece.<br>
It's decently made and has good current capacity.<br>
The problem is that the crummy little internal regulator<br>
is lazy and tends towards low voltage. Also it measures<br>
the voltage *at the alternator* instead of at the battery<br>
so when the electrical load is high, the voltage drop<br>
across the charging wire (from alternator to battery)<br>
causes the battery to see very low charging voltage<br>
particularly under high electrical loads.<br><br>
A reasonably simple (and cheap!) cure is to remove the<br>
stock internal regulator, and replace it with a nice Ford<br>
style external regulator. This works VERY well on the<br>
Bosch alternator. You need to cut a couple leads on<br>
the back side of the internal Bosch regulator and solder<br>
1 wire on that will go out to the external (Ford) regulator.<br><br>
Also, while you are at it, run a small wire from the regulators<br>
"voltage sense" terminal up to the battery, so the
regulator<br>
measures the charging voltage AT THE BATTERY and<br>
compensates for the voltage drop across the charging wire<br>
and keeps the battery charge voltage much more constant<br>
regardless of electrical load.<br>
I did these things to the alternator that was in my vanagon<br>
and loved it.<br><br>
I don't have the URL's for the sites I found it at, but the<br>
external regulator conversion seems popular with the Volvo<br>
crowd. Type -Bosch Ford alternator- into a search engine and<br>
you should find several websites with instructions on doing<br>
the regulator swap.<br>
It's pretty easy and works GREAT!<br><br>
Steve<br>
EJ22 -> '86 Westy "Escape Pod"</blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
_______________________________________________<br>
Derek
Drew
<br>
CEO & Co-Founder <br>
ConsumerSearch, Inc.<br>
New York, NY & Washington DC<br>
derekdrew@rcn.com<br>
202-966-7907 <br>
(cell) 703-408-1532 <br><br>
<a href="http://www.consumersearch.com/%A0%A0%A0" eudora="autourl">http://www.ConsumerSearch.com/
</a> <br>
Time Magazine, June 19, 2003<br>
"50 Best Websites"<br><br>
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