Date:         Sun, 17 Jul 2005 20:13:28 -0700
Reply-To:     Keith Ovregaard <kovregaard@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Keith Ovregaard <kovregaard@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      More AC woes...
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

Hi all,

I forgot to mention that not only is the AC shutting down to let the
engine cool (as the temp gauge needle goes right of center), but the
electrical drain is so big that the engine had trouble restarting. When
I got home I put the charger on the two deep cycle batteries and it
took a while to top them off. The readout was 80%  and 12.1V before the
charge cycle started. I have a 75 watt PV panel on the roof that was
kicking in 4-5 amps all day and still the voltage was getting sucked
out of the batteries. Sounds like the regulator is not putting out
enough juice, so I checked it and got only 13.7V under load (headlights
on) and the readout on the charger indicated "0" for alternator output.
The voltage from the alt. has always been kind of low compared to my
Subaru (14.1V) and I have heard of other Vanagon owners that they have
also noticed low voltage.

Anybody got a modification fix or any ideas? Is this a "normal" voltage
for Vanagon alternators?

Thanks!




Keith Ovregaard
84 Westy "Brownie" Solar Charged Camper
90 Westy Syncro