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Date:         Wed, 2 Dec 2009 02:12:28 EST
Reply-To:     Mtbdavid2@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Cohen <Mtbdavid2@AOL.COM>
Subject:      need advice on charging light coming on in my 90 Vanagon GL
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Hi, During the tail end of a 6 hour trip back from Turkey Day and family bonding, my charging light came on. I recently had a pretty large car stereo amplifier and high power car stereo installed. I also purchased a black and decker can cooler than plugs into the lighter socket. So, I had my car stereo running, the can cooler and cell phone plugged in to the lighter socket and drove this way for about 5 and half hours and then my charging light came on. The can cooler has a auto shutoff when sensing a low battery charge. The can cooler shut down at the same time the dash charging light came on. Oh, I also had turned on the headlights for the last 2 hours of the drive home.

I took the Vanagon into Sears today to have the battery checked and recharged. It was drained downed to 9% capacity. They recharged the battery and did a test on the battery and said it was good. They thought my alternator might be bad but couldn't tell for sure.

I then took the Vanagon to the stereo shop who installed the stereo and they put on volt meter on the battery. It had 12.5V with the engine off and 13.5V when running. What voltage are these alternators supposed to put out in the Vanagons?

Is there anything else to check besides the battery and alternator when the charging light comes on? That is the question I was leading into.

Thanks in advance, David


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