So, I was getting about 13.5-13.8 volts at the alternator, but only around 12.5 at the battery. No change with RPM. So, to the archives, lots of reading, studied the Bentley, some threads on thesamba. This has been going on for some time, battery was running down, seemed to be getting worse. Turns out it was a loose nut on the alternator, the D+ connector I think it is called, where the 2 red wires connect on the top. Of course being somebody who knows it all, at first I concluded a new regulator or alternator is in order. But.....after some reading, and all the advice, I changed and figured that bad grounds, bad connections, or possibly damaged wires were the most likely cause. Very odd, the nut holding those ring terminals on the terminal was loose, I could wiggle those connectors back and forth a bit. The nut itself is somewhat binding on the post, so not sure how it got loose. Maybe a left over from when I fixed the alternator bracket over a year ago. There was no lock washer, except on the other nut that seems to hold this post or something. So cleaned (filed, sanded) all the parts and tightened. Nice voltage at the battery. Thanks guys, gotta love those $0 repairs. Roland '89 Syncro PS: found this article on gerry from 1995, very informative. ALTERNATOR CHARGING SYSTEMS How to avoid electrical generating problems - Motorhome, July 1995 by Joel R. Donaldson http://gerry.vanagon.com/files/motorhome/Motorhome-Alternator-Charging-Systems.txt |
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