With all due respect to Scott, who has forgotten more about Vanagons than I will ever learn and is willing to share it all.... More/fatter wire from the alternator to the battery should not result in higher "morning after" battery resting voltage (before starting the engine) /unless/ the battery doesn't get a good charge while driving the previous day. Measuring voltage at the dash with a meter of unknown accuracy is not very helpful unless there are no other circuits in the dash that are drawing current. For example, with lamps on, the voltage at the dash will be quite a bit lower than at the battery; instead, a reasonably accurate meter connected directly to the battery terminals, as others have suggested, is the way to go. Monitoring this voltage while driving will show whether the battery is getting sufficiently high voltage to put a charge into it. Dennis Hayes wrote yesterday that "13.8 volts keeps the batteries at or just below the gassing threshold. While it will not fully charge them it prevents damage from long trips." In my '84, with the stock alternator > battery wire, I routinely see 13.1 to 13.5 V _at the dash_ (cigar lighter socket) and 12.5 to 12.6 volts the "morning after," and that seems to be a pretty okay normal value. Lower than expected charging voltage at the battery when driving could be due to heavy loads -- headlights, etc. -- all of which pull their power through the same wire that connects the battery to the alternator and which has to do double-duty powering those loads and charging the battery at the same time. Karl, you didn't write what voltage you see at the dash when driving. You might look at that with the headlights on and off. As for the starter, running more/fatter wire from the alternator to the starter solenoid should not result in more juice in the starter since the alternator isn't doing anything useful when starting; the main current path to it comes from the battery. That's the connection that would benefit from beefing up. At least that's how I sees it. -- Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana") 74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) Bend, OR KG6RCR |
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