Date:         Sun, 9 May 2021 08:16:26 -0400
Reply-To:     Geoffrey Toye <geoffreytoye@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Geoffrey Toye <geoffreytoye@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Bad battery?
Comments: To: tdiguru@westyventures.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

Karl,

The first winter after I bought my '81 westy I was having trouble keeping
the main battery charged when the van was not being used.  I disconnected
the battery and found that the parasitic draw was from the clock. The draw
was enough to completely drain the battery in four weeks.  So now I keep a
battery maintainer on it in the winter.

It used to be that batteries would slowly die, cranking slower and slower
as time goes on. Now it seems that they die quickly. My last two batteries
on my two cars died in a matter of days of first signs of a problem. Quite
worrying if you're on  a long trip.

Hope the AGM is better.



Date:    Sat, 8 May 2021 14:07:39 -0400
From:    Karl Mullendore <tdiguru@WESTYVENTURES.COM>
Subject: Re: Bad battery?

I just replaced the crap Napa battery in my MV, four years in, only 30K
miles.
Driven regularly, but not daily. Started to crank slow last fall, charged
it,
and seemed fine until I came back from two months away in my big camper.
The MV
was in the garage all that time, not heated but never below freezing, and
was
completely dead when I returned, < 6V. No external draws. I replaced it
with an
Odyssey AGM battery.