NOT to discount Davids advice (always great!) but my take on this type of
situation is to take the battery out and trickle charge it over night. If
you don't have one buy one at FLAPS for 40 bucks, no one should be without
one if they own a vehicle. If you don't want to buy one take it to a garage
and have them trickle charge it over night, and then have them check it with
their meter. Wait at least an hour between charging and checking it with a
multimeter. If it reads below 13 volts then you are likely to have a battery
problem. My experience has been almost always suspect your battery 1st.
Despite what others tell you the battery (IMHO) is the weakest link in the
entire system. Here in Arizona we replace batteries every two years. Last
month I replaced a Exide Deep Cycle (1 yr old) after checking over my entire
system. I then did the above and it was at 11.8 volts. Replaced the battery
(warranty/free) and now my van is working fine.

>From: David Beierl <dbeierl@ibm.net>
>Reply-To: David Beierl <dbeierl@ibm.net>
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Re: How does one get a battery to charge up to where it is
>      supposed to??
>Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 12:23:10 -0400
>
>Huh -- we should have looked harder at the grounds.
>
>Get ye to an electronics place and if you're not feeling stingy, get a
>Fluke multimeter (or Hickock, or any of the high-priced spread).  If you
>*are* feeling stingy, get Radio Shack or whatever's handy.  Look for these
>specs:
>
>Must have:
>Measures DC volts down to single millivolts, ohms at least 2 megohms but
>preferably 10 or more, amps down to single milliamps. (practically
rest deleted
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