I have had two Vanagons where the alternator did'nt charge until the engine was revved once above 1400 or more rpm. So, if they were started without revving, they were running off the battery.

 You can tell if this is the case with your alternator by starting the engine , turn on a fan and hear the fan pick-up rpm as the alternator kicks in when you rev the engine. I suppose this is an indication that something is wrong with the alternator, but I have lived with it quite a while.  

Robert  
1982 Westfalia

----- Urspr�ngliche Nachricht -----
Von: Steve Firebaugh
Gesendet: Monday, December 02, 2002 8:04 PM
An: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Betreff: Camping in cold & battery

I was out this past weekend to Eastern Oregon, in 87 Westy with Tiico
conversion with 2500 miles. Lows at night were 15 to 20. One morning, in
order to start melting the frost off the windows, I started her up, and
let her idle for 30 minutes or so, with heaters going, then turned her
off after the windows were clear and interior warm.

An hour later, when we were ready to go, the battery was dead. A push
start was needed. Clearly the alternator at idle rate was not charging
the battery while running the heaters (front and rear).

Is this normal? Advice to keep charged up when idling?

Thanks,

Steve FirebaughHolen Sie mehr aus dem Web. Unter http://explorer.msn.de/intl.asp#de gibt es einen KOSTENLOSEN Download von MSN Explorer.