Or you could do the Volvo fix

  http://www.linkline.com/personal/dbarton/AdjustableVoltage.html

Mike

At 01:21 PM 7/21/2003 -0700, Steve Delanty wrote:
>At 12:42 PM 7/21/2003, you wrote:
>>i read in the archives that Optima does NOT recommend
>>anything less than a 15 volt alternator output, if
>>this is true, then we are all undercharging our
>>optimas becouse the vanagon's Alt charges around
>>13-14V.
>[snip]
>
>The stock Bosch alternator is actually a pretty good piece.
>It's decently made and has good current capacity.
>The problem is that the crummy little internal regulator
>is lazy and tends towards low voltage. Also it measures
>the voltage *at the alternator* instead of at the battery
>so when the electrical load is high, the voltage drop
>across the charging wire (from alternator to battery)
>causes the battery to see very low charging voltage
>particularly under high electrical loads.
>
>A reasonably simple (and cheap!) cure is to remove the
>stock internal regulator, and replace it with a nice Ford
>style external regulator. This works VERY well on the
>Bosch alternator. You need to cut a couple leads on
>the back side of the internal Bosch regulator and solder
>1 wire on that will go out to the external (Ford) regulator.
>
>Also, while you are at it, run a small wire from the regulators
>"voltage sense" terminal up to the battery, so the regulator
>measures the charging voltage AT THE BATTERY and
>compensates for the voltage drop across the charging wire
>and keeps the battery charge voltage much more constant
>regardless of electrical load.
>I did these things to the alternator that was in my vanagon
>and loved it.
>
>I don't have the URL's for the sites I found it at, but the
>external regulator conversion seems popular with the Volvo
>crowd. Type -Bosch Ford alternator- into a search engine and
>you should find several websites with instructions on doing
>the regulator swap.
>It's pretty easy and works GREAT!
>
>Steve
>EJ22 -> '86 Westy "Escape Pod"