Mike,

You are correct the three LEDs are not exactly precision indicator of
the battery condition. However please bare in mind even with an accurate
voltmeter monitoring the battery still requires some common sense and
your knowledge of your own battery.

A sultfated battery can display the same voltage level (when lightly
loaded) as a healthy battery but it may not be able to provide the
current to turn the engine over.

For rough indication you should cut back on draining the battery if it
reach amber. Definite start the engine to recharge the battery if the
red light up. Please note that the alternator charges at very low rate
when the engine is idling. It will only provide decent charging current
at above 2500 RPM.

- Vince

http://gipsyflies.home.comcast.net
1989 Vanagon GL Camper
1993 Mazda Miata
1996 Land Rover Discovery
2005 Mini Cooper S (almost here)

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Rocky Squirrel
Sent: Sunday, August 29, 2004 6:33 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Battery LEDs = Useful life?

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I hope this message gets through -- we're presently at the Red Lion
Hotel in Spokane for my niece's wedding. Later today my lovely wife and
I will fly to Oakland, CA, meet up with our new-to-us 84 Westy and begin
a weeklong trip up the northern California coastline. It will be a
longer camping trip than we've ever taken with our Westy. It has a
single main battery and an automatic transmission, so I know that if the
battery goes too low, starting the engine might require a jump from
someone. The engine generally starts easily, not a lot of cranking
required. To avoid needing a helping hand I will keep an eye on the
battery LEDs. But three lamps are hardly a precision indicating system.
Is there a rule of thumb about how to interpret the LEDs vs enough juice
to start? I also have a digital voltmeter -- how low does the battery
voltage go when we're looking at Danger Will Robinson?

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"