I put a Sears battery into my 71 bus last summer. I was away on a cruise
in my Vanagon last January and when I returned the battery in the 71 was
flat dead. I managed to nurse it along for most of 2007 with frequent
trickle charges but if left alone for too many days it would drop to less
than 11 volts. Few weeks ago it went to 9 volts. Took it back to Sears.
"Oh, those -- we no longer carry them." Hooked it to their tester. "Yep,
bad battery."

So yeah -- you can buy batteries that use citric acid (as in lemons)
instead of sulfuric acid.

  --
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
KG6RCR

On 12/18/2007 9:39 AM Geza Polony wrote:

> The vehicle battery in my '84 Westy is charging ok, but within a few hours
> of sitting, goes down to about 12.35 volts.
>
> Alternator is new as of July, and at idle it's charging over 14 volts at the
> cigarette lighter with no accessories on. The aux battery stays consistently
> at 12.8, reading it after 12 hours of sitting. That tells me the charging
> system is doing its job and that the aux battery is in good condition.
>
> Measuring resistance  from the vehicle battery positive wires to ground
> (disconnected from battery)  gives 0 ohms for the charging wire, something
> like 12 milliohms for the "load" wire, which drops to 0 when the fridge
> LED's are turned off. In other words, no abnormal load I can see.
>
> Still, no matter how much I charge it, the fridge LED is always on yellow
> (below 12.5 volts IIRC) within an hour of turning the car off, with no
> accessories being used--even the LED's.
>
> Battery was new in July.
>
> What gives?