For 84, there are 2 red wires attached at the alternator. These go to
the engine compartment wiring box where they attach to a threaded stud
with a couple other red wires. From there a single red goes to the
starter motor stud shared by the main battery cable. There it transfers
the charging voltage to the main battery cable and on to the battery.
That is the 84 charging path, convoluted and known to fail inside the
wiring box. (jump starting another car with a vanagon while the vanagon
engine is running risking cooking this wiring path, never do this!)

So the stock charging path for 84 goes like this:
Alternator to wiring box stud to starter motor stud to battery main
terminal.

There is no red wire in the battery box that has anything to do with the
charging path. Only the main battery cable in the battery box does that job.

Mark

HotelWestfalia wrote:
> Apologies, the car is 1984 June Vanagon camper.  The direct wire seems to
> work but I'm worried, I may have excluded something that way.
> Zoltan
>
>