[T3] Endless Problems.... etc

[Jim Adney]

On 6 Dec 2010 at 18:55, J. Jonik wrote:

> Will do engine-off battery check.   That's....VOM reading  between the
> pos and neg posts, right?  What voltage should it read with engine
> off? 

With the engine off, a good, well-charged battery will measure 
something around 12.5 V. If it measures less than 12 V, it's either 
dead or discharged. You won't know which until you try to charge it.

If it still reads under 11 V with a small amount of charging current, 
then you have a dead cell. (But keep in mind that running the engine 
with no generator light on is still no guarantee that charging is 
actually working. It's just more likely.)

> Also, it's not hard to put foot on pedal to rev the engine to medium
> range when doing battery test. Will do that too---i.e., not just
> testing at idle. 

That's the right thing to do. You should see the voltage run up from 
12.5 V and increase as high as 14.4 V if the battery is healthy and 
fully charged.  

-- 
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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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