[T3] Question on my 73 T-3 Square back . Charging system.

[William J]

 I looked back at my original post and thought I mentioned the battery 
voltage after the night time drive yet I didn't . It was 12.32 volts and I 
have no idea what it was the day before I haven't checked it in some time 
simply because it always starts / cranks over fast .

 Due to the amount of stop and go driving I do it was probably low and 12.32 
is close to 50% charged . I placed it on a 2 amp charge on a timer set for 3 
hours and let it do two charges 6 hours total .

 Today I checked the battery voltage and read 12.59 volts .I started the car 
had my DVOM connected to jumpers from the battery so I could see it from the 
front seat.

 This is what I got . 14.20 V @ 2000 eng rpm
                              14.07 V @ 1000  "    rpm
                               all lamps on 14.05 V @ 2000 eng rpm , park 
lamps 14.12 V
                                @2000 rpm

                               all lamps on @ 1000 rpm 12.76 V , park lamps 
on 13.25 V

                                All lamps on @1000 rpm 12.76 V was the high 
point then after runing say 5 minutes to 10 minutes the lowest point was 
12.38 V so at that point like sitting at a stop at idle not in drive it was 
at point drawing off the battery. When the car is in drive the eng rpm is 
still  950 to 1000. varies due to the electric AAR not opening fast enough. 
The odd thing to me is when in drive the voltage will drop down to battery 
voltage faster then if I'm in park even when the engine RPM is still near 
1000 rpm. I drive it most times is at 1000 rpm in park it usually raises to 
1100 rpm but not always. This seems to be the AAR .

 I should have mentioned the 12.32 battery voltage as well all know this 
should always be the starting point . I knew yet forget to mention that in 
my first post , sorry.

 I also for kicks ran a jumper right to the VDO voltmeter and the reading 
did not change so what I did was have the DVOM connected to battery and 
adjusted the VDO meter at 2000 eng rpm and set it to read 14 volts it was 
close to 13.6 yet the gauge marks on voltmeters like this are not the same 
distance or perhaps linear , it has an 8 V 10 V 12 V 14 V and 16 V , the 8 
to 10 V mark is much closer than the 10V to 12 V mark as is the 12 V to 14 V 
marks then the 14 V mark to 16 V mark is the same space as the 8 V to 10 V . 
I just figure half way between 12 V and 14 V is around 13 V and judging by 
the DVOM readings it's pretty close, Although the VDO meter is dampened so 
it does not react to voltage changes nearly as fast as the DVOM . All I use 
it for is to see what the system is doing .

 With the readings I get now I see no issues other than the battery was 
dischanged down to about 50% after the night drive that is if 12.3 V is 50% 
as least that's what I see on most battery state of charge charts.

 I have a 72 spare fuse box just to look at to see just how the R/W lead 
from the regulator feeds all the fuses yet I don't see that I see 3 fuses 
shared then 2  a single and 3 more doubles and looking at the wiring diagram 
Bentley the connections are made in the harnessess and switches.

William
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Adney" <jadney at vwtype3.org>
To: <type3 at vwtype3.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2018 12:07 PM
Subject: Re: [T3] Question on my 73 T-3 Square back . Charging system.


> On 1 Jul 2018 at 11:48, William J wrote:
>
>> Trouble is if I run a wire right off battery + to the gauge it will read
>> all the time and may or not be a significant draw on the battery when the
>> cars sits for days .
>
> That's a good point, but since you already have the relay, just run the
> dedicated sense wire to the input of the relay and let the relay coil 
> continue
> to be powered only when the key is ON.
>
> I agree that the current draw of the voltmeter is minimal, but if the car 
> doesn't
> get driven very often, it could eventually be a problem.
>
> -- 
> *******************************
> Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> *******************************
>
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