[T3] Battery voltage with headlamps on ?

[William Jahn]

Jim , when I read the VDO voltmeter I have it calibrated to read voltage
off the battery even though it's not connected to the battery . It has the
marks that are odd; it shows 8,10 , 14 & 16. solid green area from 12 to 16
, red area between 8 and 11 it seems and a red and green area from 12 down
to maybe 11 . it was not in the 11 volt range it was a bit below the 12
mark so I have no idea what that is voltage wise. It is wired to the fuse
box so even though it's calibrated for battery voltage does not mean it was
not lower. The thing that troubled me was the turn flasher lights flashing
so fast yet nothing else dimmed that I could see.
 William

On Thu, May 5, 2022 at 3:24 PM Jim Adney <jadney at vwtype3.org> wrote:

> It's important to understand that our generators don't do much of anything
> when the engine is at idle. At that point, you're just running on the
> battery,
> and that's fine. Getting down to 11 volts sounds lower than I'd expect,
> but
> you have to keep in mind that it depends on where you're measuring the
> voltage. The system voltage will be lower at the fuse box than it is at
> the
> battery. The difference will be larger if your headlights are on.
>
> The 12.45 you measured in the morning sounds fine. The hardest thing
> you'll ever ask your battery to do is to start the engine. As long as it
> can do
> that, it's okay.
>
> Jim
>
> On 5 May 2022 at 14:32, William Jahn wrote:
>
> > Yesterday I was driving 3 miles home at night. At low RPM idle 800 RPM
> auto
> > trans in drive. The voltage would drop only at stops in gear most of the
> > time if I sat long enough it was 12 volts then once I began to move it
> read
> > near 14 volts. The last stop was a bit longer, had  the Turn signals on
> and
> > noticed they were flashing fast at that point the battery voltage was
> > around 11 volts . I placed it in neutral then they went back to normal .
> > Once I was moving it was fine. Checked the battery voltage this morning
> at
> > 12.45 volts. It always starts fine  cranks fast . Drove it a few weeks
> back
> > with the same route headlamps on and it was fine.
> >  The generator and regulator are both fairly new , Battery about 5 years
> > old interstate which is not really new.
> >
> >  I used to drive 7 miles back and forth to work at night on the way home
> > and never had this issue yet there was not as much traffic back in 2004 .
> >
> >  I feel this may be normal, just not sure. What I mean is sitting in
> > traffic with the headlamps on will allow the system voltage to drop .
> >
> > William
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> --
> *******************************
> Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> *******************************
>
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