Mk1 voltage drop and faint alternator light glowing

[james.pawlicki at gmail.com (James Pawlicki)]

My battery light glows ever so slightly at night when I have my headlights
on and no other accessories on on my '77. The voltage gauge reads a touch
under 12 volts. With no headlights on, I have a consistent 13.2 volts unless
the radiator fan turns on. My interior fan sucks quite a bit of juice on the
system.

I was wondering what sort of voltage drop you folks see on the volt gauge
when you have your headlights on and interior fan on? Just with the fan on
setting "1" and the headlights on, the volt gauge reading drops to 11 volts.
Setting "3" will drop the voltage down to 10.5 volts, especially when the
radiator fan turns on. My battery light on the instrument cluster gets
brighter and brighter as the voltage gauge readings decrease with additional
accessories.

Does anyone else experience severe reduction of voltage readings with some
accessories on? It's a good thing I don't have a stereo in the Mk1 :)

I have done some things to combat the faintly glowing battery light. I have
a fresh new battery, rebuilt Bosch 55 amp alternator. Lastly, I cleaned the
negative battery cable and each of the two contacts (inner fender and on the
transmission mount). I used some dielectric (SP?) grease on the contacts. I
also swapped out a 70-75 degree Celsius (very low temp) radiator fan switch
with a 77-82 degree Celsius to reduce the frequency of the fan coming on.

Thanks,

Jim

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92 Corrado SLC
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