Electrical help Options

[Howard]

A rare serious question from me. 73 914 2.0 FI. Pretty stock. Battery runs down, especially when lights are being used. Battery is good (Optima) and charges up to 13.7 volts. Reads that on my tester, which agrees with the in car ammeter. After starting, is slowly drops to just under 12v. Using the brake lights, turn signals, parking lights, back up light drops to 10v.
Wipers, emergency flasher, cig lighter cause no drop in reading. After turning off the lights, it only recovers to 12v, not the almost 14 I started with. Run with the lights on for 2 hours or so and car won't start. Quick charge or jump and I'm on my way, but battery will only recover after home recharging. WTF?

[MecGen]

Hi H

My first year of owning Babyblue I had the same type of "charging performance" issues, giving the same symptom as yours. My car is not a daily driver so I had time to make some mods.
As I understand it, the Optimas are a deep cycle dry cell, and require a stong, long, slow charge. The 914 charging system is good for its year and design, but dry cells are another bird. Maybe try switching back to a regular battery and see if the system is more forgiving. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/blink.gif)
I am sure that the age of our cars, is a factor to some degree. With age and heat cycles, wiring starts to loose its conductivity (sp), and add another straw to the horses back... (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/dead horse.gif)

Anywhooo...this is what I did :
Bought an out of the box, 75 amp,72 Type 2 alternator (I think), and a brand new regulator.
I replaced the alt feed wire with a new one, bigger, crimps AND welded lugs. I installed a small 4 sloblo fuse box, next to the battery, 60 amp for the alternator feed. Same with the starter wire, minus the fuse. Bigger ground strap was installed and connected to the starter bolt, and to the body, I still kept the OEM gound strap (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/aktion035.gif) Almost all the connection were in good but old shape, my wires were hard and brittle.

12 years later all is still working like a champ. If I was to do it again, I would add (modify) the Group 9 regulator kit, did it on a Saab and WOW (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/clap.gif) Shit I can't find the site...
You basically remove the Regulator out of the back of the alternator (not the same as a 914) and install thier brush kit holder, wired to an external Ford regulator.
Al the mods I did, can be easily reversed, but just makes good, reliable sense (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/screwy.gif)

Good Luck with it
+Karma

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