Replaced my generator brushes and cleaned the terminals but

[blues90]

The D+ red/white heavy lead where the factory crimp is the wire is sort of green and tarnished and so is the crimp .

Here is photo . To me it looks like I may have a voltage drop or high resistance there. This is just looking at it not actually doing a voltage drop from there to the regulator. It does charge and close to the normal range , this terminal just looks like it has to be adding resistance . The old brushes were worn down to the tops of the holders so that will help . Max voltage I get is usually 14 volts running lights off and close to 3,000 RPM .

All I have are the yellow 10 gauge crimp on type . I thought I would put on on then see if I can clean up the original and use that . The black you see on the insulation is not burnt just scuffed . I don't know how far back the wire is like this under the insulation yet the wire is long enough .

Anything would be better than what it is like now. I've used crimp on's before and had good luck with them . Thought's?

[Donnie strickland]

I think I would just soak it a few hours in vinegar, and that should clean it right up.
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71 Elm Green FI A/T Squareback

[KTPhil]

The original crimps were gas-tight, and that corrosion is probably not penetrating underneath the crimp.

If you replace this with a plastic-ringed crimp like the usual auto parts store sells, it will not be gas tight and may perform worse over time.

I'd check it with a voltmeter and see if you actually have a drop. If not, I'd clean it cosmetically, and perhaps then coat it with an anti-oxidant.

What is the other wire connected to? Do you have a radio noise suppressor on it?

[raygreenwood]

[Tram]

[blues90]

There was heat shrink over the crimp yet when I cleaned the ring terminal to get it back to clean copper the heat shrink just crumbled away exposing what you see .

The other black wire on the D+ terminal goes to the VW test connector.

My goal was to just get the ring ends clean and the washers and posts and nuts hoping for a better connection .

I really don't care for the auto or hardware type barrel crimp on type and so far have not started the car to see if I have a higher charging voltage from clean ring ends and so on and the new brushes.

I will see if I can clean the terminal to get off the corrosion and dry it well the slide heat shrink over it to seal it .

Vinegar works yet I do believe you need to neutralize the vinegar with baking soda no coke here .

So far from the responses cleaning and sealing are the best options .

As far as a voltage drop there are two ways I can check . One is with the voltmeter on the ring/post and the other with a small stab into the insulation maybe an inch back because I don't know how far under the insulation the corrosion goes or from the ring/post to the voltage regulator . I can seal the small hole with heat shrink after.

[blues90]

I drove it a bit ago . After two start ups I connected a DVOM to the battery @ 1,000 RPM 14.1 volts @ 2500 RPM 14.2 volt. I checked the battery voltage after shut down which has to settle off the top charge 13.45 volts.

With the headlamps on @1000 RPM it drops to 13.5 volts bring RPM back to 1500 RPM and it's 14.1 volt.

Odd thing is the VDO voltmeter shows 13 volts when the batt is 14.1 . I have that connected to fuse 9 on a 73 which is the buzzer only and then off a relay that powers on from fuse 12 . Plus if I turn on the headlamps the VDO drops to 12 volts yet at the battery it's 13.5. Makes the VDO voltmeter off by about 1.5 volt.

Before I changed the brushes and cleaned the gen terminals when I started the car the VDO read 13 volts this time it read below 12 volts. After the 1 mile drive it seemed to come back to what it read before maybe the brushes seated a bit.

I've watched the VDO before many times and sometimes at a stop I will see 13 volts and others 12 volts at idle in gear and it always climbs back up a bit above 13 volts when I accel a bit to drive off.

I cleaned the connections at the regulator before didn't change a thing.

I need to do a voltage drop on the D+ wire to reg . I know VDO said I can adjust the voltmeter through some access hole on the side.

For some reason I can't hit 14.5 volts . It has a Bosch electronic regulator that I installed in 99 . I imagine they either work or don't . Never saw a way to test them like the old mechanical ones.

The Battery is an interstate MT-42 a year old and since I start the car 2 to 3 times and drive 2 miles I have a charger set on 2 amp from a timer for 2 hours charge time so the battery stays charged up. The ground strap from trans to body seems fine I even used a heavy batt jumper cable off the block to the batt neg and didn't improve.

[KTPhil]

I also have a VDO voltmeter (from ISPwest), and it seems to read a bit low. based on that, and my 7 year old battery, I decided to replace the battery before the Invasion, though that didn't change the meter behavior.

One of these days I will look over the circuit and see what else is drawing from that fuse in order to find the voltage drop.

I also expect I will want to add a relay so that I no longer have All switched power go through the 1-year-only ignition switch, but I'll leave well enough alone for now.

I never cared much for a voltmeter. An ammeter tells you so much more, but the rewiring needed to accommodate this makes it not very worthwhile to me.

In fact, if I can find a same-style head temp gauge, I'd rather have that on the dash. I figure a sensor on the 1-2 head (which has the unused boss/threaded hole for the 3-4 FI temp sensor) would be a nice solution.

[blues90]

[Donnie strickland]

It certainly wouldn't hurt, but honestly I believe you're overthinking this a little bit. If you're getting 14.1 volts as you say, it's fine. Jim Adney says as long as it's above 13.5, you're good to go.
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71 Elm Green FI A/T Squareback

[icelancer]

I have a DD voltmeter and it reads 11.7 with headlights on and 12.6 with them off. Since I have a 55a alt this is obviously way off. I have searched for hours to find the voltage drop but it seems to elude me. The only thing I can think of is that its the main cluster +12v wire itself causing the drop.
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71 squareback (1904 A/T)
71 super beetle (1904 M/T)
B5.5 wagon M/T daily driver
SB for squareback or san bernardino....who knows.

[KTPhil]

[blues90]

I first took that corroded looking D+ off the generator and drilled a hole in the top of a pill bottle and added vinegar and let is sit for a few hours and it cleaned up , then swashed it around in baking soda in another pill bottle , read that neutralizes the acid from the vinegar then took an old hair drier to dry it off then slipped heat shrink over it to seal it again.

While it was soaking I checked the gauge grounds . I recall adding the voltmeter well after the oil pressure and temp and spliced that ground into the same ground used by the gauge illumination so the volt meter ground had 17 ohm's resistance the other two I ran to the ground tree just to the right of the fuse box they had .2 ohm resistance so I made up a new lead from the gauge to a screw under the dash lip so it has .1 ohm now.

I then pulled the voltmeter to see if it had an adjustment and it did so I had the DVOM on the voltmeter hot and dialed in the VDO voltmeter to match that reading. The Battery voltage was @ 12.62 VDC , after all the screwing around it read 12.54 . The voltage at the VDO was 12.30 measured at the + terminal since all three gauges plus a Tach are all powered off the same + and so I can test the gauges without firing up the engine Long ago I placed a mini momentary toggle switch that takes power off fuse 9 and just powers the gauges, there is about a .24 volt drop there .

Before I did all this with the ground and gauge adjust the needle was about the thickness of the red needle below 12 volt on the gauge. After I re did the ground it was on the 12 mark.

This VDO voltmeter has 8,10.12.14 &16 and I got the one with the red and green marks above the scale so it was easier to read . 12 volt and the next is 14 so I figured 13 like other VDO voltmeters have the extra un numbered marks between so 13 is a bit past the center of 12 & 14 so I set the gauge needle centered between 12 and the none existent 13 so it is close enough to 12.5 . I'm not sure how the adjustment on the gauge works looks like a trimmer pot from what I could see.

I didn't do a voltage drop at the D+ gen to D+ regulator since the connectors seem clean and good .

Thanks for the suggestions all of you offered .

[Donnie strickland]

Sounds like you've got things covered pretty well. Cheers!
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71 Elm Green FI A/T Squareback

[D/A/N]

Maybe I missed it, but what's the 2nd wire coming off of D+???

[Donnie strickland]

William's car still has the VW Diagnostic system installed. That wire carries the generator voltage to the test plug.
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71 Elm Green FI A/T Squareback

[blues90]

On these interstate batteries the MT-42 , When I removed the caps to check the level and also when I 1st got the battery on Oct 8 2015 the date code was Jan 2015 so it was already 8 months old and the voltage was @12.34 volts.

When I first installed it I noticed it was a little wet under the two caps and I didn't tilt it . Also when I removed it to check the level when I removed one cap and added a little water to both outer cells the top on the battery was wet all around the area where the caps sit so I wiped it off plus wiped the caps and noticed plastic like material in the cell openings so my thought is that when they slammed the two caps on there was some plastic bits preventing a seal because once I wiped it off and put the battery back in I saw no wet around the caps .

I called Interstate and they told me a fully charged interstate is supposed to be 12.8 volts , on their site is says 12.66 and was told that is old info by their tech support .

Water never came out the vents in the caps.

My battery full charge is 12.67 no matter how long I keep it on a timed 2 amp trickle the other option on this charger is 12 amp yet on that setting it pumps out 15 volts which is near over charge even though the ammeter on the charger at it's highest reads 3 amp to 3 1/2 amp .

Now firestone is calling interstate because I want a fresh battery not some test done by Firestone .

My VDO gauge now reads 14.1 volts @ idle and 14.2 at higher RPM so it now reads what the battery see's .

[Mike Fisher]

I bought a box of Battery Acid at NAPA to top up our batteries.
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https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[blues90]

[Donnie strickland]