Alt help questions

[Night Shadow <soltwede@privateI.com>]

Well, Katy had the pleasant suprise of waking up to a dead battery this
morning on the beater 80 rocco.  She called me at work, unfortunately I
couldn't get home, so it had to wait till I got home.

Battery is only a year or 2 old, electrolyte levels are good (Interstate
Battery designed for a Rabbit Diesel, the big bastard).  Massive grounds
and positives added 2 years ago, all nice a clean still, terminals tight.
Volt guage reads above 12, 12.5-13.5 at the battery with car running
(analog meter, not very precise).  Aftermarket trans-po voltage regulator,
max output 14.5 volts, only a year or so old. 90 amp alternator.

So I figure I have got a drain (short) somewhere in the system, car sat
for a little over 3 days.  But car charged quickly after jump and is
starting and holding a charge just fine (I don't even register a voltage
drop at the battery when the coolant fan runs with car off).

Now the part the bugs me, since I had the pleasure of doing this work at
night, I noticed that the alt light in the dash is very very dimly
glowing, constantly, no change at different rpm or loads (lights, fan,
etc).  What the hell would cause this?  Resistance in the exciter circuit?
(I checked the connection at the alt, nice and tight and clean)...any
help, experiences would be great!  Side note, the rocco that I am
restoring, the one I bought from Katy.  When i test drove it, I noticed it
was doing the exact same thing, so hopefully your answers will help me
fix the problem in the 81 rocco as I restore it....

Eric

80 Scirocco (GF's Daily Driver)
81 Scirocco S (2.0 16v swap and complete restoration in progress)
91 Cabriolet (2.0 8v swap and mechanical rebuild in progress)
97 Golf Trek (Parts car)
00 Golf GL TDI (My Daily Driver)

"For Aquarians, the physics of loopholes is a perfectly valid science."
-Kelli Fox


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