[T3] How can it BE?!

[Mike Wodkowski <wodkowski@mac.com>]

> I this is really what you see, then there must be something that is shorting
> the D+ wire to ground. This could either be in the middle of the wire
> somewhere, or at the VR. Make sure that nothing has rolled under the VR and
> shorted it under the back seat.
> 

It was really what I saw. Thanks to your advice Jim, I checked and the D+
wire was indeed shorted, somewhere at the VR. I had this newfangled Bosch VR
which is a different config than the older ones. Same part number but it's a
bit wider than the older one I had, and everything hooks in at the top. It
may have been touching the side of the car, I dont know. Or maybe it was the
gray wire that also hooked to the D+ side. The gray wire goes to the central
test gizmo. The red DF wire actually looked really good, and tested ok when
disconnected from the VR (although the resistance was more like 50 on my
VOM) I checked the resistance on the gray wire that to ground and got 0. So
I disconnected that. Reinstalled everything with the older VR.

The generator light now goes out as it should.
When I unhook D+ and DF from the Gen, and run the vom between D+ and GND,
and then short DF to gnd, I got a reading of 25v at idle.

When I unhook ONLY DF, run the vom from D+ to gnd, and then short DF to gnd,
a similar fluctuation happens.

At the fuse box, when I hooked to the hot fuse, I got 12V with the engine
off, but saw little rise in voltage when I turned on the ignition and sped
the engine up. But I was using a really crappy little VOM that only sets at
5 or 50 VDC. My better one has a 25 vdc setting but it crapped out on me
when I accidentally had it hooked to the hotwire at the fuse box when it was
set to measure resistance. oops. This lack of fluctuation bothers me a bit.
It went nowhere near 15.

OTOH the Gen light does immediately go out when the ignition starts.

So I feel like the problem is solved, sort of. But its solved well enough
for it to get Keira where she needs to go while I'm gone for a week. I can
examine more when I get back.

So thanks again Jim. This is a good little extra bit of info to add to my
copy of your generator FAQ.

_mike


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