VW alternators and drycell batteries

[shag55]

Now that my second alternator has gone out. I'm trying to find the root cause. My alternator shop tells me that the design of the VW alternators can not handle the demands of the drycell batteries which is why they run so hot and fail. I was under the impression that my LED light was the problem but after switching to a regular incondecent bulb it still had problems and I had my LED and circuit tested and it's good.
Does anyone here use a Oddyse battery and have charging problems?

[Dale M.]

First these are NOT DRYCELL batteries, they are AGM batteries ( I believe) that use spiral plate technologies and a gelled electrolyte.... They are better referred to as a "sealed cell"....

Most references I see for Odyssey usually refer to them to direct replacement for "wet cell" (flooded cell) battery and do not require any special mods to vehicle charging systems....

What may be your best bet to get definitive answer is contact Odyssey directly and ask their tech people....

http://www.odysseybattery.com/

Maybe an answer here...

http://www.odysseybattery.com/faq.html

Dale

[sideshow]

I am suspicious of the experts also.

My daily driver has a optima red top and I use only unmarked generic 75amp, or an old Bosch of Brazil 55amp. The battery is at least 5 years old, I have not noticed bizarre manners, or have been forced to replace components.

[Piledriver]

My much abused Optima red top is > 10 years old, and still gets the job done...
(It spent several months submerged in a marine battery box when loaned out, totally dead... still amazed it recovered)
I hope its eventual replacement works as well/long, only ~$125 at Sams Club

Admittedly it has a GM alternator feeding it now, but that's pretty recent.
(Primarily due to cost/availability/lifetime warranty and far better performance vs. a rebuilt Bosch alt)

The alternator is not "smart" enough to know what it's feeding.
The main issue with the newer VW alts is that they are junk when new.

Even the OG Bosch alternators tend to put out on the low side of the specs voltage wise, but that generally isn't a problem if everything else is in order.

The AGMs do seem to prefer 13.5v or better, but I never had an issue.

If it's just the regulator crapping out (common issue) you can adapt an external reg for a T4 with a lifetime warranty form your favorite FLAPS. Bolt it to the fan housing. Much more durable than the T1 internal regs.