Hi,
 During the tail end of a 6 hour trip back from Turkey Day and  family
bonding, my charging light came on.  I recently had a pretty large  car stereo
amplifier and high power car stereo installed.  I also purchased  a black and
decker can cooler than plugs into the lighter socket.  So, I  had my car
stereo running, the can cooler and cell phone plugged in to the  lighter
socket and drove this way for about 5 and half hours and then my  charging light
came on.  The can cooler has a auto shutoff when sensing a  low battery
charge.  The can cooler shut down at the same time the  dash charging light came
on.   Oh, I also had turned on the  headlights for the last 2 hours of the
drive home.

I took the Vanagon into Sears today to have the battery checked and
recharged.  It was drained downed to 9% capacity.  They recharged the  battery and
did a test on the battery and said it was good.  They thought  my
alternator might be bad but couldn't tell for sure.

I then took the Vanagon to the stereo shop who installed the stereo and
they put on volt meter on the battery.  It had 12.5V with the  engine off and
13.5V when running.  What voltage are these alternators  supposed to put out
in the Vanagons?

Is there anything else to check besides the battery and alternator when the
 charging light comes on?  That is the question I was leading into.

Thanks in advance,
David