[Vwdiesel] Battery Charging Question

[Duncan L. Forbes]

Hey gang,

I have a question that is along the same lines as the thread Jon started
last week with his battery issues with his van. I just caught up on that
thread as I was away from my computer for the week as my daughter was ill
and in the hospital.

I have an 18 month old battery (purchased 02/01). This past week it failed
to have enough juice 3 times to turn over the car. After each time I jumped
the car and ran it for awhile to recharge the battery. All three times the
next time I went to use the car, dead battery again. The battery was still
under full warranty so I replaced it yesterday. Car started fine after new
battery yesterday and again this morning. However, the shop that sold me the
battery tells me that my old battery is charging fine and that they want the
new one back. They say I probably have a charging system problem.

So I figure I have possibly one of four problems,
	1. bad battery (the shop simply hooked up a charger to it,
         they did not run any real tests on it, heck I could have done that)
	2. electrical fault draining battery (this would not shock me as I have
	   old wires whose casings are flaking off and could be grounding out)
	3. charging system problem (alternator is 18 years old with 200K miles on
it)
	4. battery was drained so low that it required more recharging time than I
gave it
	   (it was an expensive 720 Amp Interstate battery and I may have
underestimated
	    what it needed to be able to recharge)

Does this sound right?

If so is there a way to test these things without a multimeter? I broke mine
by accident  and the budget is tight for replacing it right now.

I was thinking that with the engine running I could disconnect the battery
leads and see if I still had power to the system. Would this work? I know
that the diesel doesn't need a battery to operate (besides cranking the
starter and heating the glow plugs). Would this accurately show me that the
alternator was producing charge if say my headlights were functional with
the battery disconnected?

I know I really need to replace my multimeter and test the system properly,
but until the end of month it won't be happening. So if anyone has any quick
and dirty ideas to lead me to a correct diagnosis of the problem I would
appreciate it.

Duncan