Ammeter stays to the far right and burns out regulator

[68charger440]

Hello, I'm having a problem with my 68 charger charging system.  My Ammeter needle goes to the far right when running and will burn out the regulator if I don't shut it off after a few seconds of running.  I'm on my third regulator now.  I have a new fully charged battery and upgraded to a dual field alternator like the 70 and up charging systems.  Does this mean I have a short somewhere?  I can't find one, but it seems like there must be one for these symptoms to happen.  Any suggestions?

[68 RT]

I assume you have a points type regulator? If so switch to a solid state. Most auto parts stores should have them.

[b5blue]

You are grounding one of the fields right? 

[68charger440]

You are grounding one of the fields right? 

I have a HEI distributor but I have not grounded out one field because I am now running on a 70 and up charging system with an alternator and regulator from a 71 charger.  I thought I don't ground one field in that scenario.

[68charger440]

I assume you have a points type regulator? If so switch to a solid state. Most auto parts stores should have them.

It is a solid state regulator.

[gschmidt211]

I did this.  It makes the ammeter obsolete, but avoids the whole burning you car up thing.

http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml

http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges2.shtml

[b5blue]

You are grounding one of the fields right? 

I have a HEI distributor but I have not grounded out one field because I am now running on a 70 and up charging system with an alternator and regulator from a 71 charger.  I thought I don't ground one field in that scenario.

Yes if your harness has 2 field wires. 

[tan top]

how long /when  did it start doing this ?? have you done anything else to the car ? 

[68charger440]

how long /when  did it start doing this ?? have you done anything else to the car ? 

Ok, I think I've got it.  I started this project because I burned out two aftermarket procomp distributors in two years and the whole time my ammeter would stay to the far right at high rpms and never come back down even after putting in a brand new battery.  So I decided to upgrade to a 1970 and newer charging system.  I think I must have had it hooked up wrong, or had a short somewhere and that is why I was burning out the regulators. 
This last attempt I tore out all of the wiring from the bulkhead connectors in the engine bay to all of the charging/ignition system in the engine bay and started over with fresh new wire and connectors.  Now it seems to be working.  13.8 volts at idle and 14.1 at higher rpms.  The ammeter still shows high (+20 give or take 5 amps all of the time).  It did spike all of the way to the right when I first started it but settled down within a minute or two.  The new alternator puts out twice what my original did so I guess my ammeter will always show a little different than it used to.  After burning out a couple of regulators I was afraid to let it run long enough to settle down at the needle.  Time will tell if it is really fixed for good.  If it dies again I'll post an update.

[64dartgt]

Not to jump the thread, but my Ammeter is all over the place.  At idle it is low and pins as I rev up the engine.  I was thinking my regulator was perhaps gone...but was uncertain since an ammeter behaves a little different from a voltmeter.

[Nacho-RT74]

Not to jump the thread, but my Ammeter is all over the place.  At idle it is low and pins as I rev up the engine.  I was thinking my regulator was perhaps gone...but was uncertain since an ammeter behaves a little different from a voltmeter.

you need to understand how it works the ammeter frist. Its not really an alt gauge like the factory statement, its really a batt gauge. Here I explain how it works:

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,33574.0.html