electronic voltage regulator required with higher amp alt on my 68?

[nrt69]

I grounded the alt and IT WORKED!!! Its charging like its suppsoed to now.
Thank you VERY MUCH for the help.

I still cant help but ask why ive never had this problem before though???

Oh well. Nacho's wiring mod is my next step to prevent melted wires....

[nrt69]

its actually constantly charging now. it stays around +5 at idle and goes to +20 under acceleration.

[68neverlate]

I grounded the alt and IT WORKED!!! Its charging like its suppsoed to now.
Thank you VERY MUCH for the help.

I still cant help but ask why ive never had this problem before though???

Oh well. Nacho's wiring mod is my next step to prevent melted wires....

Excellent...  good to hear!        

Nacho will be happy to hear he has another follower... soon he'll have a whole congregation!       

It may be a good idea to bring the battery back up to a full charge with a battery charger rather than using the alternator in the car do that... no need to take a risk if you don't have to.   

Good luck with the wiring mods...   

[Charger RT]

great to hear its charging.
Tim

[Nacho-RT74]

Nacho will be happy to hear he has another follower... soon he'll have a whole congregation!       

Maybe a Facebook group ? LOL

[68neverlate]

Nacho will be happy to hear he has another follower... soon he'll have a whole congregation!       

Maybe a Facebook group ? LOL

Why stop there??          

Your popularity is getting to the point where you could actually start thinking about running for the presidency... and I'm not just talking about your local MOPAR club here, I'm talking country!!              

[Nacho-RT74]

hahahahahaha

[grdprx]

I finally got a new bulkhead, had to solder some new connectors to replace the melted ones.  Turns out I'm not all that good at it!  LoL. I only have 10.9 volts at the alt stud, after I hooked the neg battery back up.   

Got work to do.

[Charger RT]

what was the reading at the battery?

are you using the same spot for the negative volt meter lead for the battery check and the alternator stud? or are you moving it to do each reading.
Tim

[grdprx]

All right!  I got it working I think. Have 12.43 volt on alt stud while running, 12.5 at the batt.  The volt reg read 2.1 on the green side, 11.9 blue side. I also have parallel wire in too. Rock and roll.

[grdprx]

what was the reading at the battery?

are you using the same spot for the negative volt meter lead for the battery check and the alternator stud? or are you moving it to do each reading.
Tim

Hi Tim, I had 12.4 on the batt and I was grounding to the battery.  Seem to have resolved the issue. Thanks so much for your help and to everyone that has helped me with this.

[68neverlate]

All right!  I got it working I think. Have 12.43 volt on alt stud while running, 12.5 at the batt.  The volt reg read 2.1 on the green side, 11.9 blue side. I also have parallel wire in too. Rock and roll.

Hmmm...   12.43 volts sounds quite low for engine running.  Did you mean to say engine off??   

You should be getting 14+ volts with engine running (both at alternator output stud and the battery)...   

[Charger RT]

sounds like the drop is fixed but its not considered charging until you have 1 volt over battery voltage. Normal engine off battery voltage is 12.5 so its not considered charging until you have a running voltage of 13.5. most of these old school regulators will charge around 14.2.

Are you using a regulator for a 68 or has the car been converted to a 70 and up regulator?

Does the alternator have 1 field wire or 2?
Tim

[grdprx]

68 regulator, one wire. The other field terminal is grounded.

[Charger RT]

68 regulator, one wire. The other field terminal is grounded.

ok I'm not sure which wire is which color at the regulator but would assUme the wire with battery voltage was the power going in and the one in the 2 volt range was out going to the alternator.

In a good regulator the regulator will raise the voltage on the output wire until the voltage output of the alternator is at the setpoint of the regulator. It will raise it until it reaches battery voltage. Yours is stuck at 2 volts. I would guess the regulator is bad. But....

But first I would full field it to verify the alternator it good. I would remove the field wire make up a wire to plug onto the field terminal and run it over to the battery. Don't hook it up just yet. Hook your volt meter to the car battery and start the engine. Take the wire while watching the volt meter and touch it to the batterys positive terminal. If the alternator is good the volt meter will very quickly go up to as high as 18 volts. You do not want to leave this wire hooked up very long maybe a few seconds only. If left on too long the high voltage can burn things up. If the voltage goes up like described replace the regulator. (I have an electronic aftermarket one on mine made for the 69 and back systems) If the voltage stays low the alternator has an issue.
Tim

[68neverlate]

I agree with Tim... the voltage drop issue appears to be resolved.  Now it's just a matter of getting the alternator to produce 14+ volts.  Could be a few things...

At this point, I think I'd perform the following test... apply a full 12 volts to the non-grounded field terminal at the alternator to confirm that the alternator will produce maximum output.  You should only do this for a second though, otherwise you risk blowing fuses and/or frying wires, and you wouldn't want to do that after all the work to correct your bulkhead connector and parallel wiring mods!  

To perform the test, disconnect the green wire at the field terminal of the alternator and clip one end of a jumper wire to the blue wire side of the regulator and touch the field terminal (where the green wire was connected) of the alternator with the other end of the jumper wire, while having your volt meter connected between the output stud of the alt and ground.  

If the alternator produces 14+ volts when you perform this test, then the alternator is OK and the culprit is the voltage regulator (either the regulator itself or the ground for it).  If not, then the issue is with your alternator.  If you let us know what happens after the test above and we can go from there.    

[68neverlate]

68 regulator, one wire. The other field terminal is grounded.

ok I'm not sure which wire is which color at the regulator but would assUme the wire with battery voltage was the power going in and the one in the 2 volt range was out going to the alternator.

In a good regulator the regulator will raise the voltage on the output wire until the voltage output of the alternator is at the setpoint of the regulator. It will raise it until it reaches battery voltage. Yours is stuck at 2 volts. I would guess the regulator is bad. But....

But first I would full field it to verify the alternator it good. I would remove the field wire make up a wire to plug onto the field terminal and run it over to the battery. Don't hook it up just yet. Hook your volt meter to the car battery and start the engine. Take the wire while watching the volt meter and touch it to the batterys positive terminal. If the alternator is good the volt meter will very quickly go up to as high as 18 volts. You do not want to leave this wire hooked up very long maybe a few seconds only. If left on too long the high voltage can burn things up. If the voltage goes up like described replace the regulator. (I have an electronic aftermarket one on mine made for the 69 and back systems) If the voltage stays low the alternator has an issue.
Tim

Started writing my post before your post was up... too funny!   

At least we're on the same page...     

[Charger RT]

thats just funny 12 seconds differant on the post times and both post pretty much say the same thing.
Tim

[grdprx]

Just did the alt test, it slowly increased voltage. Took maybe 10-15 seconds to get up to 14 volts, which is what it did last time I tested it, if I remember correctly. That a sign of an under performing alt?

[Charger RT]

Just did the alt test, it slowly increased voltage. Took maybe 10-15 seconds to get up to 14 volts, which is what it did last time I tested it, if I remember correctly. That a sign of an under performing alt?

it depends.
how many amps is the alternator and how charged up was the battery. If the battery was very low and you still have a low amp alternator it could be ok.
It did make it to 14 volts an amp meter reading amp right at the alternator would be helpful but most home shops don't have one.
Do you have a good battery charger? If so charge up the battery good make sure the ground wire for the second field terminal is supplying a good ground and redo the test.
If the voltage goes up faster and higher replace the regulator.
Tim

[grdprx]

The battery was fresh off the charger a few days ago, reads 12.5 volts. I'm pretty sure I got the alt grounded well. Not sure what Amp output it is. It is a double pulley 70s version.   I can try and make sure it's grounded doubly sure.

[Charger RT]

I lost this thread any progress?
My concern is the 2 volt output of the regulator. A good regulator with a bad alternator the regulator would put out close to battery voltage to try and get the alternator to charge. You may have both as an issue but I would start with the regulator.
Tim

[grdprx]

Finally was able to get by autozone and get a new reg, 14.4 off the alternator now!!  Woohoo!   Thanks for everything!

[Charger RT]

great to hear now go drive it. its getting warm enough for most of you. It never gets cold enough to park it here.
Tim

[68neverlate]

Great to hear grdprx!     

Been in the sun for the past couple of weeks... wasn't looking forward to coming home, but just realized the weather's getting good enough here to wake up the beast that's been sleeping in the garage all winter!  Gotta love spring!