Alternator over charging

[Anders]

I have a small charging problem. Changed the old mechanical voltage regulator to MP blue P-3690732 regulator and now the alternator is over charging. The alternator is feeding 15.7V at idle and my battery is boiling because of the over charging.
The alternator is 65Amp 70-up model with 2 field connections. My car has non-points ignition with MP orange ign.box.The other field is grounded and the other field is fed thru the regulator. This is how it was connected with mechanical reg. and it worked fine. I know, I should have bought the 70-up regulator, but I cant find the factory plug connector. Is there anyway to make this pre69 model regulator to work with 70-up alternator? All the help is greatly appreciated.

[2Gunz]

AutoZone has the Voltage Regulator and Pigtail for it.

The regulator should be in stock.

The Pigtail is a special order item but only took like 2 days to show up at the store.

If you done have an autozone near you just order it online.

From what I found it appears the Voltage Regulator is the Same from 1971 to 1988 ish in a lot if not all Dodge Cars.

And I suspect that really its 1970 to 1988 ish

So I think it will work for you, however you will have to unground that one field and properly wire it.



Regulator.........

http://www.autozone.com/selectedZip,91206/initialAction,partProductDetail/initialpartType,00097/initialR,APP203175/initialvehicleId,1406904/shopping/selectZip.htm

Pigtail.........

http://www.autozone.com/R,APP1365854/vehicleId,1406904/initialAction,partProductDetail/store,5381/partType,01811/shopping/partProductDetail.htm


Hope that helps.

[Anders]

Thanks 2Gunz for  links and quick answer. The only problem is that I don't live in the US and autozone doesn't seem to ship overseas
Any other places that would sell the pigtail? To connect properly the second field, I would have to run a wire from ignition on wire to the second field terminal?

[Ghoste]

The regulator you have chosen is a constant output one for race purposes.  You are getting a higher voltage than it's rated for (it's rated for 13.5) but it's still going to boil the battery with that regulator.

[Plumcrazy]

Simple fix,you bought the wrong regulator like Ghost said.  P3690732 is a constant output regulator intended for drag racing.   All you need to do is buy a stock replacement regulator.   Even though  they were mechanical regulators back then, all the new replacement regulators I've seen now have electronic internal components.

[Anders]

Thanks for your input guys. I quess I still need the pigtail (factory plug)in order to plug it properly on 70-and up solid state regulator.

[Nacho-RT74]

regulators:
http://www.yearone.com/serverfiles/headline.asp?hid=112AE4880

pigtail:
http://www.paddockparts.com/Paddock/product_family.asp?family%5Fid=10678&gift=False&0=dept%2Easp%2Cdept%5Fid%3D4%26menu%5Fid%3D%26Tree%3D%2CDodge%2FPlymouth&1=dept%2Easp%2Cdept%5Fid%3D70%26menu%5Fid%3D%26Tree%3D0%2CDodge%2FPlymouth%20Electrical&mscssid=E4DB09D0B79B402A8D33E0FCD0D3FBA3


Even I can find those pigtails and regulators ( not Mopar ) half of price down here. And some others pigtails too like foot dimmer switch, sealed beams plugs etc...

[Nacho-RT74]

allmost forgett... diagram

[Nacho-RT74]

Old mechanical regulators works fine with points, but electronic ignitions system needs a more controlled power source. An unconsistant power source makes the electronic ignitions systems works erratically and also Battery sending more power than alternator when is the alternator what must be the regular power source.

Actually there is already available old mechanical regulator looks but electronic internals ( already posted on year one link above ), so that would work also fine and won't need to run the extra blue wire... is your choice. A grounded field on double field alt is the same than use the old single field alt. Both works fine really. Is just different criterial on regulation... single field regulates positive and double field regulates negative.

Mechanical regulator works slow on regulation because basically is a relay, that's the reason why doesn't work good with electronic ignition, but with electronic regulation fixes that.

The double field criterial uses same green wire than earliers but this time feedeing negative instead positive like earliers that's the regulated source

with 65 amps alt would consider the wiring upgrade, to save from melt on bulkhead ( was in fact optioned from MaMopar on 60 and higher output alts )

[Plumcrazy]

Thanks for your input guys. I quess I still need the pigtail (factory plug)in order to plug it properly on 70-and up solid state regulator.

You would also have to unground the second field wire at the alternator and run a wire between it and the newer style regulator.

Since the original style regulators that your car is already wired for are available as electronic units, why bother? 

[Anders]

Thanks again guys, I really appreciate your help. What a great forum. Plumcrazy, you are right, since there are original style electronic regulators, there's no need to change the wiring.

Nacho- thanks for the diagram, just one question, what is this "gronmet" device on lower diagram? Is that only the connection thru the firewall?

[Nacho-RT74]

A rubber insert on firewall, similar to the headligths doors hoses, to pass throught the wires, bypassing or reinforcing the bulkhead plugs and charging wires... In that way the extra load that original wiring and terminals is not able to support, will pass safe througth these wires, saving from melting on plugs.

You could use some grommet existant on firewall or open a hole on firewall and insert the grommet, opening the holes on it to wires.

[Anders]

Thanks Nacho. Didn't find grommet from my dictionary.

[Nacho-RT74]

neither I... I just called like manuals and websites calls to that LOL... I speak spanish, not english

[Plumcrazy]

neither I... I just called like manuals and websites calls to that LOL... I speak spanish, not english

You do much better at english than I could ever do at spanish. 

[Ghoste]

Nacho is also better at english than a lot of people who allegedly speak english.

[Anders]

Looks like I haven't solved my charging problem  . Although I know I  don't have the right voltage regulator(blue Mopar constant reg), I'm getting some strange numbers, 15.7V at idle from the bat. and 16V from the alternator. I had the alt. and regulator tested at the local auto electric store and the combo worked well never exceeding 14.2V. So both devices should be okay.
At first I thought that it had to be a grounding problem so I checked  and rewired the wire from regulator to the alt.field, next I grounded the regulator from two places. It shouldn't be a grounding problem.
I search throught some old topics and noticed that ignition wire should feed 12V to the regulator when the ign.switch is on run position  ? Mine showed 10.2V. I also noticed that the ignition wires get hot, short circuit in the system or bad connection ?? I checked the bulkhead connection and the problem could be there. There are some very rusty and dusty connections. I sprayed some CRC for overnight(should improve connection) and will tackle into that tomorrow
Any guiding help is again greatly appreciated.

I bought the newer style electronic regulator(even found the pigtail plug), but didn't bother to install it before I got the problem solved.

[Ghoste]

I'd install it and get those connections all cleaned and then begin looking for problems.  Those two things will only compound the rest of your troubles.

[my73charger]

Is it possible that the alternator is getting ready to crap out?

[Anders]

A little update here. I checked the bulkhead today and after little cleaning managed to get 11.2V from the igniton wire, so I guess I'm 1V short here . What makes this thing challenging is that some of the bulkhead wires have been wired straight through the bulkhead and some of them through the pins( asshould). Another thing is that none of the wires match the factory color codes. Anyway after that I installed the new regulator (-70 and up style)  and did some testing. Now it charges 14.2V at idle,which I think is a little too much??Good news is that it never exceeded 14.6V at any rpm. I try to rewire the ign.wire from regulator to igniton switch on the weekend.
Btw, can anybody tell how does the system work, I thought there are two wires going from the regulator to the ign.swicht. The other should show 12V when the switch is on run pos. but what's purpose of the second wire.

-mycharger73, the alt is new (rebuild) and I had it tested at the local auto electric shop, it should be okay.