charging gremlins

144-250 cid Inline Six Performance
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sharkskinman
Posts: 85
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 12:30 am

charging gremlins

Post by sharkskinman »

65a alternator
4 prong external voltage regulator

working fine i guess
one night i installed a stereo and appearently the stereo drained the battery enough that it wouldnt start

started it played with it, wouldnt charge enough over short time to restart

charged it
drove it to advance/autozone...wasnt charging(mid 12v regardless of RPM) - bad voltage regulator
changed regulator..hooked voltmeter to battery routed outside with hood closed
also old one Inside

radio no longer hooked up
charging at 14+at idle no lights
turn lights on drops to 12.3 or so (readings are on FLAPS battray/charge tester and voltmeter inside)
checked--said battery no good--changed out battery (all of parts are under warranty)

had alternator checked outside the car and it tested good

Now Everything is testing good Individually
but STILL mid/high 14+ idle no lights
lights turned on drops to mid/low 12s

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
should i hook an ammeter up?
best place to wire it in?
OG 62'Comet..not named yet
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Comechero65
Posts: 1870
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2014 10:37 pm
Location: Santa Clara, Ca

Re: charging gremlins

Post by Comechero65 »

Sounds like something is still bad. Do a test of the alt. Disconnect the plug from the reg. Then jumper the F to A temporarily in the plug. That will force the alt to go full max output. Monitor batt voltage. Should see 14+ volts maybe as high as 15 v. That indicates the alt is good. Don't do for more than 15 seconds at a time.
If that works then you still have a reg problem. Hopefully it is not a solid state reg. The older relay type regs tend to be more dependable and always work.
Does your charge lamp, if there is one, light when you first turn on the ign before you crank it? If no charge lamp then check the I term on the reg. That term gets its' voltage from the ign so should show something more than zero.
Ron
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Comechero65
Posts: 1870
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2014 10:37 pm
Location: Santa Clara, Ca

Re: charging gremlins

Post by Comechero65 »

Sounds like something is still bad. Do a test of the alt. Disconnect the plug from the reg. Then jumper the F to A temporarily in the plug. That will force the alt to go full max output. Monitor batt voltage. Should see 14+ volts maybe as high as 15 v. That indicates the alt is good. Don't do for more than 15 seconds at a time.
If that works then you still have a reg problem. Hopefully it is not a solid state reg. The older relay type regs tend to be more dependable and always work.
Does your charge lamp, if there is one, light when you first turn on the ign before you crank it? If no charge lamp then check the I term on the reg. That term gets its' voltage from the ign so should show something more than zero with key on but not started.
Ron
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