Quote:

Glenn I see why this is haunting you, with all the work you have done on this & it's still acting up, this is the charging system from hell but we're going to get it He did not mean stab into the plastic on the back of the VR, stab the probe into the wire RIGHT AT THE VR to penetrate the insulation. The ign sw(or the bulkhead) is looking like a likely culprit. OK lets do this. (1)A short jumper wire with 2 alligator clips from the alt batt terminal several inches to the alt field terminal w the blue lead. (2) a longer jumper wire w 2 alligator clips from the same alt batt stud over to the blue lead right at the VR, either bare the blue wire & clip it with the alligator end or use a metal probe on that end instead of the alligator clip & stab it into the blue wire to make continuity.



I agree, this sounds like a voltage drop somewhere. What you need to do, Crocker, is visualize the 'path'. That is, is "ground really ground?" That's why I wanted to check voltage as I did

Rapid and I are hinting at the same thing, where I'm suggesting checking with a meter, Rapid is suggesting a heavy clip wire to hopefully eliminate the "drop." ANY drop in either the ground path, or the voltage supply in the bath from the battery--through the pieces of harness, terminals, connectors, bulkhead, ign switch, etc, etc, can cause this

You have to imagine, for example, imagine you have 4 ft or so of harness--just two wires--laid out on your bench, with the connector and ign switch hooked up. You do NOT necessarily have "a piece of wire," there. You might have corrosion at the crimps in the connections to the wire ends at the switch. You might have loose/ corroded/ oxidized connections between those crimps and the blade terminals of the switch, and you might have poor contacts in the actual switch itself.

You MUST HAVE a LOAD to show this up. An ohmeter is NOT accurate enough at the low ohm ratings this can occur. SO now imagine, a series circut, say, a battery, through this wire and switch, and a heavy load, like a heater blower motor. NOW if you were to put a meter right across the connector of the ign switch, you might measure some amount of voltage--the less the better. The worse the switch and or connectors is, the higher this voltage will go.

The heavier the load current is, the higher this voltage is.

Just one example, once again this type of problem can be "anywhere in the path."