Quote:

Hey all,

I did the Amp meter bypass thing last week and now my new voltmeter shows I'm getting 16V at idle. I spent all morning reading the voltage regulator test threads. I grounded the case to the batter, no change. When I test the POS voltage drop (from IGN at the regulator to the + battery terminal) I was getting 1.5, so I have a problem somewhere else in the system.

Where do I go from here? Start pulling fuses like I would for a short and figure out which circuit is causing the voltage drop?

Also - can I drive the car like this or am I asking for trouble. I just need to move it out of the garage, turn it around, and put it back in. Am I risking frying something by doing this?

Thanks



YOU HAVE ALREADY FOUND YOUR ANSWER. What is happening is that in all the harness, connections, bulkhead connector, etc PATH from the battery pos to the ign. switch and back out to the ign terminal on the alternator, you have 1.5V of DROP

To be sure (and it is!!) the problem, hook a good big jumper, IE jumper cable, or no12 or larger from the regulator ign directly to the battery, and see if the charging system voltage drops to normal--it should!!!

Now you need to find the drop in all that wireing. Check all connections, especially and including the firewall/ bulkhead connector. Check the connector at the ignition switch, AND CHECK THE DROP across the switch, IE check the battery feed INTO the switch, and the ign feed coming OUT of the switch. SOMEWHERE in that path you are losing that 1.5V.

Guess what? Let's say the regulator "liked" 14.5?

14.5 + 1.5==16v!!!!

Check the main feed (for drop) from the batt pos to the main feed into the switch THAT WILL ELIMINATE all the wiring from the battery to the switch. If you have considerable drop there, then it is in that section.

Check the ign run terminal OUT of the switch, check the drop between there and the ign terminal of your regulator. If you have considerable drop there, it's probably the bulkhead connector, because that's about the only thing "in the path." Dont forget the ENDS of the conductor--the crimp-on connectors themselves may be bad.


ALSO if you have ADDED a bunch of stuff to ign run such as fans or who knows what, something there is almost guaranteed to be causing the drop, so unhook, or use relays.

Speaking of relays, if you CANNOT find the problem and want an easy way out, one way of "solving" the problem would be to put a decent quality firewall mounted relay on the car, use the ign feed to "fire the relay, and then feed your regulator from the relay. Feed the relay from a good solid battery connection such as the starter relay

You can check that hookup before you do so by unhooking the regulator ign, use a jumper from the stater relay to the regulator ign, and see if the problem goes away.

Last edited by 440sixpack; 06/21/09 03:55 PM.