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Now you need to find the drop in all that wireing. ...... SOMEWHERE in that path you are losing that 1.5V.





I'm just curious though - it seems like you are saying that the drop would be somewhere in the ignition switch wiring (most likely). I'm curious as to why something like, say, a bad headlight switch would not also cause this. Is it because I'm not looking at a short to ground issue, but an issue with the flow of 12v+ through the 12V+ wiring circuit.

Hmm - I think I answered my own question, now that I think about it. A bad 12V+ on my headlight switch (as an example, or the radio or my heater blower motor) would not "fool" the regulator into thinking it needed more juice. And if one of those items were shorted to ground it would be obvious.

Thanks again everyone for all your help. How did people work on old cars before the internet?



You've got it. The bad headlight switch would only make the headlights dimmer, not affect the rest of the car.

The problem here, is that your voltage regulator is not seeing an accurate system voltage.

It thinks the voltage is 1.5 lower than it really is. SO it keeps charging until it sees 14.5

The fix CAN be easy.

You could look for the drop, and you may find part of it, or all of it in one or more of the components(switch, bulkead connector, wiring..etc)
It may be easy to find, it may be difficult. You may only find part of it, etc..

I have done a different repair in the past, and it always seems to work.

Get a simple foglight relay from a parts store.

A relay has a low power (control) circuit, and the heavy switched(load) circuit that is used for whatever the relay is actually powering/supplying power.

Mount this right next to your regulator.

Remove the existing "ignition on" wire from the regulator, and wire it to the control circuit of the relay. ground the other side of the control circuit.

Then run heavy wire from the relay directly to the main alternator pos post or the battery poitive post. This goes on the heavy circuit of the relay. Wire the other side of this relay circuit to the regulator.


What you are doing here, is this...

Originally, The exisiting ignition wire turns on the regulator, AND provides it an input that the regulator uses as it's monitor for system voltage.

By wiring it as I have described, you are using the exisiting wire to turn on a direct feed to the battery, or the alternator. It is now reading the voltage of the system directly. Any and all voltage drops have been bypassed. IT still works by turning the key, and is now more accurate than it ever was.

It takes about 20 minutes to do, and 10 to 20 bucks in material depending what you already have laying around.

Good luck