""I was at a stop light and noticed the gauge flickering a little with the turn signal on. Turned on the radio and it went a little lower, still not on the discharged side. Headlights on, it goes a little further. Flashers on and it goes all the way to the discharge side and dies.""

I just experienced the same thing this past Summer. I had been running the blue regulator for the past couple of years and I did not have much of a problem until this past Summer when I started using the headlights, windshield wipers and such during driving conditions (in the past I usually drive the car during the nice days only. This past Summer I started getting the car ready to drive more often). What I found was that the blue regulator does not allow the voltage to go above the 13.5 or so, it is a constant output unit. So when I was at a stop with the accessories on, the car was not getting enough output to handle the extra load. My car would start missing and then slowly die unless I shut off all of the accessories. I then bought a NAPA replacement regulator and then the car started charging higher than the 13.5 when the extra load was added.

Note: Since then, I added a Powermaster 75A alternator to help out too at idle.