Would a bad alternator cause headlight flicker?

cdnEHbody said

It still flickers. The engine was in park and running. It was 11.9 to 12 which I feel is too low. all of the starter /relay connections have been cleaned and greased and show almost no drop. this car was a low mile granny car. The bulkhead connections looked very good but I did my work and cleaned all the pins anyways. And cleaned the connectors around the steering column. But, probably the ignition switch would be my guess where the drop is. But I'll probe the other bulkheads again later. I will also try a standalone field wire to the alt.

so this field in the alternator is completely isolated? Could be controlled negatively or positively if I change up the field wiring with a regulator of my choice if this one is shitty

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Yes, field is isolated, which is the correct term. Many call these "dual field" which is incorrect. There is no "dual field," but it's slang referring to two field connections.

Yes, you could put any VR you can get in there, but why? These VRs as long as they are a quality replacement have a low failure rate and good track record.

Sounds to me like harness voltage drop is the issue.

IF THE VR cannot see the true battery voltage, then it's not the VR fault. It's the fault of the harness / terminals / connections. If the VR IGN terminal runs at correct voltage when running, then the VR is doing it's job regardless of battery voltage.

Sort of like Mom yelling at the kids. Mom did the right thing. She tried to stop the kids from doing something stupid. That does not mean the kids will stop.