question on bulkhead connector bypass
nevermind - I answered my own question - of course this 'by-pass' will result in overcharging the battery because it essentially bypasses the VR which would otherwise open and close the charging circuit to allow charging current to battery only when required to maintain preset minimum voltage, duh. I'm thinking this by-pass is just not a great idea. Anyway, having cleaned the wires in the bulkhead connectors and replacing the fusible link in there, I'm more confident the original set-up will continue do it's job; worked pretty good for 50 years. Thanks for all your input/suggestions.
Please allow me to jump in here for a quicky.
What happened by doing the bypass is that you have taken some of the load off the harness, and therefore reducing the needed voltage.
Your charging voltage was more steady because of the load it was compensating for, and now without that constant load on things the regulator gets a bit jumpy.
This in no way changes what Del says, but just an explanation of why it does it.
14v isn't overcharging, but more where it should be in my opinion.
Just so you know, the regulator senses the voltage from farther inside the harness with that blue wire off the regulator plug, so it's still sensing.
The lowered load on the electrical system from the bypass and the use of headlight relays cause this to happen.
Some of us bypass the harness connection of the blue regulator wire and run it direct to the battery+ starter relay terminal with it's own relay inline so it gets a direct sensing of the battery voltage without going through the rest of the harness and getting "tricked" into erratic operation.
This way when you turn on your key and the relay closes the regulator see's actual battery voltage.
And again, Del's advice still stands, I just thought different wording might help you realize why you are now seeing what you are.
