Voltage Regulator?
I have one of the $10 voltage regulators, came on the car, with just the 2 terminals, Ignition & Field. It appears fairly new.
Battery is fresh, reads 12.7V standing.
When I got the car the regulator was not really bolted tight to the firewall and the ammeter had really wild positive swings. After tightening the bolts the swings are lessened.
I have run a dedicated ground to the regulator mounting bolt.
My alternator puts out 15.0 to 15.2 volts.
The battery voltage reads 14.7 to 15.0 when running.
The ammeter gauge jumps high scale when started to small jumps after a few minutes, and sits steady while running down the road. It does have a minimal jump with the turn signals blinking.
I'm getting a bit of battery fluid venting.
Is this the correct output from the regulator?
If not could it have been from poor mounting/grounding?
The battery voltage is not too bad. The alternator output is not too bad. There will ALWAYS be a voltage drop between alternator output and battery in these girls, unless you bypass the entire circuit with a large ga. wire direct from alternator to battery IE no 6 wire, etc
Here is the deal. There is typically voltage drop in the VR / ignition circuit which causes the battery to run high. There are two ways to check for this
1.....With engine warm, battery "normalized" and engine running on fast idle (to simulate low/ med cruise RPM and to insure that VR/ alternator are "up") Measure ignition voltage where it goes to ballast resistor. Measure from ballast IGN "run" terminal to VR ground. If this is in spec (see chart in service manual) 13.8--14.2 when warm, then VR is OK and any other voltage "at battery" means a harness voltage drop problem
2....Second way (how I do this) is turn key to "run" engine stopped. Measure between same point as above (ballast IGN RUN) and battery PLUS terminal. You are hoping for a very low reading. If your read more than a few tenths of a volt you need to get into "why." ----and fix it
Just one way is to use a relay triggered by the key, to power underhood loads
Let's say you measure .5V in test "2." This means that if the VR is actually charging at 14.2, and you have .5V reading with test "2" then that .5V will ADD to the 14.2, and the battery will run about 14.7V
This drop comes from the VR supply path which is ..........battery---------starter relay stud----------fuse link--------through the bulkhead on RED ammeter wire--------through ammeter-------out on BLACK ammeter wire----------to underdash welded splice-----------branch off to ignition switch connector---------through connector, switch, .........back out switch connector..........on "ignition run" (IGN1) .........back out through bulkhead connector.............to underhood ignition loads.
EACH OF THE POINTS above, between the dots is a point of bad connection and potential voltage drop. These drops ADD. IE if you have .2V drop through switch, and another .4V through bulkead connector RED terminal, and .1V through bulkhead terminal for the ignition "run" wire, these all add up in series
