superchargeddrt
Well-Known Member
I do have a oscilloscope (a nice Tektronics DPO scope). That is where I will go to loo, for The AC ripple. If I see any I will definitely swap alternators
Lights flicker and gauge jumps around???
- Thread starter 74dusterman
- Start date
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superchargeddrt
Well-Known Member
I Do have a nice Tektronics DPO Oscilloscope. I will check and let you Know what I find.
wow , lots of ideas , this is similar to your lights and amp gauge issues , just ended up replacing my volt regulator with a adjustable one , just installed it turned everything electrical on for the load . and you must keep the case grounded to your running car . and adjusted right out , put a few amps of charger over the loaded unit . that was it for me , but you should also check the main charge loop goes into the car to the dash then to the battery , it could have an issue at the bulkhead connectors . hope you get it fitting my drove me crazier bright to dim .
Darthomas
Ashamed to be seen in foreign cars
If all the diodes are "there", you'll see a tiny bit of ripple, but fairly smooth.
Any dead, and you'll see the gaps where they should have been doing their job, but aren't.
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
1....My gut says this is not a/ some bad diodes.
2...See if you can borrow a carbon pile / load tester, like this:
Lacking that, arrange so you can vary the load on the charging system. Headlights, heater, maybe round up some old headlights that work, etc.
3....Pull the VR connector and examine it carefully under light. You are looking for looseness / corrosion. Make ABSOLUTELY certain the VR is grounded. Remove it, scrape around the bolt holes and VR mount, and re-mount with start lock washers.
4...On 3, above, try alligator clip leads, hook the proper VR terminal to the field connection in the harness connector, and use a second alligator to jumper direct from the VR IGN terminal to the battery (starter relay stud) for testing.
Make some voltage checks with varying load, both "trying" to get the thing stable, and opposite. Measure from VR mount flange to battery NEG post. You should have ZERO voltage at best, and no more than a tenth or two at worst
Measure voltage from VR IGN terminal to battery +, with alligator leads jumpering the VR terminals to the VR connector. This is simply allowing you access. Measure this with key on / engine stopped, should be very low, lower the better. More than .3V (3/10 of one volt) means you have a problem developing.
Measure again, running, trying to get problem to show up.
IF POSSIBLE........swap in something else for an ignition system to eliminate interferance between your ign system and the VR.
5.....With system loaded heavy, lights, heater, etc energized, and running "at cruise" RPM, measure from alternator stud to battery positive. You should have very little drop there, the lower the better.
6.....WHERE IS the battery located, and HOW is it wired, exactly?
7....If you can NOT find anything else, and have not done so, sub a known good VR or a good quality replacement.
8.....THIS IS NOT LAST, nor is it "least." Make damn sure the belt is not slipping, or the PULLEY is not slipping
2...See if you can borrow a carbon pile / load tester, like this:
Lacking that, arrange so you can vary the load on the charging system. Headlights, heater, maybe round up some old headlights that work, etc.
3....Pull the VR connector and examine it carefully under light. You are looking for looseness / corrosion. Make ABSOLUTELY certain the VR is grounded. Remove it, scrape around the bolt holes and VR mount, and re-mount with start lock washers.
4...On 3, above, try alligator clip leads, hook the proper VR terminal to the field connection in the harness connector, and use a second alligator to jumper direct from the VR IGN terminal to the battery (starter relay stud) for testing.
Make some voltage checks with varying load, both "trying" to get the thing stable, and opposite. Measure from VR mount flange to battery NEG post. You should have ZERO voltage at best, and no more than a tenth or two at worst
Measure voltage from VR IGN terminal to battery +, with alligator leads jumpering the VR terminals to the VR connector. This is simply allowing you access. Measure this with key on / engine stopped, should be very low, lower the better. More than .3V (3/10 of one volt) means you have a problem developing.
Measure again, running, trying to get problem to show up.
IF POSSIBLE........swap in something else for an ignition system to eliminate interferance between your ign system and the VR.
5.....With system loaded heavy, lights, heater, etc energized, and running "at cruise" RPM, measure from alternator stud to battery positive. You should have very little drop there, the lower the better.
6.....WHERE IS the battery located, and HOW is it wired, exactly?
7....If you can NOT find anything else, and have not done so, sub a known good VR or a good quality replacement.
8.....THIS IS NOT LAST, nor is it "least." Make damn sure the belt is not slipping, or the PULLEY is not slipping
When I start the car sometimes, the voltmeter will read about 12V. If I rev the engine it will jump up to 14V at idle and stay. Took the alternator to the local parts store to have it tested
Two stores tested it good,one said it didn't put out the proper voltage but the diodes tested good. Watched a video which stated that the alternator should be grounded to the voltage regulator if it's external.
Two stores tested it good,one said it didn't put out the proper voltage but the diodes tested good. Watched a video which stated that the alternator should be grounded to the voltage regulator if it's external.
superchargeddrt
Well-Known Member
Okay, so I replaced my mechanical VR with a electronic when I did the Mad conversion and headlight relay mod. I ungrounded the one field connection to the alternator (always had a 2 field connection alternator) and bought the new style regulator from Advance Auto and mounted it with star washers and also ran new wiring to it. Not long after that I noticed a flicker in all of the lights as well as the voltage gauge. I checked.the difference in ground potential by measuring (with the engine running) from the engine block (my battery is in the trunk) to the regulator and only measured a difference of 0.1 Volts. To be safe I ran a ground wire directly from the alternator to the regulator, no change.. I checked the voltage with my Fluke meter and found it was 15.7 Volts!!!! Not Good. I did some checking online and found out that that voltage regulator that Advance Auto sells, a lot of people are having trouble with it and it appears to be due to the fact that you can't get a good ground on it through the anodized coating. I then went and ordered anot her brand new regulator from Napa Auto Parts for $35. I installed it with the same results. I then ordered and adjustable regulator online (Ebay) and was able to set the voltage to 14.2 volts and the lights are no longer flickering. By the way, it only cost me $20 with free delivery. Hope that this helps everybody else
nm9stheham
Well-Known Member
Is this a standard Mopar system alternator and regulator? If not, know that some systems look for a bit of 'juice' out of the alternator before starting the regulator. Revving the alternator does this.
68purpledart
Well-Known Member
Do you have a part number & a picture of the adjustable reg you used. I have a 68 Dart with the same issue,read all the posts tried everything. I changed to 70 Alt and VR, Mad conversion, put a 68 Barracuda dash in with volt meter, went through the harness cleaned all connections, found no issues. really frustrated!!!!
superchargeddrt
Well-Known Member
superchargeddrt
Well-Known Member
I feel your pain. Here are the pictures and part number. It's really funny that I bought it from a company named Roadrunner Electronics. I connected it to my harness and grounded it with jumper cables and adjusted the pot on the back for a max reading of 14.2 volts. Good Luck
cudajim
cudajim
I had the same problem with my car. Turns out it was a bad alternator. I had swapped it for another one I had lying around and the flickering went away. I did not, however have the high voltage problem you describe.
swinger1969
Repeat Mopar guy
Uh, after 46 years it's probably a good idea to get rid of some of the BAD ideas that the mfg'ers had for the new stuff. Ammeters were a bad idea fro the start. JMHO .
superchargeddrt
Well-Known Member
Well I fixed the flicker by adding a relay to feed the voltage regulator. I fed the regulator from the starter relay. Now the voltage gauge goes to 14 volts and stays there rock solid. The lights are bright and there is no flicker.
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
Abso-lutely frickin GREAT!!! Bet you are happy
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
Actually, I don't agree. I actually prefer ammeters to voltmeters IF THEY ARE PROPERLY designed. "The big thing" (which Ma KNEW how to fix, by the way.....) was poor design of the overall circuit, not large enough terminals, and wire that is too small.
Ways around the problem.........
Ma could have used the "big" feedthroughs used in the early '60s for the ammeter through the firewall.
Ma could have upgraded the wire size, and improved construction of the "guts" of the ammeter
Ma DID part of this with what is known as "police fleet taxi" wiring, which feeds larger ammeter wires through the firewall separately
In the early 70's almost everyone.......Ford, Chrysler, and GM.......went to external shunt ammeters on 'some models' like the big sea barges. Friend of mine had a 70 Chev pu and it had an external shunt ammeter.
superchargeddrt
Well-Known Member
I most certainly am! Thanks for all of your great ideas and help, it was greatly appreciated.
superchargeddrt
Well-Known Member
Okay Guys,
Here is how I fixed the flickering lights/voltage issues using a common relay that is typically used for driving lights. Hope that this helps.
Here is how I fixed the flickering lights/voltage issues using a common relay that is typically used for driving lights. Hope that this helps.
68purpledart
Well-Known Member
So you added a relay as well as the adjustable VR?
superchargeddrt
Well-Known Member
Yes, When I added the adjustable regulator I was able to adjust my voltage down from 15.6 volts and set it to 14.3 (could have gone lower if I wanted) but the lights were still flickering. I added the relay fed from the relay battery stud (battery is in the trunk) and I triggered the relay from the blue ballast resistor wire (or the wire that you cut off of the center ignition terminal of the regulator if you have a 70 and up car). This fixed the flickering. Hope this helps.
brasil
Well-Known Member
I am a little confused now... do you run 2 VRs ?? Why.. ?
Greetings Juergen
Greetings Juergen
superchargeddrt
Well-Known Member
No I am only running one regulator, the adjustable one I bought from Road Runner Electronics. I should have said that I replaced the nonadjustable regulator with a adjustable.
brasil
Well-Known Member
o.k. so if I want to make this "upgrade"...I only have to cut the blue wire that is comming out of the regulator... and put the relais in between... the blue cable that is comming out of the alternator will be "untouched"... ? right ?
Greetings Juergen
Greetings Juergen
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
No here's the deal. Get clear back to the BULKHEAD CONNECTOR. There is only one wire, that when "running down the road," provides "run" power into the engine bay, that is, the "ignition run" normally DARK BLUE, IGN1. The PROBLEM is that with things like bad connections in the ignition switch and connector, the bulkhead connector, etc, the voltage supplied by this wire has a DROP, and this causes the VR to OVERcharge because "it thinks" battery voltage is low
So, where the blue "run" wire comes out of the bulkhead, and BEFORE it branches to anything else, cut into it (electrically.)
The blue coming out of the bulkhead goes to the relay coil to activate the relay
The relay power feed can come from a breaker or fuse off the starter relay big battery stud
The switched contact of the relay connects to the engine harness side of the blue which you cut. So now the relay is feeding power to EVERYTHING fed off that blue wire
So, where the blue "run" wire comes out of the bulkhead, and BEFORE it branches to anything else, cut into it (electrically.)
The blue coming out of the bulkhead goes to the relay coil to activate the relay
The relay power feed can come from a breaker or fuse off the starter relay big battery stud
The switched contact of the relay connects to the engine harness side of the blue which you cut. So now the relay is feeding power to EVERYTHING fed off that blue wire
brasil
Well-Known Member
@67Dart273
I have this "flickering problem " since I installed a MSD RTR Distributor.... therefore I removed the BR ..then I connected the BLUE and the BROWN wire together... and bought a 30 amp Relais... now the relais is "switched on " by the blue /brown wires...
and feeds the MSD RTR Dizzy with full 12 V+ coming from the battery...
Sadly the setup creats this flickering of the lights...and the jumping on the Voltmeter..
If I use my OEM setup.... IGN BOX ( Chrome ) BR and Accel OEM Replacement Distributor....
Everything is fine....no flickering...nothing just 14.5 Volts stable...
Greetings Juergen
I have this "flickering problem " since I installed a MSD RTR Distributor.... therefore I removed the BR ..then I connected the BLUE and the BROWN wire together... and bought a 30 amp Relais... now the relais is "switched on " by the blue /brown wires...
and feeds the MSD RTR Dizzy with full 12 V+ coming from the battery...
Sadly the setup creats this flickering of the lights...and the jumping on the Voltmeter..
If I use my OEM setup.... IGN BOX ( Chrome ) BR and Accel OEM Replacement Distributor....
Everything is fine....no flickering...nothing just 14.5 Volts stable...
Greetings Juergen
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