I was having some issues with a low or dead battery about a year ago. I ended up replacing the voltage regulator and the problem was fixed. A few months later ran into the same issue. Thought is was another bad Napa brand voltage regulator. Replaced it with a Tom's Bronco Parts voltage regulator. Fixed the problem. It ran and started great for the last 8-9 months. A few weeks ago I drove witht the headlights on. Instantly realized when I stopped it was hard starting again. The alternator was no longer charging the battery. Tested the alternator and had the battery checked. All good. I replaced the voltage regulator a few days ago, problem fixed. I think when I turn on my lights it's frying the voltage regulator. Probably the last time I drove with my lights on was when the issue happened 8-9 months ago. Could my lights be overloading the electrical system and damaging the voltage regulator? Looking for advice on where to move forward and what to check next? Thank You.
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Bad voltage regulator
- Thread starter Birddog75
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I don't see how that can happen unless someone has messed with the wiring. How bright or dim are the headlights normally? Does your headlight switch get hot? Are you sure it was not on high-beam?
Nothing puts a load on the regulator itself directly, and it only functions with the alternator. And the alternator is what's supposed to keep everything else happy.
If your regulator is not well grounded though, and/or is not grounded to the alternator, this may be the issue.
Otherwise, you may just be the unlucky one to have three bad regulators in a row!
Verify that the contact with the body is clean.
Verify that there is still a small black wire running from the alternator to the regulator's attaching screw.
Verify that you still have a main body ground from the negative battery terminal or cable, directly to the body.
While you're doing all this, test the wires that come into the regulator and test the output at the battery.
The Yellow "A" wire should have full battery voltage at all times.
The Green w/red "S" wire should have pretty close to full battery voltage when the key is ON only.
All connections should be clean and tight.
Alternator should have a good ground connection to the engine. In other words, no paint or rust in-between.
What is the overall condition of the wiring? Is it original and a little shabby looking? Or is it in good shape still?
What about the main battery cables? Good?
When the engine is running measure voltage at the battery terminals and it should waffle around 14.5v or so. If it's low at idle, rev the engine to see if it goes up.
Basically, it might be your regulators going bad, but it might be a wiring issue as well. But if the headlights are doing anything, that would be very out of character!
Paul
Nothing puts a load on the regulator itself directly, and it only functions with the alternator. And the alternator is what's supposed to keep everything else happy.
If your regulator is not well grounded though, and/or is not grounded to the alternator, this may be the issue.
Otherwise, you may just be the unlucky one to have three bad regulators in a row!
Verify that the contact with the body is clean.
Verify that there is still a small black wire running from the alternator to the regulator's attaching screw.
Verify that you still have a main body ground from the negative battery terminal or cable, directly to the body.
While you're doing all this, test the wires that come into the regulator and test the output at the battery.
The Yellow "A" wire should have full battery voltage at all times.
The Green w/red "S" wire should have pretty close to full battery voltage when the key is ON only.
All connections should be clean and tight.
Alternator should have a good ground connection to the engine. In other words, no paint or rust in-between.
What is the overall condition of the wiring? Is it original and a little shabby looking? Or is it in good shape still?
What about the main battery cables? Good?
When the engine is running measure voltage at the battery terminals and it should waffle around 14.5v or so. If it's low at idle, rev the engine to see if it goes up.
Basically, it might be your regulators going bad, but it might be a wiring issue as well. But if the headlights are doing anything, that would be very out of character!
Paul
Battery cables are new. I checked and cleaned all the grounds. The high beams are not on. The lights are not very bright, but I imagine that's just the old style of lights. I will check to see if the headlight switch gets hot. I did buy an extra voltage regulator regulator. I thought I could turn the lights on again and see if the voltage regulator fails. It might be a coincidence that the issue occurred while driving with the lights on. I never drive it at night. Thinking back to the last time this happened, I may have been with the lights on. Also, it is the original wiring harness uncut. It's in decent shape, but the wires are old and brittle.
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What does the ammeter say when you're using the vehicle? Is it working?
If so you should be able to tell the general condition of the charging system. Won't tell you that the battery is getting low, but if you watch it like you should you can see that it would be going down by the needle being at, or below zero. As in, discharging.
If the ammeter is not working, you can just keep checking the battery voltage with a handheld volt-meter whenever you can open the hood.
Or better yet, a simple volt-meter that you can insert into the cigar lighter so you can watch it while driving is a great diagnostic tool.
It might only show how the cigar lighter circuit is doing, but it might also tell you the overall health of the battery as it's being driven.
Basically, anything over 13.5v while driving is decent. About 14.5v most of the time is preferred. And anything below 13v while driving is insufficient charging.
But even with that tool, it should be verified that the cigar lighter volt-meter matches the battery voltage at the battery with another volt-meter.
Good luck.
Paul
If so you should be able to tell the general condition of the charging system. Won't tell you that the battery is getting low, but if you watch it like you should you can see that it would be going down by the needle being at, or below zero. As in, discharging.
If the ammeter is not working, you can just keep checking the battery voltage with a handheld volt-meter whenever you can open the hood.
Or better yet, a simple volt-meter that you can insert into the cigar lighter so you can watch it while driving is a great diagnostic tool.
It might only show how the cigar lighter circuit is doing, but it might also tell you the overall health of the battery as it's being driven.
Basically, anything over 13.5v while driving is decent. About 14.5v most of the time is preferred. And anything below 13v while driving is insufficient charging.
But even with that tool, it should be verified that the cigar lighter volt-meter matches the battery voltage at the battery with another volt-meter.
Good luck.
Paul
The battery is a few years old. I had it tested when the issue first occurred and it was fine. The amp meter bounces above zero on the initial start up and then zero's out. Once running the battery is charging at around 13.5. Something is damaging the voltage regulators.
Hi, 2 things come to mind.
My old Fords came with old fashioned mechanical voltage regulators. Now they have the direct bolt in modern electronic regulators. The new electronic regulators are a big improvement, and may last forever.
The other thing is I have seen the plug at the regulator deteriorates so the plug looks OK, but the wires at the connectors are in poor condition. Sometimes wiggling the connector at the regulator will make it work for a little while.
Once I was stuck with a friend and his truck on a road trip and ended up splicing the speaker wire spade connectors to the voltage regulator harness, to eliminate the corroded wires in the plastic plug so we could keep moving.
Good luck
My old Fords came with old fashioned mechanical voltage regulators. Now they have the direct bolt in modern electronic regulators. The new electronic regulators are a big improvement, and may last forever.
The other thing is I have seen the plug at the regulator deteriorates so the plug looks OK, but the wires at the connectors are in poor condition. Sometimes wiggling the connector at the regulator will make it work for a little while.
Once I was stuck with a friend and his truck on a road trip and ended up splicing the speaker wire spade connectors to the voltage regulator harness, to eliminate the corroded wires in the plastic plug so we could keep moving.
Good luck
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A reason that I mentioned the grounds right off too, is that powering up a voltage regulator when the case is not grounded is generally accepted as a way to kill it pretty quickly.
So we don't plug them in until they're mounted, but if for some reason the metal is rusty underneath them it's possible that an erratic or insufficient ground could do some damage in the long-term. Not sure, but it seemed possible.
Paul
So we don't plug them in until they're mounted, but if for some reason the metal is rusty underneath them it's possible that an erratic or insufficient ground could do some damage in the long-term. Not sure, but it seemed possible.
Paul
Hi....On the off chance that you are an electrical expert, you have the instruments to check the charging framework. Why not beginning there?? Check the stator, check the yield of the stator, at that point check the controller yield to the battery. Watch that the grounds are acceptable, a Harley framework charges constantly, when the battery arrives at top charge, the overabundance unused power is redirected to the edge.
You are leaping as far as possible, rather that checking the framework. analyze the issue. You are an electrical technician and this is an elecrtical issue.
https://www.7pcb.com/
You are leaping as far as possible, rather that checking the framework. analyze the issue. You are an electrical technician and this is an elecrtical issue.
https://www.7pcb.com/
Last edited:
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Thanks Jeth. And welcome to classicbroncos too!
Sounds like you're the electrical expert here, but some of that stuff might not apply perhaps? Not sure what you mean by framework, but testing the stator and even testing grounds (voltage drop? Or just resistance?) is sometimes beyond our initial thinking. Until some of the aspects are discussed and cleared up that is.
So did you ever get this problem resolved Birddog? Did it come back, or has it stayed away so far? Been driving it much?
Glad it got brought back up. Let us know if you found anything.
Paul
Sounds like you're the electrical expert here, but some of that stuff might not apply perhaps? Not sure what you mean by framework, but testing the stator and even testing grounds (voltage drop? Or just resistance?) is sometimes beyond our initial thinking. Until some of the aspects are discussed and cleared up that is.
So did you ever get this problem resolved Birddog? Did it come back, or has it stayed away so far? Been driving it much?
Glad it got brought back up. Let us know if you found anything.
Paul
I have been driving it quite a bit lately since the weather is nice and the top is off. Is the problem fixed, no. A few weeks ago it was hard starting. The starter really struggled to turn the engine over. The battery was dropping to 4 volts while cranking. Got the battery tested and the diagnosis was a bad voltage regulator. Replaced the voltage regulator and back to normal operation. Had battery retested. All is good. In the process I noticed the voltage regulator harness looked very worn. The wire was so worn feeding the noise suppressor it just fell off. I replaced that, now the harness seems to fit tighter.
I also rebuilt my heater core and added a new heater on/off switch. The PO had a toggle switch tapped into the brake light switch. I corrected that. Also, the past year my rear brake lights where intermittent. I finally tracked it down to a broken connector under the dash that would come loose not allowing full electrical contact for the brake lights and turn signal. I am not sure if this would cause issues to the charging system ultimately damaging the voltage regulator.
On another note, my amp meter use to bounce a little. Now it does nothing. Is this normal? Is it worth it to change my amp meter to a volts meter?
I also rebuilt my heater core and added a new heater on/off switch. The PO had a toggle switch tapped into the brake light switch. I corrected that. Also, the past year my rear brake lights where intermittent. I finally tracked it down to a broken connector under the dash that would come loose not allowing full electrical contact for the brake lights and turn signal. I am not sure if this would cause issues to the charging system ultimately damaging the voltage regulator.
On another note, my amp meter use to bounce a little. Now it does nothing. Is this normal? Is it worth it to change my amp meter to a volts meter?
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When you say the ammeter does nothing, do you mean at no time does it even move anymore? Did you watch it while you were starting the engine? If it's working, it will go to deep discharge while the starter is cranking, then go to a moderate charge (such as 30a for example) for a few minutes while it's receding towards zero. At that point (when the battery is re-charged) it will hover near zero and appear to be doing nothing.
But if you watched it for an extended period and it did not move even when you turned lights on, or heater on, or whatnot, then yes, something is wrong with it.
But it's not tied into the regulator directly like it would be on other models. Ours reads directly off of the main charge wire between the alternator, the cabin and fuse panel, and the battery.
Check it out next time you fire it up, or just leave the engine off and turn on different accessories to see if it moves. If not, the gauge is probably buggered for some reason.
Yes it would be perfectly fine to replace it with a volt-meter and that's what most people do. I like ammeters but most people prefer a voltmeter instead.
Up to you really, but if the gauge is bad and you need to replace it, then replacing it with a voltmeter would be the way to go.
Paul
But if you watched it for an extended period and it did not move even when you turned lights on, or heater on, or whatnot, then yes, something is wrong with it.
But it's not tied into the regulator directly like it would be on other models. Ours reads directly off of the main charge wire between the alternator, the cabin and fuse panel, and the battery.
Check it out next time you fire it up, or just leave the engine off and turn on different accessories to see if it moves. If not, the gauge is probably buggered for some reason.
Yes it would be perfectly fine to replace it with a volt-meter and that's what most people do. I like ammeters but most people prefer a voltmeter instead.
Up to you really, but if the gauge is bad and you need to replace it, then replacing it with a voltmeter would be the way to go.
Paul
