Electrical Voltage Charging Problem...Help!!!!

[TJK74]

So I have the H4 headlight conversion and recently at night I got on the skiney hard from a stop light and I noticed a flash. Which at first I thought was one of those dang traffic light cameras. I then noticed I blew out a headlight. After I stopped and took off again the other headlight went out leaving me in the dark with only running lights. I popped on my brights and they came on only to also blow out a few block from home.
So I figured a new voltage Regulator would do the trick. Put a new one in and all was good and my amp meter was reading good. That was a few weeks ago.
So tonight I went out for drive and popped one headlight again and my amp meter was bouncing all over the place. So I pulled the alternator and took it to Napa. They tested it and all checked out to be good. I then swung by Kragens and had them test is as well just to be sure and it tested fine again.
So before I go buy another Voltage regulator is there something else that could be causing this that I should be looking for.
Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DirtDonk]

Boy howdy Trevor. That's a good one!
Are all the other bulbs ok? If your headlight bulbs are burning out that quick, due to an overvoltage issue (a big one, I'd say!), then i would think that your park, turn, tail and instrument cluster lights would go too. Unless headlights are just by nature more susceptible to this. Not sure in that regard.
Any of the other light bulbs having trouble?

Was the ammeter fluttering or showing a high rate of charge before?
What alternator are you running? Stock 55/65 amps style? Or something else?
Have you tried waiting for things to cool down and seeing if the lights come back up? Just thinking out loud here, in case it turns out to be a circuit-breaker issue inside the headlight switch.

Do you have a relay setup in your headlight wiring, or are you running original through the switch?

How long have you been running the H4's, and what wattage are you running?

Paul

 

[Viperwolf1]

Make sure you have 12V on the green-red wire going to the regulator (key on) and make sure the regulator is grounded well. It really should be grounded to the alternator. The orange wire should only connected to the alternator field terminal and the regulator F terminal. If it's touching anything else that has 12V it'll send the alternator into full charge.

 

[TJK74]

Boy howdy Trevor. That's a good one!
Are all the other bulbs ok? If your headlight bulbs are burning out that quick, due to an overvoltage issue (a big one, I'd say!), then i would think that your park, turn, tail and instrument cluster lights would go too. Unless headlights are just by nature more susceptible to this. Not sure in that regard.
Any of the other light bulbs having trouble?

Was the ammeter fluttering or showing a high rate of charge before?
What alternator are you running? Stock 55/65 amps style? Or something else?
Have you tried waiting for things to cool down and seeing if the lights come back up? Just thinking out loud here, in case it turns out to be a circuit-breaker issue inside the headlight switch.

Do you have a relay setup in your headlight wiring, or are you running original through the switch?

How long have you been running the H4's, and what wattage are you running?

Paul

Hey Paul.
Yes the only lights that are being effected are the headights. I'm running the WH IPF set up with the relay switch with 60/80 bulbs and they are popping the bulbs. I have been running this set up for a couple of year so far. I have replace the bulbs once already which was last week and the I got the new voltage reg. and will have to get new ones here tomorrow as well.

The ammeter was fluttering before and then after I installed a new voltage reg. it was nice and steady till today. It started to flutter again and shortly after I Blew out the headlights. I'm running the stock alternator but now I'm about ready to drop in the 3G setup if I cant figure this problem out soon.

 

[TJK74]

Make sure you have 12V on the green-red wire going to the regulator (key on) and make sure the regulator is grounded well. It really should be grounded to the alternator. The orange wire should only connected to the alternator field terminal and the regulator F terminal. If it's touching anything else that has 12V it'll send the alternator into full charge.

Thanks
I'll give it a closer look tomorrow and check voltage and see what I'm getting.

Trevor

 

[BroncoDawg]

Couldn't the fluttering meter be bad ground too? I'd check to make sure that you don't have exposed wires at the back of the headlights rubbing up against the core support. May not be the case, but jus' sayin'.

 

[Socal Tom]

Have you measured the voltage?
Tom

 

[TJK74]

Make sure you have 12V on the green-red wire going to the regulator (key on) and make sure the regulator is grounded well. It really should be grounded to the alternator. The orange wire should only connected to the alternator field terminal and the regulator F terminal. If it's touching anything else that has 12V it'll send the alternator into full charge.

OK I have 12V at the green red wire and checked the rest of the wired and they are all good.

 

[Viperwolf1]

I think it could be a regulator grounding issue. What voltage do you see at the battery with the engine running?

 

[TJK74]

Ok I have 14.9 at idle and when revved out it tops at 15.75.
I double check all wiring and the ground bolts to the voltage reg.
Right now the ammeter is holding steady after replacing the bulbs. I burnt up two more today at $14 a pop so hopefully the problem is cured. Ive spent over $75 bucks in bulbs and its getting old. Plus in two week I'm heading out to the dunes where I will need my lights at night
Is there something else I should be checking with the H4 set up? I checked all the ground wires and they are all good.

 

[Viperwolf1]

That voltage is excessive. Should be around 14.5V max.

 

[luderchris]

15.75 seems pretty high. Shouldn't it only be mid 14V when running, even with revs?

Not sure that is enough to blow the headlights though. I would think they would just shine a bit brighter at almost 16V.

 

[TJK74]

That voltage was with the headlights on along with the Aux. Warn headlight as well.
With just plain idle and no headlight s on its at 13.95 and when revved at 14.1
I'm sure it comes into play as well, I'm running a Jacobs electronic ignition that runs directly of the battery.

 

[Viperwolf1]

That voltage was with the headlights on along with the Aux. Warn headlight as well.
With just plain idle and no headlight s on its at 13.95 and when revved at 14.1
I'm sure it comes into play as well, I'm running a Jacobs electronic ignition that runs directly of the battery.

That's opposite of what I would expect from a good setup. Usually the voltage drops when more load is put on the alternator. It could be a flakey regulator, bad regulator ground or maybe even corrosion where the yellow wire connects at the starter solenoid.

 

[TJK74]

That's opposite of what I would expect from a good setup. Usually the voltage drops when more load is put on the alternator. It could be a flakey regulator, bad regulator ground or maybe even corrosion where the yellow wire connects at the starter solenoid.

Well I have 3 regulators on the bench two that are less than two weeks old. I will check the connections and see what I find. I'm about ready to go with the 3G set up and call it done though my only fear is that my problem will still exist%)
I'll pund it around tomorrow some more with all the light on and see what happens.