Looks like I've killed another battery. :o(

[Kevin Lister]

Hi Bill,
Thanks for the tips below. I appreciate the suggestions and recommendations.
Fortunately,I have a background in electrical engineering and I am pretty familiar with power supplies and charging circuits. So, I think I can muddle my way through it. ;o)
I checked the ground connections and found that all of the cables/connections are in good shape except the connector that connects to the voltage regulator. It had some corrosion on the female side. It looks like there was some reapair to one of the wires coming out of the connector. I cleaned it up and connected and disconnected it several times. I believe it is making contact now. Didn't help.
I checked the output of all three legs of the alternator to the common leg and they were all around 7.5VAC. I still have to check the output of the bridge rectifier. I'll use my oscilloscope to check this. Since there don't appear to be any capacitors on the output of the bridge rectifier I should easily be able to see that each phase of the alternator is present in the "DC" output.
I also checked the output of that individual coil that comes from the alternator that appears to generate about 5VAC at RPM. It drops down to about zero when idling. I'm not yet sure what that coil is for. I'll have to draw a schemnatic of the regulator and then I'll be able to determine what they are doing.
I checked the Yoke, Core and Points gaps on both relays in the regulator. Some adjustment was required. Once I got that done the voltage on the battery was about 12.5V. Much better than the 11.6V that I usually see. I fiddled with the adjustment tab in the regulator to try to get to a happy place and it's better but not perfect. It's possible that the relays are worn out. I noticed the regulator has some high wattage resistors on it. I'm guessing they are current limiters, but I didn't actuall draw the schematic. I'll do that this weekend.
The car doesn't appear to have chargind problems now. It's interesting to note that the Hayne's manual (very poor) describes the testing and adjustment phase with the battery disconnected from the charging system (no load). Still, after the dust settles, you must have more than around 12.5V at the battery terminals, with the battery connected, in order to charge the battery. I've got it running between 13.5V and 14V.
I'm still convinced that I can replaced the mechanical regulator with some solid state circuitry. I'm looking into that.
Let me know if you can think of anything else.
thanks!
kev
billmyong@... wrote:
Kev;
Do a few things before messing with the voltage regulator.
Clean all the connections between the battery and engine/harness/fuse
box.....
as for the regulator, look at the ground connections and ensure the ground
wire is on a clean bolt to body including the washer. Clean the base of the
voltage regulator where it connects to the body. Then unplug it and clean
all the connecting points. Remember, there are three sections to your
alternator, - Stator W/Brushes, Rectifyer and Voltage Regulator. This is
not a single component. If it is still low, open the regulator and there is
an adjustment on one of the coils.
Bill