Fellow Triumphants,
Per usual youse guys and gals were spot on correct. My voltmeter was off.
I'm thinking by +5 volts but who knows for sure. Just popped in my Ebay
prize
$12 + $6 shipping regulator and I can now remove my positive ground and keep
on
trucking. That 17 and 18+ voltage reading was absolutely bogus as many
suggested.
What is ironic is that was what it was reading on a super duper digital
voltmeter I have.
Fortunately I dug up a good old analog voltmeter that I had buried in the
archives of my garage, wired some makeshift leads up to it and sure enough we
are back to the 12-13 volt territory. It's kind of hard to tell exactly but
it is definitely not no 18 volts and it is definitely going up a volt or two
when I start up the engine. All of which is making me feel alot better
tonight. Now for some more elementary electric questions. When I first
hooked up the new regulator I could see a distinct blue sparking on the
left/regulator side fixed contact point that touch each other. After warming
up a while I didn't see any blue spark there. Also I was seeing movement in
the cut off mechanism at first but not after it warmed up. Seeing the
constant blue spark there at the regulator contact point kind of worried me as
one of the most obvious problems with my old regulator was an obvious burn
mark on and around those same points. Also, is it normal to see a healthy (I
hope) blue spark happening at what I assume are the brushes in the rear most
part of the generator in the dark? I had it rebuilt not too long ago,
probably a few hundred miles and just want to make sure that this light show,
albeit in the dark, is normal. I guess I am going to see if I can get another
digital voltmeter becasue I really do want to do all that I can to set the
regulator and cut off correctly and make this control box last as I now have
first hand experience as to how strange the symptoms of its going south can
be. Especially to a rank amateur such as me. In hindsight I should have used
the faulty voltmeter on one or more of my other cars before wasting so much
time thinking that my battery was actually putting out 18 volts plus. I am
beginning to understand what someone meant when they said that maybe 90% of
fuel problems are actually electrical.
Thanks much for all the help.
Jim Lee
TR3A - 1959
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