I have a fairly new (1 year old, 1100 miles) voltage regulator that seems to
have had a problem.
I was driving last night with all the lights on and I looked over and saw that
I saw charging the battery at about 30 amps!!!! Pretty impressive considering
that the draw with all the lights is indicated to be about 15 amps when at
idle and the generator is not doing much
Anyway, I looked at the regulator and everything LOOKS normal. I used 400
grit sandpaper to clean the contacts a little and then tested the voltage. I
found that even when charging at 30 amps.
I then adjusted the little screw on the back of the current/voltage regulating
relay and I got it to lower the maximum charge, and also the voltage. My
DIGITAL meter showed about 12.75 volts and this seemed a little low. So, I
turned the screw to a higher voltage. Not much adjustment before the ammeter
on the car pegs itself.
So, I adjusted it so the cars ammeter shows about 22 amps of charging current
and about 13.00 volts on the meter (only the power draw of the running engine,
no lights, but the battery is charging).
I have the battery charger on in case the battery was/is low and causing the
draw as a "normal" charging activity.
Any ideas on what is going wrong and what I should do? What should I see as a
"normal" voltage on one of these regulators when the battery is not being
charged? I would think 13.6 volts or so.
-Tony
|