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Posted by David Sherman on Wednesday, July 01, 2009 at 02:51:24 :
In Reply to: Voltage Reg issue - Need opinions and feedback posted by Bob Stopka in Panama City on Wednesday, July 01, 2009 at 01:52:43 :
I also have had a problem with regulator points welding themselves together. I never did figure out what caused it, and once I broke them loose, it worked fine. Seems to me I've had that problem on a couple of rigs. Full charging current goes through the points, and I'm thinking a temporary short on the generator side, like a screwdriver slipping when working on something, might have overheated them. I never went to any trouble to clean the points up, and everything seems to be fine.
I agree with the other advice that the first thing to do is put a known good battery in, even if you have to borrow it from another vehicle and hook it up with jumper cables. Another hint in that direction is to measure the actual voltage at the battery. If the ammeter shows 30 amps, and the battery should be well charged, but is only reading, say, 11 volts, you have a shorted cell in it. On the other hand, if you're seeing something like 16 volts, the ammeter is probably correct and your regulator is in need of adjustment. A bad ground on the regulator will make it overcharge, so also check the voltage between the regulator case and the grounded battery post to make sure there's no more than a fraction of a volt difference.
If the problem persists with a known good battery, and the voltmeter indicates a reasonable charging voltage (13-15V or so) hook another ammeter in series with yours and see if the reading is similar. Automotive ammeters are fairly fool-proof, but it's easy enough check by substitution.
At this point, I think the last thing to do is start re-adjusting the regulator drastically. The "clicking" part sounds strange to me -- usually the regulator points just vibrate softly with a tiny blue spark, but I don't know the WC regulator myself. Since you say it has adjusting screws, maybe it's like the M-series regulator, which is truly the Cadillac of 3-coil electromechanical voltage regulators. Before you start tweaking on it, look it over carefully, including the resistors on the bottom side, for any physical damage, signs of burning, shorts, broken wires, etc.