Over charging problem

[6packCuda]

The last couple of times I drove my Cuda last year I noticed the amp gauge was reading a little higher than usual towards the charge side. This spring I by-passed the ammeter and installed a volt meter. It showing about 15-15.5 Volts all the time. I verified the voltage with my fluke on the battery. Here's where it gets interesting. I then decided to run a 10 gauge bypass wire from the alternator stud to the starter relay. With this bypass wire hooked up, it now idles at 16V and goes up to 17+ with rpms. I tried a different regulator with with the same results. Ran a jumper wire from the regulator housing directly to the battery -. No change. Tried a different alternator, no change. Cleaned up the  battery-engine block ground, no change. I'm baffled. Why is it over charging and why did voltage increase so much with the bypass wire?

[dodj]

It's the voltage regulator 'seeing' a lower voltage than actual or a faulty regulator. Poor connections in the bulkhead connector can cause it. Check your bulkhead connector and the grounding of the VR. Small voltage drops across poor connections can cause the VR to 'see' a different voltage than what is actually being o/p to the battery.

[Strawdawg]

It's the voltage regulator 'seeing' a lower voltage than actual or a faulty regulator. Poor connections in the bulkhead connector can cause it. Check your bulkhead connector and the grounding of the VR. Small voltage drops across poor connections can cause the VR to 'see' a different voltage than what is actually being o/p to the battery.

Think that sums it up

Steve

[ShelbyDogg]

Did you try another alternator?

All the voltage regulator does is adjust how much ground the green wire is getting. If the alternator is internally grounding it's own field, it doesn't matter if you put 5 different regulators on it.

[6packCuda]

Checked the bulkhead connectors and found the connectors for the ammeter are corroded and melted. I'm confident this is causing my problem. Going to drill out the connectors and run a new wire through the bulkhead and splice it in to the original wires.

[6packCuda]

Problem solved . Now it idles at about 12.5V and holds steady at about 14.2 with rpms.

[JayBee]

Thanks for the update. Information and solutions like this are priceless.