Hi all,

I just replaced the voltage regulator that I got from Ground Up Restorations in my 1970 Elky SS 396 and now the lights (headlights, interior lights, dash lights, etc.) are pulsating. What could the cause of this be? It did not appear to be doing this before the new voltage regulator was installed. I also had the alternator rebuilt prior to installing the new voltage regulator. Could the alternator be messed up also? It is charging at about 14.3 volts at the battery which seems to be a lot better than what the old voltage regulator was charging at (12.3 v) Any suggestions or help would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks,

Brian

Pulsating at idle, or at all speeds?

voltage is a little high. first thing i would check is your grounds. all of them, battery clamp, engine to frame strap, and the regulator most of all. hope this helps, but it sounds like a gounding problem to me. my .02 .

Mostly seems to be at idle but if you rev it up to about 3000 rpms or so it seems to steady out and not pulsate anymore. It seems as the higher the rpms go, the faster it pulsates until it becomes steady.

I just ran the elky with the head lights on and all of the accessories going for about a minute or two. I then shut all of the forementioned things off and let the battery charge back up then repeated it again. The lights seem to pulsate now but not as strong as before.

Could this pulsating because by a low battery? This battery in the car was not on a trickle charger and the vehicle is in an unheated garage (one of those cover-it garages).

Voltage with lights off is now reading 13.96 and no accessories on. With the accessories and lights on it was reading about 12.24

Could this pulsating because by a low battery?

Yes.

ACAUTH1,

Thanks for the info. I never knew a low battery could get those results. I will keep the battery on charge overnight and start it in the morning and see what my results are. Hopefully, that is the problem and nothing else. I will keep everyone posted as to what transpires.

Thanks again

if the battery is low then most of your alt. output will go to charging the battery instead of powering lights an accesssories. this will be more obvious at idle because of the lower rpm. also if the battery is plain junk and wont take a charge then theres nothing to give the voltage reg. a stable sense voltage or primary voltage. the reg. will be dependant on alternator output volts, which is not stable with a bad battery.

The same thing happen to my 62' Caddy Hearse which it had a 94' Chevy Vortec 350 Motor & an updated 1 wire Alt. & NEW Battery...but the light's flickered all the time!!! I sold the Hearse last year to get my 59' Elky :D & I never did figure out why it did that! I drove it like that for 6 year's:? It looked kinda cool, being it was a Hearse! :P When you find out, I sure would like to know for future reference..."SKULL"

Everything on the elky is stock so no lobing of a cam and idle is set to factory specs. The voltage regulator seems to be charing with the lights off at 14.2 / 14.3 and with the lights on charging at 14.6 / 14.8 volts. I tried running a jumper wire from the voltage regulator metal base to the neg. side of the battery and no change so I doubt it is a ground problem. The old voltage regulator was bad and was overcharging to the point of high 15's to low 16 volts just at idle. This is why I replaced it and had the alternator rebuilt. Battery charged up with engine off was reading 12.9 volts on a 6 mos old battery. Battery charger was on the battery for only about maybe 3 or 4 hrs.

It seems that the higher the voltage, the worse the pulsating is with the lights. Could too much of a charge cause the lights to pulsate?

just to be sure i would have the battery load tested if you havent already. just because the battery has been on the charger and reads good with a volt meter doesnt tell how good it is under load. most of your chain part stores has a load tester(advanced auto, pep boys, auto zone) and they might test it for free. sorry ive been beating the battery to death, but ive seen too many people get burned by a battery.

it could still be a ground problem. not saying that is what it is, but you have described problems from one end of the gamut to the other without changing anything. usually this indicates "something" that is hunting a ground. please remember that electricity, whether ac or dc, is just like anything else. it is always hunting the path of least resistance. kinda like water always flows downhill, but it can also flow "north" in the right conditions. as always, just my .02 worth, but until you change a component in the system this is what i think. reason i said to check ALL grounds. i know it doesn't seem like this system can affect that one but sh++ happens. hope like hell i'm wrong. this is one of those problems that can even drive anyone to "drink". best of luck, and i intend to monitor this post until you figure out what it is and tell the rest of the world. one of them been there, done that, after you refresh our memories. lol.

P.S. you have got one of the last vehicles made that came with a regulator and that has been over 30 years ago. i wouldn't take it to any shop unless it was run by one of "us old farts". everybody has an opinion, but you are the one paying for it!

I know what you mean. I do all of my own work unless it is something that I know would be more cost effective having someone else do it or I dont have the tools to get it done. I have been burned by auto garages before saying they do the job and only to find out that they broke something and never told me or never tightened up the oil filter all the way. This is why I do it myself. One, I know the job is done right. Two, I dont pay the $85/hr labor rates either.

Ok,

Good news! ! ! After calling Ground Up Restorations, they advised me to send the old one back and to get another one from a local parts store to see if it would change the problem. They also mentioned about finding an original one at a junk yard. I ended up going to the junk yard and found an original Delco-Remy voltage regulator. Actually I found two that had the staggered lettering of Delco-Remy so I got both of them for $20. Brought them home to try them out and both worked perfectly. The lights no longer pulsate and I have two original regulators. One was charging a little higher than the other at about mid 14's and the other was in the mid to low 14s with the lights off. With all of the accessories on, it was reading about 12.3/12.2 volts. The highest the reading was at the low 15s when I turned everything off and it went up that high. After a little while, it jumped down to 14 volts. I assume that it read that the battery was fully charged at that point. Anyway, even though the old regulator was charging at the right voltage, it appears to be the problem with the pulsating.

I will let everyone know how this turns out.

Thanks for everyones input,

Brian

As I mentioned to you before, 12.3 with everything on isn't any good. A charged battery is 12.6 volts. You need at least 14 out of the alternator.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tiffany Marose" <tmarose@wellsmfgcorp.com>
To: "muha1" <muha1@msn.com>
Cc: "Jim Gehl" <Jgehl@wellsmfgcorp.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 1:02 PM
Subject: RE: Voltage Regulators

John,

In reference to your inquiry, Wells Manufacturing has not discontinued the
VR715 and yes, this part is still available from AutoZone.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you for thinking of Wells as a source for your automotive needs!

Sincerely,

Tiffany Marose
Wells Manufacturing Corp.

-----Original Message-----
From: muha1 [mailto:muha1@msn.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 7:13 AM
To: technical@wellsmfgcorp.com
Subject: Voltage Regulators


Heard that Wells has discontinued the VR715. Is this just misinformation?
Still carried through AutoZone? I usually recommend them as a replacement on the Team Chevelle website.
Thanks
John Muha

Hi John,

I was not trying to call you a liar but when I called up my local AutoZone, they said that the VR715 was no longer available, that it had been discontinued. I have even tried going to Strauss Discount Auto since they used to get Wells, and they even said that part number was discontinued.

:? Who knows?

I never thought for a second that you called me anything. I just wanted to find out from Wells if they stopped making these. If they did I was going to find out why. I've talked and written to their tech reps a few times and thought they would still be putting these out for the foreseeable future.
Not had any luck using aftermaket foreign made mechanical regulators.

John,

Would Wells sell these voltage regulators to the general public or would we have to go to a general distributor? It seems that AutoZone doesnt want my money since they are telling me it has been discontinued. I would like to get an electronic voltage regulator since I have one of these in my 69 Charger that uses the stock black metal cover and you cant tell the difference either way. Hope to hear from you soon.

If I were you I'd write back to Tiffany Marose at Wells. Let her know what you have been going though. Here's a company that sells a product to car guys like us for $11.00. They aren't getting super rich doing it.
It may not seem like a big thing now but what happens if there's no one out there to support our cars 10 years from now. Old guys like me really aren't worried about 10 years in the future but I'd like to see something left for the guys just starting out.

John,

Do you have Tiffany's email address? If not, would you have her address where I can mail a letter too at her office? I would really like to get an electronic voltage regulator just to have it be more reliable like the one in my 69 Charger. Any info would be very helpful and on behalf of the other "newbies" in the car resto industry, thanks for all of your help.

Tiffany Marose
tmarose@wellsmfgcorp.com

Thanks John, Im emailing her now. I will let you know the outcome.