Hey there.
Before I read "daddanjer"´s topic from March"registering discharge" I had come to the same conclusion that I would have to replace my voltage regulator. The old one being Echlin VR-38, and the new one being a genuine Mopar replacement regulator P4529794. But when I read the old topic where "SlantSixDan" suggested a Standard-BlueStreak VR-128 or Echlin VR-1001 I started wondering. Will any regulator do? Or are there differences in different regulators?

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Mopar or no car.

Bye the way, who the F**K is Tu Ning?

VR38 is for the '70+ dual-field alternator. VR128/VR10001 is for the '60-'69 single-field alternator. The MP items are not of good quality.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

That P-part genuine Mopar regulator killed one battery in my Dart before I threw it away.

What symptoms led you to believe you need a new regulator?

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Joshua

I tried both voltage regulators on my -73 Valiant and found out that my 12 year old Echlin only puts out 13,6V when the new MP gives 14,5V. I've had problems with my 2 year old battery being emptied a couple of times last summer in my -70 Duster, so that's why I bought a new regulator and tried them first on the Valiant.

And there's more gremlins in the electrical system so I will start a new thread.

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Mopar or no car.

Bye the way, who the F**K is Tu Ning?

Be aware that electronic regulators can fail in ways other than either no or max charge; sometimes, they can fail slowly or intermittently and allow the set point voltage to drift up or down over time. I removed the potting from the last regulator and found that a power resistor was half burned away - it slowly raised to voltage to about 14.8V and fried my battery before I realized it.

What voltage-area is considered to be the best? I've thought it's between 13,8 and 14,5.

_________________
Mopar or no car.

Bye the way, who the F**K is Tu Ning?

The optimum battery charging voltage is a source of some debate; it depends on the type of battery and its temperature. You might want to look at http://www.landiss.com/battery.htm ; however, in common practice, the decrease of the desired voltage with temperature is nearly comparible to the acceptible range.

That means you could get by with a simple constant voltage over most of the temperature range; the regulator can't know the battery's temperature anyway and must just use its temperature. Personally, I don't worry if the voltage is between 13.4 & 14.4V as I use conventional batteries (I'm not convinced that spiral-cell are really cost effective due to their short warranties; if the manf.'s really believe they'll last 10X conventional, how come their warranties are no better?).

When my regulator failed my ammeter showed ~10-15A charging when the battery ought to have been totally charged up; I measured 14.8V at idle; and it totally killed my Diehard group 27 battery within the 40 minutes or so it took to drive home.