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Old 05-15-2019, 10:44 AM
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Al Schober Al Schober is offline
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From your description, it's not clear to me whether the alternator or the regulator has failed. The purpose of the regulator is to send current to the field windings in the alternator. If the regulator has failed (no current to field windings), you can bypass it and send current to the field through a toggle switch. In essence, YOU become the regulator - turn on field current when battery voltage gets low, turn it off before you cook your batteries.
One of the early external regulators was the AutoMac (sold by Weems & Plath) which I used for years. It had two controls - an ON/OFF switch and a current adjustment. It would charge at the current you selected until the battery came up to voltage, then shut itself off. In use, I would then dial back the current a bit and restart the regulator.

Last edited by Al Schober; 05-15-2019 at 10:53 AM. Reason: AutoMac info.
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