Check carefully for lifted or corroded ground connections and defective alternator wiring and connections. Fun fact: 6 hundredths of a single ohm resistance cuts alternator output 30%! This also roasts all kinds of stuff.

While it's not unreasonable to get defective replacement parts these days it's worth eliminating this as the source of trouble. Voltage regulation needs a solid reference or it gets confused. It "sees" the corrosion or loose connection as a battery that needs charging. Incidentally it's also good practice to reinstall a thoroughly charged battery when doing this stuff. Alternators don't fare well with dead or defective batteries. Make sure not to reinstall a battery ruined by the defective regulator, for example.

 

That is good information, but the voltage spikes were stopped with a different Voltage Regulator, so I think that was my problem. Now hopefully if I can get another regulator, it will keep the voltage within the correct parameters.

 

Ugh this is why I don't like electricity.

If the new regulator doesn't work, I will get the battery load tested at the parts store. Hopefully it's not bad!! That would give me a total of 3 batteries I need to replace between my 4 vehicles...

Short of getting a fresh wiring harness, what would the most efficient plan of attack be to track down a bad wire? I need to clean up the hack job in there anyway I guess.

 

I got bit by Chinese parts a few weeks ago... a no start condition resulted in be buying two Chinese coils in succession.

A Taylor coil from Summit Racing and the War Machine fired right up..... lesson learned.

 

Is Borg Warner China too?

 

At least in autos, you don't get greasy or fingers smashed. Electrocution would be tough, though batteries can explode. The high current can also really be a bad deal if the mechanic forgets to remove jewelry like rings and watches and something gets shorted. The current is capable of turning those metal items red hot in an instant. Beware the power of a 12 volt lead-acid car battery.

No, test the battery first. The idea here is to prevent a kind of ping-pong back and forth of one bad component ruining the new one and vice-versa. It's not just a load test that's needed, though the battery should be charged before testing. A bad cell is what you're looking for.

I understand what you're saying but don't guess, measure! It's easy, quick, no disassembly required...

Here:http://www.aa1car.com/library/voltage_drop_testing.htm

This is the key test to learn, it's easy, though usually misunderstood. Any voltage drop will cause problems, just a few tenths is the limit, whether it's in the headlight harness, starter circuit, charging system, blower motors, switches and accessories.

 

Thanks again, Tedster. I will get on it when I have a free moment. I'll post back with the results.

 

I replaced my wiring harness completely and my lights began to flicker again a few months after the rewire. It has since quit though.

 

Keep measuring for voltage drop at each leg and between connections is the key. Switch itself may be toasted if it's original, all the corrosion and resistance smokes them.

Circuit breakers (inside the switches) wear out. Clean connections help, have been running halogens on the stock headlight wiring (and stock 30 amp generator) for almost 20 years now. I'm real particular about grounds and such though. Headlights work fine? My night vision isn't the greatest anymore either.

Have read people have seen 2 or 3 volts drop at the headlights on "classic" cars and trucks. Well there's yer problem! A few tenths of a volt is the limit! You can bet the starter and alternator and everything else is about choked off too.

There are some el-cheapo headlight relay kits on the 'Bay $15 delivered, so ordered one a few days ago, to try one out this week. There's no cutting or splicing necessary, so if it were to crap out I can convert back to stock setup. Should be interesting.

 

Thanks Tedster. If the problem persists, I will make sure to take your advice and get back to you.

 

The headlight relay kit arrived today. Cost almost $21 delivered. Looks to me the same H4 ceramic harness is offered on the 'Bay by a few differently named companies from the same company, or at least all located in Milpatas, CA.

If I would have dug around more could have got it for $15 delivered! Still trying to figure out how they can ship something from the other side of the world and mail it too, that inexpensive.

Quality is not stellar but reasonably good for the money, and could replace the house brand relays with Bosch 5 terminal versions if desired I guess.

Ran into a little installation issue because of the wiring length - most cars and trucks have the battery up front now so the hot wire is pretty short. After a little head scratching was able to install (at least roughed in) for now, by connecting the hot wire to the BAT terminal on the generator regulator, and then tuck the main assemblage under the horn on the radiator support, fits well and secured.

Seems headlights to work a little better, hard to tell in the daylight hours but I think so. Didn't like the ground locations had to choose based on wire length but this can be changed easily too, though measured only 0.037 volts drop on the negative side at both headlights from battery post to grounding ring terminal.

Or put another way, ten times less than the accepted limit. Will check the positive side later after our night vision testing. For $20, it's pretty trick!

 

Wow! That does seem pretty nice. Do you have a link for the kit you got?

 

http://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/321185541524

Went for a test drive the other night and headlights were noticeably better, most particularly to the sides. Any bulb has a certain minimum strike voltage that they perform best. Running Ford script Halogens from DC. It wasn't a huge huge difference, but definitely worth doing.

If headlights are normally dim or the switch breakers cycling, then there is an underlying problem that should be addressed prior to installing relays.

The harness also seemed to minimize the dimming (associated with generators) at idle. When I got back measured the voltage drop on the positive side - from battery post to center headlight terminal. 0.65 volts on the drivers side and 0.47 volts pass.

I thought maybe extending the positive lead directly to the battery at the solenoid would lower this, but this made it worse, I guess from the crimps and connectors used? We'll see how it looks and guess I can change it back.

 

That does look pretty slick. I will have to keep it in mind for when I decide to upgrade the lights on any of my vehicles.

 

Yes, it's probably a good plan to source genuine Bosch relays (Tyco) and swap them out. What's nice with this setup is there's no cutting or splicing involved so if it's necessary for some reason, it could be converted back to stock in just a few seconds.