Voltage regulator

69 300 vert

69 300 vert

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This thread raised a question for me:
Petronoix III. What's the Good, Bad and Ugly of these things?

When I bought my car it had pertronix on it, I don't know which one but the BR was bypassed. My VR is different from what's normally seen:

4cd8654d55b12_95731n.jpg


So what the heck is it and should it be replaced? As far as I know it has about 10,000 miles on this setup, pertronix and regulator.
 
69 300 vert said:
This thread raised a question for me:
Petronoix III. What's the Good, Bad and Ugly of these things?

When I bought my car it had pertronix on it, I don't know which one but the BR was bypassed. My VR is different from what's normally seen:

View attachment 367082

So what the heck is it and should it be replaced? As far as I know it has about 10,000 miles on this setup, pertronix and regulator.
Click to expand...

Turn it over and look and the underside. If there are resistance wires on the bottom, it is a mechanical unit. Given that this unit is adjustable, very likely to be mechanical.

Dave
 
That is the Mopar adjustible regulator from the mid 60s, installed as a dealer fix for low speed/idle brownout on cars with lots of electrical toys, as well as what was sometimes installed on cars with the 59 amp heavy duty alternator setup (police etc) if the cars were not spec'd for the higher output Leece Neville alternator setup. My 66 Monaco got that setup. This regulator was typically mounted on a special bracket on the inner fender (for cooling purposes) as opposed to the standard firewall installation.

This is what I am going to be running on my cars... however, there are warnings about points style regulators causing Pertronix failures, so I'm intrigued that you say you've got 10,000 miles on such a setup with no problems. Please elaborate on your car and show some pics please.
 
Let's see if this works? Behind the air cleaner I think you can see the regulator, to the left of that the disconnected BR.

FWIW, the original owner was a Chrysler master mechanic, I assume this regulator was something he did. I know he replaced the original Holley with an AVS 4640sa. He had some informational info from Carter touting the benefits of replacing the O.E. Holley with an AVS, they had a particular carb number they were pushing, can't recall any more.

I'm guessing I may be frying the pertronix with this regulator? I'm pretty sure the second owner installed the pertonix.

engine.PNG


May 17, 2009 017.JPG
 
If it hasn't failed yet in 10,000 miles it likely won't, but don't take my word for it.

Interesting mounting - but then my familiarity for regulator placement is really only with 65-68 C body cars.
 
The adjustable voltage regulator was also used on cars where the customers usually drove "in town" for short distances at a time . . . and not very often. So the aftermarket or dealer-installed OEM unit was installed to help the battery get more charge quicker. Mostly in the '60s before the higher-output alternators came online. Probably used more in the days of the generator?

That's what I remember from back then,
CBODY67
 
FURYGT said:
Typically any electronic ignition set up will eventually burn out a mechanical voltage regulator and you need to use a solid state voltage regulator. There are several options for solid state voltage regulators including the ones that I sell.

Mopar Voltage Regulator - Electronic Solid State with Correct Restoration Look | eBay
Click to expand...

@69 300 vert ...so my memory had it backwards then... it's the regulator that fails... and those adjustible ones are expensive. There was a thread about this in which @Mike66Chryslers had thoughts that it was something about interference noise generated by the Pertronix and how to possibly rectify that. I'll.try to find that.
 
Last edited:
I purchased an electronic regulator for @FURYGT . It's a good match to the OE (sans decal) and works great.

A bit off topic, but can the correct looking transfers be purchased?
 
Dsertdog said:
I purchased an electronic regulator for @FURYGT . It's a good match to the OE (sans decal) and works great.

A bit off topic, but can the correct looking transfers be purchased?
Click to expand...

I am not aware of anyone offering the ink stamps or voltage regulators with the ink stamped info on them. However, if you have or can find a really nice original used voltage regulator cover, it will snap on in place of the one that comes with the solid state voltage regulators that I sell.
 
Tom Jackson said:
I am in need of a voltage regulator but I want to know which one is best out of Linear or Switching voltage regulators. While doing research I found this awesome article An Overview on Voltage Regulators - DERF Electronics, It helped me understand them easily. Anyone have other resources that might be good to go over?
Click to expand...

That's really not how it works in our cars. The regulator basically turns the alternator off and on (simplified explanation) to maintain the desired charging voltage. Same names and yes, they both regulate voltage, but really different application and very different results. Basically, that's good info but forget about it for use under the hood.

There are two voltage regulators available, the mechanical style (shown in the sixties video below) where a coil and contact points are use as a switching device or the newer (well 50 years LOL) style electronic styles. Pre 1970, the cars came with a mechanical style and can easily be retrofitted with an updated electronic replacement. In 1970, Chrysler changed to an electronic regulator and how they controlled the field on the alternator, called an isolated field alternator, but often (incorrectly) called a dual field alternator.

Try watching these.



 
Tom Jackson said:
I am in need of a voltage regulator but I want to know which one is best out of Linear or Switching voltage regulators. While doing research I found this awesome article An Overview on Voltage Regulators - DERF Electronics, It helped me understand them easily. Anyone have other resources that might be good to go over?
Click to expand...
But, why would an engineering student post this?

Hmmm.....

Are we opening some

20997-istock-471531747.jpg
 
It looks like my car has an electronic ignition and the earlier mechanical unit. Does that mean I should upgrade?
 
TroyCo said:
It looks like my car has an electronic ignition and the earlier mechanical unit. Does that mean I should upgrade?
Click to expand...

Yes. In my experience with electronic ignition a mechanical voltage regulator will eventually fail and you should also use a heavy duty ballast resistor. The cover on the pre 1970 voltage regulators pops off so if you aren't sure which one you have, pop the cover off and if you see a circuit board you are good. If you see what look like points you need to buy a solid state electronic voltage regulator.
 
I wouldn't change anything if both systems are functioning correctly.

That mechanical regulator has absolutely no idea that the ignition system is now solid state nor does the ignition system know that the charging system isn't.

The only thing I can see that MIGHT happen THEORETICALLY, is that the regulator when it's buzzing away, can induce a high voltage, high frequency pulse from the magnetic field in the coil that operates it collapsing.

If that noise finds its way to the electronic ignition, it could cause the transistor/transistors to switch randomly, causing all manner of misfires, barely fires etc.

Kevin
 
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