Jay,
>I went to the alternator shop. They said that amps were fine but the volts
>were not perfect, so they replaced the voltage regulator. I'll see tonight
>when I put it back on - or I guess tomorrow when I drive it. But, would
>the voltage regulator affect the amps?
Somebody's blowing magic lucas smoke up thine arse.
Alternator regulators control voltage, that is up to the current
limit of the alternator.
The batteries charge current is set by the difference between
the the batteries voltage, and the regulators voltage setpoint.
The voltage difference across the charging path divided by the resistance
of that charging path becomes the charging current.
Charging current that never goes away is one of the following problems.
1) Bad Battery.
2) Regulator setpoint voltage too high (boils battery electrolyte)
3) Improper wiring of ammeter gauge in charge path.
If the volts were "right" the battery would sooner or later get to the
regulators voltage setpoint, the volatge difference between the alt and
battery would approach zero, and the charge current would approach zero.
Have you considered that possibly the heat of the nearby header tubes
might be causing electronic drift of the regulator?
I doubt that the hitach alternator was designed to have such a hot
component so near by.
Jarrid
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