Help, symptoms of a possibly bad voltage regulator?

[theothermike 10+ year member]

Hey guys, well i figured id respond here on the car audio forums, since few u guys have had problems with ur voltage regulators before..... My car broke down on me today badly, and i thought i would try to see if the cause would be a bad voltage regulator on my iraggi possibly which is around 5-6 weeks old i suppose.

Today on the way back from the gym (15 min away) toward the end of the ride my system would turn on and off rapidly, like my radio and amps would cut out completely and my headunit would go black. 1 sec later it would come back on, it did this back and fourth for 4 - 5 times withen a minute. I saw my battery light on earlier and figured id pull out dmm later that day on it to get some readings. So i turned off the stereo and pulled ac down lower figuring maybe a low battery. drove home and tried restarting car after i turned it off. just clicked and wouldnt start so i was like sure enough dead battery.

Later today going to meet some people for lunch and got in again, figured hey batterys sometimes rest and u can start up after they sit for awhile. and it did, so i was like ok just cant run alot of stuff and let my big iraggi charge the ol battery up. well pulled out of my development and drove 3 min down road to a red light, turned green and im going good, i hit 3500 rpms then and i start to feel my car pulsing and surging foward and back and my rpms jumping from like 3000 - 3500 to about 1500 - 2000 or so...... i couldnt go faster than like 30 mph and i notice my car starting to kick out. so im pulling over trying to get side of road and i did. couldnt restart the car. so i was like **** it.... ill jump it later tonight after it sits.

Well after i called mechanic. told him situation, he thought immediately one could be electrical issue withen the new alternator he installed recently, maybe bad transmission due a gear slip or so and causing the surges. so im having it towed tomm to the toyota dealer he works for.

so i came home and googled some shit typing my symptoms and saw on a volvo site they named all my symptoms and everything and they linked it to a bad voltage regulator. after reading this i remembered hearing iraggi having lot of problems with the voltage regulators and searched and sure enough they have been having problem with regulators.

Here the link to the site with the symptoms listed...

http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/EnginePerformanceSymptoms.html#UnexplainedDriveabilityProblemsBadVoltageRegulator

most symptoms were last two but the pulsing lights could be to low voltage which could be causing my stereo problems.

What everyone think. ill be shooting dom an email shortly if someone could provide me the email address that he doesnt give out on ebay and such the one he responds quickly too.

Mike-

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[mtlhead 10+ year member]

check your wiring, i had the same thing happen to me, one of my power wires (alt to batt) was grounding out

 

[theothermike 10+ year member]

installed stock alt everything fine again.

so i think it the voltage regulator or something with alt. going to contact dom soon

Mike-

 

[Maximus Audio 10+ year member]

What I find craps out first on most alt that are built up is the diode plate inside. Most of the time the alt will put out as much as the plate can handle with no room for extra causing the plate to be pushed to the max and over heating. I have seen this happen to a crap load of alt. Even big name ones. Always stress you want the diode plate to handle more then the alt is putting out. Some times you can get one rated 20amps higher. I have seen alt put out 180a hot and diode plate only made to handle 160a. What do you think happened?

 

[theothermike 10+ year member]

i turning really think it is the voltage regulator, because my system was turning on and off rapidly before the car crapped out. the system watage was an kinda showing like voltage instability and random spikes, causing the amps and headunit to going into protection and turning on and off.

Im sending dom and email today. i just dont understand if there have been so many problems with voltage regulators for dom and iraggi alternators (i searched and found manyyyyyyy) why he doesnt switch to a diff brand for internal ones or make external ones standard?

Mike-

 

[Maximus Audio 10+ year member]

i turning really think it is the voltage regulator, because my system was turning on and off rapidly before the car crapped out. the system watage was an kinda showing like voltage instability and random spikes, causing the amps and headunit to going into protection and turning on and off.
Im sending dom and email today. i just dont understand if there have been so many problems with voltage regulators for dom and iraggi alternators (i searched and found manyyyyyyy) why he doesnt switch to a diff brand for internal ones or make external ones standard?

Mike-

There are not that many brands to pick from when it comes to the internal parts. A bad diode plate will show spikes and bad charge also leak ac into your dc line. External regulators are sweet when you want to bump up the voltage but not everyone wants that. I myself even though I have a lot of power needs still wanted a 12v setup. I did have my alt built up with the next up voltage regulator so that I charge a hair higher. I am charging at 14.6-14.8 depends on how hot the alts are. Stock was 14.4 but the price diff is there and most just want to build somthing that will do the rated output on its best day then crap out. They do not make alt to put out 180a all day. Thats way to much for a single stock replacement alt to do in most cases. I use 2 ford alt and a GM one. The GM one puts out more since it has a bigger case and is able to take bigger parts inside.

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

man the funniest thing I saw this last season was dominic irragi working on an adjustable voltage regulator of an EA alternator //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif I SOOO wish I had a picture of that!

 

[theothermike 10+ year member]

well i worked everything out with him, and i sent the alternator out today

will give yall the results

mike-