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Posted by David Sherman [24.32.202.83] on Friday, April 02, 2010 at 01:50:11 :
In Reply to: Testing Voltage Regs posted by Todd Wilson [71.158.212.216] on Thursday, April 01, 2010 at 15:21:34 :
With that many to test, I would just test them on the vehicle -- maybe set up with clip leads and a variable load bank.
Beyond that, it depends on how thoroughly you want to test them -- just hook it up, turn on the headlights and heater blower, rev up the motor, and see what the ammeter says -- or actually put known loads on them and calibrate them, and check the RPMs that they cut in at.
Alternatively, find an old-time auto electric shop that still has a tester and an old guy who knows how to use it and would enjoy doing so. The shop testers have a drive motor to drive a generator under test, and various gauges and a load bank to see how the regulator is working and make it easy to adjust. The 3-coil regulators like that have both a voltage limit and a current limit that can be adjusted. The shop will keep a generator laying around to put on the machine for test purposes if they just need to test the regulator.