The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay voltage regulators

Are solid state replacements available for the old mechanical voltage regulators?

kell,

I think they made a solid state regulator for the externally regulated alternator, but did not make one for a generator.

Designing a solid state regulator for a generator system would be like dressing up in a tuxedo and going to dinner at McDonald's...wouldn't make any sense.

Stuart

I think it makes alot of sense, I am designing one right now that will be hidden inside the originall regulator so no one will ever know. for the guys wanting to keep everything "stock " looking.

I had many old rigs that had the generator with regulator and they lasted many years without trouble. The stock regulator was pretty bullet proof....and adjustable.

Good luck on your new and improved version...great handle.

Stuart

Aftermarket electronic voltage regulators are in wide use on old American bikes, like Panheads and early Shovels. Those generators are just like GM generators, except smaller; if only they were designed for the higher currents you see on cars and trucks, the regulators from bikes would work on trucks too. But the bikes had a ten amp limit.

Now, a conventional diode that carries ten amps needs a fairly small heatsink, but on a car or truck with a generator that delivers thirty-five amps or more, a conventional diode and heatsink would be inconveniently big. It might even need a fan blowing on it (like in an alternator).

The only reasonable answer is to use a mosfet and an ideal diode controller; with two or three low resistance mosfets in parallel you wouldn't even need a heatsink.

Were you thinking along the same lines Mr. G?

Not exactly...but the one I'm working on will be for only 20 amps, mostly for our antique tractors. The problem is when the regulator is mounted ON the generator itself the intense underhood heat from the exaust manifold and radiator heat the regulator to the point it changes the settings, so much so that after a good hour of running it will not charge anymore. If you relocate the regulator somewhere else on the tractor they work pretty well, but most people want the tractor to remain "stock" looking. I have a 30 amp diode which is only a little bigger than a nickle, I'm not sure how much heat would have to be dissipated....cant see that being too big of a problem though unless one pulled 30 amps for a great length of time. If that does become a problem my next plan was to use the originall reverse current relay and make the voltage / current regulation solid state, all neatly under the originall lid.

Are you using a diode as your voltage reference? Diodes have a temperature coefficient.
In a situation where the temperature of the electronics goes to extremes, your voltage reference would go to extremes along with it.

Diode will only be used for reverse current, right now we are going to use a transistor switch on switch off to adjust field strength. You have got me wondering about the heat issue, just cant see that being an issue with only 20 amps especially when most of the time current draw is only in the neighborhood of 10 amps. I have a test bench made and when I get this thing on a breadbord I have a carbon pile resistor bank I'll put the squeeze to it and see how much it heats. Will keep you posted. As I said before though if heat is an issue I will leave the originall reverse current relay intact when I cannibalize the regulator. Here's one allready been done, but for an "A" system the delco's are "B" systems
http://idisk.mac.com/forever4/Public/pages/generator.htm

Mr G, I sent you a PM.