Re: Picture of a Hot Merc. Voltage Regulator
There was another issue in this failure. The fact that it was charging two batteries was not the problem. The regulator cannot apply more current to the battery(ies) than the alternator is capable of producing. Maximum alternator output by design must be less than the maximum current handling capability of the regulator (unless the designer had a bad day). Another way of stating that is that the regulator must be able to handle slightly more than the maximum out of the alternator. If that were not the case every engine would sooner or later suffer a regulator failure. Were these two batteries wired in parallel? Was a dual battery switch, combiner, isolator, or VSR involved? Were any wiring changes made just before this failure. Lastly, regulators can fail for the simple reason that "stuff happens".
