[T3] Voltage Regulator

Jim Adney jadney at vwtype3.org
Fri Apr 11 22:41:51 PDT 2014


On 11 Apr 2014 at 19:53, Keith Park wrote:

> Ive got 2 years on a new one, holds the voltage VERY steady, no problems or
> issues but they DO run HOT.  And the case is hot too (electrically) so make
> sure you don't short anything to the case.

Glad to hear that it's been working out well for you. Yes, I'd expect 
the new design to be able to hold the output voltage very stable.

The OE style got hot, too. There was a larger resistor on the 
underside which dissipated a fair amount of power. This led lots of 
people to wonder if something was wrong when they installed a new VR 
and then saw that it was smoking a bit. The smoke just came from the 
manufacturing oils burning off during its first use.

The new style probably passes the output current thru a diode, giving 
somewhere between 5 and 30 watts of power dissipation, depending on 
the output current. If they were more clever, that could be reduced 
to almost nothing, but that would require a more sophisticated output 
circuit. The output current needs to pass thru something that will 
keep current from the battery from flowing backwards thru the 
generator when the engine is shut off.

-- 
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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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