After returning from the ockteenerfest we were able to regroup. I ran a potted voltage regulator for much of the trip,but it charged low. I substituted a more old school metal box vr only to find that the power transistor appears to have shorted running full current to field windings al the the time and cooking the battery. Tired of that.
So I took a collection of 5 VRs to test with variable voltage and found that they all stopped sending current to the field windings at approximately 14 volts. Great! The solid state units did so in silence, the oem stuff emits a buzzing sound. So they work. However when installed on a new alternator and new battery I tend to see charginging at only around 12 volts. I am puzzled and wonder how normal this is. Any thoughts?