What does it mean when a Voltage Regulator says "short Circuit protected"?

[OilPatch197]

I got a '84 Ranger and my battery was slowly discharging(I only drive it on the weekends) The test light was not indicating a short, but my battery is being drained....

Today I did the jumper test to vertify that my alternator was charging the system, it was charging at like 16.7 volts with the regulator bypassed...

With the OEM motorcraft regulator installed, the battery was at 12.1v with engine off, 12.3 volts with engine idling, it would jump up .03 volts when you revved it.

So I am pretty sure that my Voltage Regulator is "shorted", and I noticed this "short circuit protected" writing stamped in the bracket. Can somone explain what that means?

 

[mentalbreakdown00]

Ok don't get what you mean here. But the way I test for drains on an older vehicle like that is take the neg off the battery, use a test light between the post and cable. Start unplugging things until the light goes out and viola.

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

i think its when there is a short in the system it won't fry the voltage regulator, i'd get a new alternator since the regular is internal

 

[OilPatch197]

The regulator is external, and I did the light test, the light does not light up, but according to the digital mutimeter I am loosing .01 volt every ten minutes with engine off. (the battery is new, and the Alternator is nearly new, all wires test good)

I will test my voltage regulator at AutoZone, I have looked around the internet and somthing about a diode goes bad in these things and slowly drains the battery.

 

[Nhaz]

If a diode goes bad in a alternator, it no longer is producing a reasonable DC voltage and starts producing more AC voltage which doesn't charge a battery very well.

The Alternator Normally produces AC voltage then uses a full wave bridge rectifier that's built into the voltage regulator to block the AC wave and produce a steady DC voltage.

1 diode goes down and you get whats known as a half wave rectifier. Its possible for a car to run on this but its really not good for it. And it's poor for charging a battery.


You can check for excessive AC voltage by switching the volt meter over to ac. You should not be seeing much AC at all.