<VV> Idiot light / voltage reg issues

[JVHRoberts at aol.com]

Radio Shack. Get a pair of 50 ohm 10 watt resistors and hook them in  
parallel. Only because they don't have such a great selection of that stuff  
anymore...
SMoke, eh? You are probably in for some parts, a diode trio at the very  
least... 
 
In a message dated 12/19/2006 10:31:14 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
chartzel at comcast.net writes:

Today I  tried a small indicator light bulb and plastic socket from a dash.
The  light stays on with the engine running and revving the engine didn't
make  it go out.  This time the alternator didn't charge at all!  I tried  a
jumper wire across the bulb connections and that caused the regulator  to
kick into the charge mode.  After a few seconds of the jumper wire,  the
voltage regulator started smoking on the bottom so I removed the  jumper.  As
an experiment I cut off all the strands of wire except one  tiny strand at
each end and then tried it again.  This worked and the  tiny strand of wire
wouldn't carry enough current to cause the regulator to  smoke.  I think I
have convinced myself that you do need a resistor  parallel to the bulb to
make things work properly.  Now to find a  10-20 Ohm resistor!
Clark Hartzel