AVC1 Voltage Regulator (4)

 4 hours

This was another project I got in my head while I was deployed, so here goes.  I read that the stock voltage regulator tends to overheat and fail, and also that lithium batteries like the one I installed seem to work better with a slightly higher charging voltage than the stock regulator puts out.  So, I figured I'd solve both problems by just swapping to one of these:

https://bandc.com/product/avc1-advanced-voltage-controller-14v-homebuilt/#review

This regulator, besides appearing likely to dissipate heat a lot better, has adjustable voltage output and integrates the same alternator control and overvoltage protection that I had used a relay and crowbar module for previously.

Anyway, here's the AVC1 compared to the stock one:

Electrically, it was a pretty much drop-in replacement.  The hardest part of installing it was actually just drilling the new holes and installing nutplates with everything else that's already installed on the firewall!

After removing the old regulator and relay, and relocating the filter capactor, I had a few unused holes on the firewall to seal up.  I found these little steel plugs at Home Depot that seemed to work well with a dab of fireproof sealant: https://www.homedepot.com/p/1-4-in-Nickel-Plated-Steel-Hole-Plug-807748/204273764

The only real wiring I had to do was to create this little abomination, that connects the two output terminals on the regulator to the capacitor and the ammeter shunt.

The remaining four terminals are just the two alternator leads, the "alternator off" alert output, and the alternator control wire to the master switch.  Done!