Well, maybe not quite that simple, Roo....RooDog wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2020 11:04 pm The GEN light comes on in the run position because the ARM is grounding the light, and goes off once the genny is putting out more voltage that what's in the battery. There is no current flowing with the switch OFF.
Solid state, or mechanical it goes through the A terminal on the genny. It's really quite simple....
....RooDog....
With an electro-mechanical regulator, the generator "A" terminal is isolated from the battery by an air gap, and so no battery current can possibly flow through the armature winding to ground.
With a solid-state regulator, there is no air gap, just some electronics, between the battery and the armature winding, and so it is possible that there will be some small amount of electrical current that will flow from the battery, through the solid-state regulator, through the armature winding, to ground.