What you have described is a resistor, not a voltage regulator. It reduces voltage, but it does not regulate the output voltage. The voltage at the output will vary with the current drawn by the load. Think of it as a ballast resistor for an ignition coil - like the one that we saw mounted on the firewall of a lot of cars way back when.
An electronic unit is a very good choice if you are working with a 12-volt to 6-volt conversion, but in the case of a 6-volt system you only want to drop a couple of volts and most of the readily available voltage regulators need a higher input voltage that the normal 7.4 - 7.5 volts you see in a 6-volt system at normal charge levels.
If you are dealing with a 12-volt system, this would be a good choice:
But, if you are still 6-volts, I poked around a bit and I found a couple of units that will probably do what you need at a cost that won’t break the bank.
This one is the original relay style. While it is an Old School approach, it will work just like the defective one you have. This one appears to have an adjustment screw to fine tune the output voltage if you need it.
REGULATOR, Instrument Voltage, electronic replacement, no adjustments necessary, more reliable than the original relay style regulator, output is a constant 5 volts as required.
1948-1952 F1-F3 AS VOLTAGE INVERTER
For both units, the IGN terminal is the straight tab and the “curled” tab goes to the gauges. Get it backwards and it won’t work. And, the tab is an electrical connection - screw it down to a good ground point.
Let us know what you find out…
Last edited by LarrBeard; 04-13-2023 at 08:10 AM.
Reason: Added 12 - to - 6 volt converter
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