Battery voltage drop

mopardude62 said

Yes you need the second field connector connected to something. If you are using the old style regulator then that tab needs to be grounded. If you are using a new electronic voltage regulator you need to have the blue wire extended from the ballast resistor and connected to the second tab. The regulator cannot sense the battery voltage unless the alternator is connected correctly. If there is no voltage sensing happening there will be no charging even though all components are good.

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Sheese, I hate it when someone posts something stupid without fully reading the prev posts and I just did exactly that. :D

Nice explanation of the voltage sensing requirement, blue wire, and field ground.
And that is correct, that it will not charge without both fields connected.
If the currently connected feild wire is putting voltage into the alternator and you ground the currently open terminal, the alternator will put out 100% charge voltage.

This means you can verify that the system charges, and then deal with the regulator.