MTFCA Forum

Does anyone have one?

WorldChamp1914 wrote: ↑

Wed May 17, 2023 2:41 pm

Does anyone have one?

You need to specify what voltage you want 6, 8 or 12

6 volt was the only one made I believe

WorldChamp1914 wrote: ↑

Thu May 18, 2023 1:15 am

6 volt was the only one made I believe

By Gerald Blair on Friday, May 26, 2017 - 06:47 pm: https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/7 ... 1495838869
I guess I have a Fun Project regulator on there already or at least they look Identical. I read in a thread
quote:
By John F. Regan on Saturday, December 11, 2010 - 12:02 am:
The thing you are calling a "V" stamp is not really a stamp. That is a V shaped slit in the steel and on the VR a punch hits that from the bottom and forms it up vertical inside to then be the point where the internal parts are grounded. The laser can cut that thin of a slit in the steel to make it look like a stamped letter "V". Many people have made that same identification. I guess I should have shaped the ground lug a bit different I suppose.
John
-And in another Thread
quote:
By John F. Regan on Friday, April 15, 2011 - 04:14 pm:
All of our voltage regulators are easily discernible as to 6,8, or 12V as follows:
On the underside of the base the 8V units are stamped with a letter "A" while 12V units are stamped with a letter "B". No stamp at all and it is then a 6V unit. Positive ground Voltage Regulators have a steel washer in place of one of the center insulating washers. As pointed out - a rivet in one of the center locations designates that it is a cutout. Hope this helps.

Not To hijack the thread, but can these be repaired? I burnt mine up---too much current.

I will ask around

John bevardos wrote: ↑

Thu May 18, 2023 9:17 am

Not To hijack the thread, but can these be repaired? I burnt mine up---too much current.

Probably not. The reason they stopped making them is that key components were no longer available. Thee are some members working on a new design but haven't reported their status lately viewtopic.php?t=25609

Anyone have one?

The voltage regulator made by John Reagan was sold only in a 6-volt version….and either a negative ground or a positive ground….the model t was a negative ground……the model a was a positive ground……..unfortunately there wasn’t enough demand to keep manufacturing them.

Holy Cow, Gary

where did you find that information??

kind of missed the boat on VR voltages and absolutely sunk the boat on demand!

GOOGLE "mtfca 8v fun projects voltage regulator", read statements made by John Regan, and you'll be able to revise a couple facts

FWIW - if by some remote chance you are offered a functioning unit, GRAB IT (and then treat it with care and respect!). Demand for these things is crazy and accidentally crow-barring one ought to come with civil penalties

WorldChamp1914 wrote: ↑

Mon May 22, 2023 4:27 pm

The voltage regulator made by John Reagan was sold only in a 6-volt version….and either a negative ground or a positive ground….the model t was a negative ground……the model a was a positive ground……..unfortunately there wasn’t enough demand to keep manufacturing them.

Guess you missed the quote of John Reagan and what they made that I posted above

This is the old home page --
--
Bob's sold some 6V that he had and sold the 2 Funprojects 12v voltage regulator repackaged By Birdhaven

Has to be one out there.

WorldChamp1914 wrote: ↑

Sat May 27, 2023 12:42 am

Has to be one out there.

In case you come across one here is the difference between a FP Cut-Out and a FP Voltage Regulator. The VR gas a scren instead of he rivet in the cut-out and the < slot is open --
--
Came across two articles by the same author in making a repo of the FP. No guarantee the parts ares till available

Still need one

Has to be one out there

There must be one out there

FWIW, Change your title from “John Reagan” to “Fun Projects”. More people probably know the company name, than the name of the guy that owned the company…

We finished the voltage regulator project, and we even made circuit boards and they've been running in our cars for well over a year now. I've put over 1000 miles on mine. They work flawlessly. Too bad there's no real market for them. It was estimated that only about 100 would be sold, so not big enough to justify the time and expense of producing them.

Jeff

Jeff

I cannot imagine where you acquired data that indicated sales of 100, but can state with confidence, after marketing multiple parts, all of which I determined would be "winners", were not, and the one product made to fix my father's car and only my father's car, has unexpectedly sold in very significant numbers. All without a single person clamoring for it. Sometimes you never know.

You, on the other hand, potentially have a product which people have been begging for. For years. Don't plan on retiring off of one product, but do plan on selling them at a brisk pace for a year, a steady pace for a good 3-5 years and then at a low, regular count for years to come (or your parts go obsolete).

For time and materials spent, you'd likely find voltage regulators to be an immoral killing, financially, compared to the profit you can squeeze out of a starter or generator repair. Unlike rebuilders who undercut your starter business by rebuilding them with Krylon paint and selling them at 1/3 the price you spend just on parts alone, you will have no competitor for VR's.

AdminJeff wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 23, 2023 12:25 am

We finished the voltage regulator project, and we even made circuit boards and they've been running in our cars for well over a year now. I've put over 1000 miles on mine. They work flawlessly. Too bad there's no real market for them. It was estimated that only about 100 would be sold, so not big enough to justify the time and expense of producing them.

Jeff

Would it be possible for you to put together a kit of the electronic parts, circuit board & schematic for sale & user to assemble (Heath kit it). Many time some of these DIY schematics show a component like LM393 but don't know enough to understand which of the 62 choices to get. Also a setup to put near the battery instead of on the generator would be easier for the novice to put together.
or a detailed parts list with the suppliers part number to order from. I realize that there is more to soldering a bunch of components to a board & others need to be aware of that as well

Put me down for 4….. looks like they’ve potentially met 10% of their expected sales just on this post!

Dont know your price point, but, I would have used 2 - 6V units from stock in the last 2 weeks alone.
If you dont produce a viable product soon, someone else will. First guy wins this race & the lions share of the dough.
Does your prototype adjust for 6, 8, or 12V?

me for 2 of them !

Did you contact Langs & Chaffins for an idea of what their INITIAL orders would be??

Ok, ok! You've all shamed me into it. The marketing info I got is 3rd hand, and I can't even remember the source, probably somewhere in the original thread.

The SINGLE biggest hurdle to producing these is the case. We've got circuit boards, parts, etc all worked out. You can't just take any case and turn it into to a v. Reg. In fact there have been several different cutout case styles over the years, only a few of which are conducive to housing the parts for a voltage regulator and mounting 2 of the parts to the case for a heat sink. A while back I found someone who has what appeared to be the right cases, and asked for a sample but never heard from them after that. It was Nurex https://www.nurex.com . I tt the owner and he said he'd send me samples.

The old fun projects v reg case is literally perfect. When mine stopped working, that's what I used to house mine. So, somebody find me some cases and I'll build them using our design we settled on. I'd buy 100 of them to start with.

Jeff

speedytinc wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 23, 2023 12:42 pm

Dont know your price point, but, I would have used 2 - 6V units from stock in the last 2 weeks alone.
If you dont produce a viable product soon, someone else will. First guy wins this race & the lions share of the dough.
Does your prototype adjust for 6, 8, or 12V?

It's adjustable so it would work from 6-12v.

AdminJeff wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 23, 2023 6:12 pm

speedytinc wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 23, 2023 12:42 pm

Dont know your price point, but, I would have used 2 - 6V units from stock in the last 2 weeks alone.
If you dont produce a viable product soon, someone else will. First guy wins this race & the lions share of the dough.
Does your prototype adjust for 6, 8, or 12V?

It's adjustable so it would work from 6-12v.

GREAT! Get em out in the market. Very interested.

I have some sad news. I sent an email to Tony Bowker and his daughter Carolyn replied and informed me that he passed away in March. What a huge loss. He was a genuinely nice guy and very talented.

Tony did the design for the circuit board. Carolyn Has offered to try and find the files he created so we can carry the torch forward.

Jeff

If you're interested in my progress in this project, you can follow along from here:

https://www.mtfca.com/phpBB3/viewtopic. ... ad#p287398

I've already finished the circuit diagram and mostly finished w/ the circuit board.

Jeff