Car is very dead

It has been working fine for the past couple of years with the old VR. All the trouble started when I tried to put the new one on. It read 16.5 volts on high idle and I did not want to bother trying to determine how to adjust it so, I put the old VR back on. However, when I shut off the car, when it was reading 16.5 volts, the ammeter then showed 30 amp discharge. After I turned the key on/off a couple of times, it quit doing that but, then the car was dead. I have since figured out how to put the replacement correct voltage regulator cover on the old VR for a show so, I will not be using the new VR but, the car is now dead again. It has the old ammeter back in the dash and it appeared to be working fine and the readings on the old VR appeared to be fine but, as soon as I tried to back the car out of the garage last week to test it, the car died again. No lights, nothing, I was getting a reading of 12.5 volts on both sides of the ammeter and at the ignition switch, right after it died. But, an hour later, I was only reading 7 volts at both sides of the ammeter and the ignition switch and no volts on the back of the cigar lighter.

Baffling. Got any ideas.

Thanks so very much.

Al

Yeah…ummmmm PUT THE OLD VR BACK.
With love and respect.
Just do it and report back.
I think you answered your own problem.
Good luck…
Theres ALOT of INDIA repop junk out there…ALOT.
GTJOEY1314

Some reproduction regulators don’t work properly. Recommend putting in a regulator which is known to function correctly and make sure the wiring is correct. Also, recommend at this point battery acid density deserves checking, battery re-charged to correct acid density and voltage before next trial with good regulator.

I would add to check all the earth points you can find.