[Power Surge]

I just went through this same thing. After extensive diag on the charging system, it turned out to be a bad connection on the "red charging light" in the dash. The power for the voltage regulator runs through this bulb, and if the circuit is broken, the voltage regulator gets no voltage and doesn't work. Pull the plug off the regulator and check the "I" terminal for battery voltage with the ignition on. If you have no voltage, that's your problem. I just bypassed that stupid light (we have an ammeter, so we don't need a light to tell us the charging system isn't working, and mine didn't come on anyway!).