One of our regular jobs is fitting new voltage regulators, and we have been using aftermarket ones sourced from our "alternative" parts suppliers, without problems up to a couple of years ago. Since then the quality of electronic stuff has gone down. They used to sell DZE Argentinian parts but lately, RM spares and we have had to stop buying them as the quality was terrible, at least on 420 Honda regulators, they seem to last only a few months and on the last batch the sockets were so distorted we couldn't get the wiring loom plugs to go in. Tried another source and got a Bronco regulator, fitted it yesterday to a 420 and it was wanging away at 17v so it too is scrap, straight out of the box. If these were cheap eBay style £10 stuff you could understand it, but at circa £45 you expect some degree of quality. Genuine Honda from now on, at least while their 420 regs are £65.

 

I have had better luck with the US$15-20 Chinese no-brand regs, but I DO check those voltages, and the connectors are pretty crappy.