Systems, methods and devices are described for controlling a vehicle electrical
generator. A regulator for controlling a generator in response to an input signal
received from a control module suitably includes a discriminator module, a processing
module and a switching circuit. The discriminator determines whether the regulator
is operating in voltage or torque control mode. If the input signal is a voltage
control, the output generator produces a modulation signal to produce a desired
voltage between two battery terminals. If the input signal is a torque control,
the output generator produces one or more modulation signals (e.g. pulse width
modulation signals) to control the torque of the generator. The modulation signals
are applied across a field coil or other controllable element of the generator
by a switching circuit that applies positive and/or negative voltage from the battery
terminals as appropriate.