just fine until just before I sold the boat when I replaced it with one of the first on the market "smart regulators". It had the trip button and I never had a problem either. Simple and simple. Rheostat, trip circuit, on/off switch and a meter and not much more. Before I had the original Automac I had a six position switch with different sized resistors wired in. You would set it up on the high position and every 15 minutes switch to the next position down while watching the voltage climb. It would feed various voltages to the field winding to control the charge. That was really stone aged charging. I still have the book on board that explained how to build it. You couldn't just go out and buy one, you had to build it. You'll be happy with your new regulator I think.