this may sound like a stupid question but i would like to either confirm my blief or be corrected.

if my volatge reulator is shot will it put out really low voltage( I say yes)?

Also is it hard to screw up your voltage regulator from a miswiring probem?( I'm assuming not hard to do)

thanks for bearing with me!
brydon

Hy. For what I know, a voltage regulator can make the alternator overcharge the battery...(fry it, water and acid coming out, excesive voltage to fixtures, lamps, wipers, everything starte to blow up, fuses, lamps glaring excesively, etc)... or make it undercharge, killing the battery due to no charge.
Check the amps with an amp meter, while the engine runs. Amp meter should be in the center, no + nor - charge. If it is charging (+), it could be for a bad battery not holding charge, in which case, a voltmeter will tell you if the batt has juice, if it has low voltage, the batt is bad and the alternator is trying to charge it, but if the voltage is normal(13 to 15 volts) and still the amp says the alternator is charging tha system, then, the alternator/V regulator is bad, and batt fry can follow.
If the Amp meter shown low charge/discharge (-), and the volt meter shows low voltage in the batt... (below 12 volts, when car is off, just the ignition switch in ACC contact, showing batt condition,as opposed to batt getting voltage while running under the alternator charge)...then, the batt could be going down because of a faulty Volt regulator/alternator. If the batt was bad, but the V reg/alternator is sound, then, the later would be working overtime((+) charging)... to recharge tha bad low volt holding batt.
If the problem is within the alt/V reg side, you can test the V reg before, to make sure it is the V reg and not the alt. Usually it is the V regulator.
Hope to help.
Late_____________________

Yes, the voltage regulator has one job: keep the voltage output of the alternator between (about) 13.5 - 14.5 volts when the engine is running. So the best way to test it is with a voltmeter. If the voltage is spot-on, there is nothing wrong with the regulator.

An ammeter (shows current flow) can be used in conjunction with the voltmeter like Jaime says. By itself the ammeter is not as useful, but with both gauges you can tell a lot.