1997 JGC In dash voltage meter will drop...

and then once it gets to 9 or so volts, it’ll drop to 0 and then I get the Check Gauges light. It will rarely recover from this condition without restarting it. I’ve never made the observation I’ve had a low voltage condition until the recent single digit mornings we’ve been experiencing here. (Generally, cold weather will make this problem happen)
Recently, with this single digit weather, after I start it (No real problem getting it started) I’ll get the needle drop and then wait to see when (And lately wondering, if) the charging circuit is going to come on. I get all the low voltage drama, HUD goes out, clock on the radio goes out, LED display on the odometer gets “fuzzy” around the edges as some of the LED’s aren’t getting enough power.
My question is, where is the voltage regulator? Is it resident in the alternator? Is it outside the alternator? I really don’t know what specifically to ask, other than that. If I do get an outright regulator fail, I need a Plan B, And information is usually how I come up with one...

Thanks In Advance!

Update: Car seems to have the don’t want to charge when I first start it going on no matter what the temperature is outside. Got out of work, started it and played the, “Is it going to start charging?” game again. 26 degrees out...

Yet another update. I brought it to my mechanic who told me that although the battery may have enough power to start the vehicle, if the post start battery voltage drops off too far, the charging system will not start charge output. He also told me that Jeeps are particularly sensitive to low voltage issues, and low voltage will create all kinds of weird problems.
On to the load test. We’ll see what kind of voltage lingers after ten seconds of glowing Ni-Chrome wire...

Battery was the problem... 4 year old battery didn’t have enough post start power left to keep the charging system happy. Replaced the battery and problem gone.
All fixes should be so simple...