The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Polarizing Generator

Been reading a few posts here and there about polarizing a generator? Never heard of it and assuming since it's been sitting for 40 plus years that I may need to?
I did put on a 6v battery but directly wired a wire from battery to coil since old wire was burned up, started the engine which was the amount of fuel I dumped down the carb, ran maybe 10 seconds. Hopefully it didn't screw anything up.

Can anyone direct me to info about polarizing a 6v generator or if I even need to?

Trying to finish up building new wiring harness.

Thank you

You should always polarize any generator after installing it or installing a voltage regulator.

Just take a jump wire or a pair of needle nose pliers and momentarily touch the BAT terminal to the GEN terminal on the VR. battery needs to be connected when doing this. There will be a small spark.

Instructions for this procedure are found in the FSM.

If you're not completely finished with the wiring installation, you can also just connect a jumper wire to the battery + terminal, and touch it to the armature terminal of the generator momentarily. It accomplishes the same thing as running the current through the wiring harness from the generator to the regulator.
Jerry

Assuming I do it with the positive ground system? Using the negative wire to "jump" the generator? I have not changed anything and do not know what works or doesn't work. I'm just fixing things here and there as I go along. Might even pull the generator just to rebuild it assuming the bearings might be stiff or at least clean things up a bit.

Always open to suggestions on what steps I need to do.

Was tempted to pull everything off the frame and start fresh, BUT I want to get it running as is so I can get the feel on how the truck handles, especially when I am so used to our everyday "luxury" vehicles. Yes, I worked on farms with none of that and do miss it.
My only worry is if I pull everything off that it would take longer to get back together if I ever finish it. Hear too many stories of people giving up.

The ground polarity is irrelevant. Touch BAT and GEN terminals on the voltage regulator.

As HRL pointed out, you can still polarize the Genny properly by running a lead directly from the battery.

If its a Positive ground system, run a jumper from the Negative terminal of the battery to the GEN terminal on the voltage regulator.

I agree with you about not taking the whole truck apart. Do it in stages. I know myself and if I disassembled an entire vehicle, it would never be put back together. I prefer driving my vehicles to working on them so in the case of Ol' Roy, I repair/restore systems one at a time while still being able to use the truck.

The truck is normally only out of commission for a few days or a couple weeks at most while I await parts or work on it.

Don't assume anything regarding the generator or anything else. These Delco Remy generators are durable and last a long time. Hook it up and see if it's charging. If it is, leave it alone.

Will wait till finished and test the generator when running.
Thank you for the suggestions. Always learning as I go...

A fully charged battery will keep an engine running for several hours, even without a generator connected, if you don't run the starter every few minutes.
Jerry