The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Wow It started! Pretty Cool but is it charging?

Decided to try and start the fresh 59 235 today even though I still have several things to do. Felt like a good day to give her a try. Put the new Langdon HEI distributor in. Got the oil pressure up and ball park timed her, cranked her several times and BINGO.... SHE RUNS! Man is that a good feeling after all the work. Pretty satisfying to say the least when you put a lot of time into these old girls.

Couple of questions you can help me with. 59 1/2 Ton 235 with new generator and voltage regulator from Carter. How do I determine if the charging system is working? The dash gauge is dead nut in the middle and does not move whn running or off? I polorized the voltage regulator as the instructions said with the short jumper wire but got no spark.

Where do I use my little cheapo meter to check and see if I have a working charging system. I did not want to get too many things going at once while I was breaking her in, but I think it is not charging. It is a new harness and new gauge as well. The generator is wired up and the belt is tight. Can I check at the voltage regulator?

I put that old truck in gear after 15 minutes and eased her forward about 20 feet and felt like I drove in a parade! This is the good part! Thanks

I assume that your truck has a 12 v system. When you measure the battery voltage with the motor stopped it will read somewhere around 12v. With the motor running above idle, the voltage should go up some. In addition you should be able to disconnect the battery and it should keep running. Normally the ammeter will show a healthy charging indication for a few minutes until the energy used to start the motor has been replaced.

Ralph,

Don't quote me on this, but I think a successful polarizing procedure should have produced some type of spark. No movement on your ammeter, assuming it is working, is a pretty good sign the charging system isn't functioning.

Pulling the 'F' wire at the regulator and momentarily grounding it will put the generator into full charge. This should show on your ammeter. You can check voltage anywhere between ground and the ARM terminal, between ground and the BATT terminal or between ground and the positive post on the battery.

All the wiring from generator to regulator must be good or the system won't charge. The first thing I would do would be try the polarizing procedure again. Flicking the headlights on should make the ammeter needle move.

Stuart

First, do a polarizing procedure. With a short jumper lead, connect the Bat. terminal of the regulator to the Arm. terminal for a short time, less than one second. You should get a pretty good flash. This magnetizes the soft iron pole shoes of the generator field coils, and they retain enough "residual magnetism" to begin the charging process.

Start the engine and run it at a fast idle. The Armature terminal at the generator should develop about 1 volt more than the battery had before starting, minimum. It could be considerably higher, depending on the state of charge of the battery. Regulated voltage against a fully-charged batery will be 14.5 volts or slightly higher, while a very low battery will accept a charge at 13 volts or so.

Be sure the generator housing and the regulator base share a common ground. I usually run a dedicated ground wire to both units, tied into the harness with the armature and field wires. Also, be sure the battery is grounded to the engine in some way, either with a braided ground strap, or a minimum of a #10 wire from the battery ground post to the frame. #8 or larger is better for 6 volt systems.
Jerry

I got zero spark on the polarizing. I am betting that my new fresh paint is not allowing the regulator to ground since the wiring and it are brand new as well as the rebuilt generator. The battery has the big braided ground strap and I have one going to the fram from the starter housing. I am suspect of the common ground for the regulator. I will check. Thanks for the tips.

Try the polarizing again. I did it the first time and didn't get a spark. The second time it almost scared me because of the flash!

How strange. I removed the regulator from the cowl and let it hang free and then tried to polorize it and kazaam... it sparked. All grounds were good and it seem to be good now. Thanks guys.