The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Charging battery

I have a 37 with the 6volt setup. The generator only seems to charge the battery when the RPM's are high. Is there away to get the generator to charge with a lower RPM?
I do a lot of cruising around town which means that my RPM's are not always high enough to charge the battery.

Thanks,
Charlie

If it has the old cutout system with the box on top of the gen, it was a poor system. You should change it over to the later system with a 3 section regulator.

It would be simpler to acquire a 6 volt trickle charger and plug it in periodically. A fully-charged 6 volt battery will run the vehicle for several hours, even if the charging system is totally inoperative. The 3-brush generator with the cutout relay mounted on top of the generator is really intended to be a maintenance-type system to maintain the battery's state of charge, not actually recharge a low one. Back then, battery charging was a routine maintenance procedure. Some battery manufacturers set up neighborhood charging stations so car owners could have their batteries recharged periodically.

If you do use a trickle charger, keep the amperage down to a range of 2 to 5 amps, and monitor the liquid level and specific gravity. A fully-charged battery's electrolyte (acid) should be somewhere between 1.250 and 1.300 specific gravity. S.G. below 1.250 indicates the battery needs recharging.
Jerry

I can not sleep at night with a charger running on my battery. I would get a newer system as bender says. Same price as charger. Almost.

How would I go about getting the newer system? What do I need?

Charlie

I ran my Old john Deere tractor with the three brush generator and cutout relay system just fine for many years. It will charge and maintain the battery just fine. The third brush is adjustable and is used to set the generator current output. The problems with these setups is that there is no current relay in the cutout.

You can certainly put a voltage regulator in the system, and then crank the third bush up for max output. You will however notice that the generator will not charge the battery at low engine RPM. This is typical and nothing to worry about.

The other option is to get a simple 6v "intelligent" battery tender. They are designed to stay connected all the time, and will not overcharge the battery, but will allow it to cycle a little bit and keep it "topped up". Really great if you don't use the vehicle much. Batteries Plus sells them for a reasonable price. About the size of a laptop power supply.

Kurt

A later 6v generator and three pole 6v regulator. Chevy went to that setup in '39 on the cars and '40 on the pickups. Wire it up this way.

There's this nifty accessory called a timer- - - -set it and forget it, just like Ron Popeil does! No sense in trashing a perfectly good original-equipment system just because of juvenile fears!
Jerry

It was sort of a joke Jerry. I think all the adults got it though.

Good job Tiny. I think he wants to get newer system and may need part numbers or a certain year to buy that O'reilly's/other may have in stock?

OK, like most of your posts, right?
Jerry

Here's my actual quote. Since you are one of my biggest fans, always quoting me, you should at least get the full quote correct. here it is " It was sort of a joke Jerry. I think all the adults got it though."
Jerry, chill out and stop the nasty stuff. You are in an Offensive attack mode. I am defending and trying to understand why you chose to add a negative "juvenile" comment and then a second nasty comment. Stick to the subject. If you have a grudge against someone, stay off the post. If you are an instructor in a school setting, you should know better.

So I need to look for a 39 or later 6volt generator and three poll regulator?

You should be able to use your existing generator (if it is like the three brush ones I am familiar with). It will still have just a field terminal and a battery terminal. You can wire it up to a 3 pole regulator just like any 2 brush generator.

What you may want to do is adjust the third brush so that the generator can deliver maximum output. The 3 pole regulator will now take care of limiting the current.

The third brush is on a slide that will rotate its position around the commutator. Depending upon position of the third brush, the generator will produce more or less current. With the original 2 pole cutout, if you do a lot of highway driving, you set it for less current so you don't overcharge the battery. If you do a lot of stop and go, you set it for hight current to keep the battery charged.

You might want to take this opportunity to do an R&R on the generator, replace bushing, bearings and brushes.

I would not toss the original generator and regulator if you do decide to replace them both. The next owner may find extra value in having those parts.

Kurt

Amen to that and thanks for your knowledge Kurt. I wasn't aware that one could do that with a three brush generator. My '38 came from the factory with the three brush generator and cut out but someone in it's first life change it out to the later model generator and regulator so I never personally faced that issue.

Tiny,

Full disclosure, what I know about the three brush Delco Remy generators and cutouts comes from personal experience with old John Deere tractors and reading old motors manuals.

I assume the old Chevy systems worked the same way, but I have never owned one, so I may be talking out of my hat. But if it were me, I would try the 3 pole regulator with the existing generator before replacing everything. Actually, if it was me I would regard it as a proper challenge to get the existing system works as per factory. LOL.

Here is a link that may be of interest. I think the truck generator was the 943-J.

1935 Chevy Generator system.

Kurt