The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Gen. problem ???

54 Chevy 1/2 ton, 6 volt all stock, Have problem with battery draining down over night. Had a spark when disconnected Neg. battery cable. I disconnected generator A wire at the regulator and the sparking at the neg. battery cable has stopped. But when truck was running the ammeter gauge showed the generator was charging.

So the question is can the generator be charging when it's running and draining overnight. Do I have a regulator problem ? I'm going to hook everything back up and try to polarize the regulator. What have I got to lose ?

I took the truck out of long storage.
Older battery with full charge.
New 2 ga. battery cables and new starter switch.
The truck starts better then it ever has, but if I don't disconnect battery overnight it will be dead in the morning. Thanks for any help.

Jim

--------------------------------
54 Chevy 3100 deluxe
54 Chevy 4400 flatbed/dump
72 Chevy C/40 flatbed/dump 292"

Jim,

Did you polarize the voltage regulator? If not, when you turn off the ignition, current flows back to the generator (it becomes a motor). This might be the problem.

Anytime you remove the battery or disconnect any part of the charging circuit, it is a good idea to polarize the system by briefly placing a jumper wire between the "Batt" terminal and the "Gen" terminal on the voltage regulator - a spark will fly.

Tim

Hi Tim,
I did go out and hooked up batt. cable and then connected Gen. wire back to regulator, that is when I got the sparks! Almost like point are stuck inside.
I jumped Gen. to Bat. termnial and no sparks.
So I started truck and jumped Gen. to Bat., still no sparks.
I'm thinking the cutout relay is at fault or the whole regulator is junk now.
I'm woundering if the breaker points are stuck shut and if that can drain the battery? What do you think about that???
I'll have to check it out tomorrow.
Thanks for the tip about polarizing the regulator, I thought that was a one time deal.

Jim

Yeah, sounds like your truck's regulator cut out coil is out of adjustment.Follow the adjustment procedures outlined in GM manuals before replacing the regulator.

Thanks for the input guys. I filed points in regulator and adjusted to shop manual spec. but could not get more then 2.8 volts after first ajustment. I thought I might have damaged generator??? I followed Randy's "Tech Tips" and grounded F terminal to engine block and ammeter showed good charging rate.

To make a long story short, I bought new 6 volt regulator from NAPA ($73.00) ouch!!! and it is starting great and charging at 7.8 volts.

I think my old reg. might still be good if I could get it dialed in right. So it's on the shelf for now.

And on to my next project. New clutch/plate/T-bearing, and I might as well take care of that leaking rear main while I'm down there.

I've been reading old forum messages to see what I'm in for. Lot of good stuff in there!

Thanks, Jim

----------------------------------
54 Chevy 3100 deluxe
54 Chevy 4400 flatbed/dump
72 Chevy C/40 flatbed/dump 292"

Jim , did you remember to clean the swarf out of the regulator points after you filed them with a bit of _lint_free_ paper ? I find 95 % of the time that alone does the trick .

You are fortunate that your generator survived. If I were you, I would pitch the old regulator. I take it there was no core charge.

Repairing regulators is an iffy proposition! Those cutout relay points will stick if they're the least bit rough, and they usually take out the generator in the process. I'd pitch it! I've been tinkering with 6-volt DC charging systems for about 40 years, and even before the days of throwaway parts, very few people could repair and calibrate a regulator properly. The family shop back in the 50's sort of specialized in electrical repair, and we'd usually replace a regulator unless it was a high-dollar commercial unit.
Jerry