The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Charging Issue???

Before I get a tounge lashing. I originally posted this in the general truck section. In hindsight it probably should have gone here first. My apologies...

I took one of the 52's out for what turned out to be an approx. 80 mile road trip this morning. Boy was that a great time!

Bout half-way through the trip, the factory amp gauge in the dash began showing a steady and continuous 20+ amp charging. rate. (6-volt system 235 I-6)

At idle, it shows just a slight charge rate, like you would expect, but any increase in RPM's at all causes it to jump back up to the 20+ amp range.

Even though my regulator is fairly new, it was my first suspected culprit for the cause of the problem. So, as soon as I got home, I pulled the cover.

I'm not really sure what I'm looking for, but all of the contacts appear to be clean and none are stuck. Am I over looking something here, in my ignorance?

Or... do you have any other thoughts that I should consider?

It would seem to me that the two likeliest causes would be regulator first and battery second???

Thanks in advance for your help.

Jed
How's the fan belt it might be slipping. This is a generator system, right?

Barney,

You are correct. This is a 6-volt generator system. The fan belt seems fine.

Pardon my ignorance, but wouldn't I have too little charge with a loose belt?

Jed,
Sorry, didnt read it right, to use to thing not charging. Your right, over charging is 9 times out of 10 the regulator, there's probably points stuck.

Barney,

I looked at the points closely, and don't find any indication of them sticking. everything inside of the regulator looked like it was brand new.

As I stated earlier though, I'm not entirely sure I even know what I'm looking at.

Let me pose another question, if you don't mind???

If the battery took a sudden turn south, would I have the same result, i.e. a charging system that was trying to charge a battery that wouldn't accept it?

Put a voltmeter on the battery. Run the engine up a little. It should show about 7 volts. If it goes higher than 7.5 it is charging too much. If not your battery is probably going bad. Of coarse make shure all cables & connections are good.

WBR and Barney,

Thanks for the posts.

Strange kinda day today... I'm just gonna quit touching stuff. I went back out a few minutes ago to put the truck away for the evening and everything is back to normal.

Amp gauge is acting normal at all speeds. Charges a bit at higher RPM's just after start-up and returns to a small charge afterwards or at idle.

Kind of leads me to wonder if I didn't overlook something when I was checking the contacts in the regulator,??? although, I did start it right after I put the cover back on and saw no change???

Just to clarify what I believe you said WBR... (in case this happens again) the charging system, at the battery should be showing around 7 volts. Higher than 7.5 is too much and probably a regulator issue?

If the symptoms persist but it's not showing more than the 7.5 volts, it is probably the battery?

Jed,
what is normal is after starting the motor, you should see a pretty good charging rate for a minute or two above idle, while the generator replaces the energy needed to start it. If it did this in the middle of your trip, it could mean that it didn't start charging correctly until then. This could be sign of a stuck or worn out brush inside the generator.

Truckernix,

It does charge at a pretty good rate immediately after being started. Then goes back down to just slightly right of center while going down the road.

During the trip, it acted normal for quite a while, then was consistently charging at 20+ amps.

As I said, I went back out a bit ago, and it was again acting normal. Or at least as "normal" as we all know these trucks act.

You got it!

Just wanted to say thanks for the help guys. The problem must have been something I knocked loose in the regulator yesterday. Drove it around most of the day today, and never had another thing happen.

Been acting normal all day... Guess I dodged another $$$ bullet.

Ain't electrics fun!!! As red58 says- Electricity makes my head hurt.

Tiny,

I'm with you and Red58... It makes my head hurt too.

I understand just enough of these old 6-volt generator systems to confuse the heck out of my self, most of the time.

I must be weird. I like electrical stuff on these old trucks. I,m alway,s adding things so I can string wires.

Check your battery cells for good/bad ones. Do a load/ stress test on the battery. Check charging rate w/ cable on the battery, engine running ~ and disconnect bat lead and check again. Make sure the grounds are good. Those battery cylindrical brushes are good to have around.