While doing some fine tuning for a shakedown run something strange happened at idle. Suddenly the voltmeter(yes volt meter opted not to use an amp meter) pinned, and a few second later it dropped off to 13v. And no longer charging my battery.. I had been running the engine in my shop for a while(on and off for a couple months), and prior to yesterday it was charging around 14.25 volts... The entire system is new.. Rebuilt generator, NOS voltage regulator, wired the truck (1931 model a closed cab) to a stream lined version of a 1948 F1 harness... I'm running a west coast gell cell battery.. Generator is grounded, regulator is grounded, cab is grounded... Nothing seems out of the ordinary, except for the situation described... I grounded to field terminal on generator and tested for voltage, nada... It's not charging.. Opened up the regulator, and nothing looks burnt... Any thoughts on to what happened?? Thanks in advance for your thoughts... Rich- Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
If it's a Ford generator you don't ground the field to test it, you ground the field on delco generators to full field it. On Ford generators you need to disconnect the arm lead and the field lead at the regulator and feed them both with a jumper to battery (12v) this will full field the generator. Hope this helps. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
It's not a ford set up... 348 olds, with a delco charging system... Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Rich, see if you can get the gen. to run as a motor. That will tell you if the fields etc are in working order. You can get the instructions off the net. I have just rebuilt my gen for the Olds, ran it as a motor for a second but have not had it on the engine yet for a real test of charging. It is 9 degrees out here and my instructions for motoring are out in the "cold garage" . Forgive me for not going out there at the moment. LOL
If it's the GM set up, and the field grounding failed to produce any charging, the generator is the culprit. Take both to a good rebuilder, for repairs. Happy Roddin',... 4TTRUK
I second this test ... if it won't spin, maybe start by popping the back off and looking at the brushes & commutator.
Thanks for the tips fellas... I took it back to the guy who rebuilt it.. lools like the overcharge caused the solder to melt and fly off the commutator.. (or something in the generator) I have him checking the regulator too... its a NOS delco regulator... hopefully I'll have it sorted out by tomorrow.. any suggestions on where to get a good regulator? if the one I have is bad that is... Rich Www.spragwerks.com
NAPA sells a universal 12-volt regulator. I have one on my 55 Packard which uses an Auto Lite generator and it works fine. Should be good for a Delco system too. (o{}o)
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