Battery ?

Have a 6 volt pos(+) ground in my 1950 ford. I replaced the battery last saturday and the employe at the battery store put the batery in backwards with the NEG(-) going to ground. I have not driven the car very much since saturday. I flooded the car today and ran the battery down trying to restart the car. when i went to jump the battery I noticed the ground cable was on NEG(-). I switched the cable back. So what damage if any did this cause? lesson learned!

 

Could have re-polarized your generator, but as long as you didn't turn on (or have) a radio, you should be fine.

 

...was your starter running in reverse?

 

ok have radio but it doesn't work so thats good

 

not sure,i didn't notice anything different

 

Nopper... shouldn't hurt anything. Those old cars aren't as tender as the new ones.

Probably reversed the polarity of the voltage regulator, but all you got to do is reverse it back if the guage says it ain't chargin.

Trickle charge the battery, and let 'er rip.

SAFU

 

You never heard of reversing the polarity of a voltage regulator?

No such thing as polarity?

Why do you think them new fangled altenators have diodes in them?

Hi-larious.

 

how do i reverse polarity

 

You reverse the polarity at the regulator if the amp gauge shows a negative charge. It's easy, and you can't really hurt anything. But don't worry about reversing the polarity if the amp gauge shows the generator is charging properly.

Get a short bit of wire, and create an quick spark between two poles of the regulator. It just takes a touch. Go look at the amp gauge. It should be charging. If not, try another combination of poles.

SAFU

 

Actually it is the polarity of the generator that you are polarizing, NOT the regulator. The regulator does not have polarity, the generator does.

To do this on a 6v Ford 2 brush alternator, remove the field wire from the regulator and touch it to the Batt terminal momentarily - DO NOT use a jumper like you would on a Chrysler, GM or some later Ford's.

Charge the battery slowly to get it back to 8 volts or so and I would also look at the points in the reg as 440roadrunner suggested.

If it doesn't charge after this you probably smoked the generator.

 

my gauge is just a stock gauge C on the bottom D on top needle stays in middle. how would i check to see if its charging

 

The C-D gauge is an ammeter just without numbers. If the battery is chharged up and the engine is running well the needle would probably stay at the midpoint until you pulled the headlamp switch when it would go up higher towrad the C side.

 

I see you want to help out your buddy 440, but the fact remains that polarity is reversed at the regulator.

Wrong. It works just fine using a piece of wire as a jumper.

Tell us how you can "smoke the generator" in this case. All that happened is the polarity was reversed. Remember?

SAFU

 

Well, you can jump up and down all you want to about this, but the method I gave works just fine on a 50 Ford.

SAFU

 

Gun the engine a little. If the needle goes towards C (for charge) its chargin. If it goes towards D (for discharge) it aint.

SAFU

 

Sorry RR, but the polarity is changed at the regulator not the generator.

So what part of your explanation above fits a 50 Ford? Is it internally or externally grounded? Why do you think this means a jumper will not work to change the polarity? Remember, a little while ago you denied polarity even existed.

SAFU

 

It's the GENERATOR that needs polarization not the regulator 440roadrunner is correct once again as usual you can't get much past him on electrical matters. All the regulator is doing is REGULATING what the generator puts out that is why is called a regulator. It really is that simple. You can flash the generator at the regulator but only for the convenience of it not because you are changing anything on the regulator your just doing it using THE WIRES FROM THE GENERATOR and that is the only polarity you have to worry about in this case.

All a regulator has inside it are a couple of mechanical/electric relays that open and close to regulate the current flow there is no polarity involved if they are hooked up properly to the correct wires which they are in this case.

A generator depends on polarity for the cars system not for it's own sake it is just as
happy producing current in either direction depending on how the current flows through it's fields.

Take the car in this post and disconnect all the wires going to the regulator so it's not hooked to any power source then flash the generator at the generator nothing to do with the regulator what so ever.

Reconnect the wires at the regulator having done nothing to the regulator and it will run and charge properly (if the mechanical contact points haven't been destroyed in the relays) nothing needed be done to the regulator.

And yes I was working on cars when they ALL had generators no alternators produced yet so I have flashed a shitload more generators than you ever will.

 

with this being said how do i flash the generator at the generator. thanks all for the help i feel like a idiot but need to learn somehow.There is no dumb questions right!

 

Generator Polarizing
when a generator has been disconnected and reinstalled,it must be polarized proir to starting the engine.When the generator grounds the field circuit externally,the generator is polarized by connecting a jumper wire across the Gen.and Bat. terminals of the regulator.Hold one end of the wire against the generator terminal and scratch the other end across the battery terminal. This one flash causes the current to flow through the field coil in the proper direction,insuring correct polarity.

To polarize the internally grounded field circuit,DISCONNECT the field lead from the regulator and momentarily scratch it on the battery terminal of the regulator.

Remember this rule for polarizing generators

ALWAYS PASS CURRENT THROUGH THE FIELD COILS IN A DIRECTION THAT WILL CAUSE THE GROUND SIDE OF THE COILS TO BE CONNECTED TO THE GROUND SIDE OF THE BATTERY.
Remember,always polarize a generator after installation!

Reversed current flow will damage the cutout relay points by doubling system voltage at the points

 

Here is a article by Al Corbin on the barn about generators and polarization that I found helpful. Sometimes people get information that is wrong from one person and can only learn by getting information from multiply sources.

Myride2: Great clear explanation.

http://www.fordbarn.com/earlyv8/forum03/membersarticles/

 

The diodes in an alternator are a rectifier bridge, not for polarity protection. They take the AC current coming out of the windings and change it to DC. That's why your lights will flicker if you damage one of them.

 

I know the article is primarily for a cutout system which I have. I also have a system with a regulator as well. 440 you helped me previously straighten out my understanding of how the generator/regulator interact, you were very helpful.

 

The various and sundry posts here about how to polarzie a 50 Ford (it is at the regulator.) remind me of when I was in high school.

There was always some kid who read hot rod magazines that wanted to show off and tell me all about how something should be done. They were usually wrong probably because they had never actually done the work and did not understand what they were reading. I on the other hand, was leaving school early every day so I could work at the auto supply/speed shop, and/or at my father's place, and was actually doing real mechanic work on things like 50 Fords. So yall go on jumpin up and down about this, but the fact remains that I have done this many times, and I've seen it done.... more times than I can remember.....

 

Hey 440!

If I am SAFU, tell us what SAFU means?

SAFU

 

Safu, I went round on this with a few poeple. Quote from my discussion, HOTRODDON - "Although it is done at the regulator, you are polarizing the generator."

 

Maybe you should have stayed in school, then you might have a clue what you are talking about. First of all just because you do the operation of polarizing the generator at the regulator does not mean you are polarizing the regulator - there is no such thing. You you are just using the connections there for convenience sake.
Second, while many generators are polarized by jumping the terminals, Early Ford six volt internal ground versions will damage the regulator by jumping them as versus disconnecting the field wire as suggested earlier.

Maybe you should pick up a book or at least read some of the excellent articles on the internet about the different types of generators, how they actually work, and the fact that regulators don't have polarity but the generator does.

Get a short bit of wire, and create an quick spark between two poles of the regulator. It just takes a touch. Go look at the amp gauge. It should be charging. If not, try another combination of poles.
The fact that you made the above statement shows your lack of knowledge in this area - trying different poles will certainly short out the regulator at a minimum.

 

Never said anything about polarity protection. (Sound kinda like an electronic rubber dont it.)

What, exactly are those cute little diodes doing with the current when they convert it from AC to DC? And why? Is there any polarity involved? Hmmm..?

I attended a mechanics training class on them new fangled altynators in the early 60s. Oddly enough, I still remember a little bit of how and why diodes are used, and such.

SAFU

 

Yep attended but didn't learn anything. You should have paid more attention and you might have learned something so you would have more than "a little" to remember. And maybe you would remember it correctly if you weren't playing hooky the day they covered flashing GENERATORS and not regulators.

Give it up dude you are just burying yourself in more and more BS.

 

This thread reminds me of some of the firefights over on the FordBarn, with the poor guy who asked the original question caught in the middle.