6 volt negative ground

R

RedTom

Active member
I've had tractor about a year now, running fine, charging fine and started it up several times this winter. Left switch on and ran battery down. Removed battery (6 volt)to take to house to charge and noticed that the short cable connecting to tractor body was connected to negative battery terminal and the long cable was connected to positive battery terminal. This is first time I've messed with the battery. Does this mean I have a 6 volt negative ground system? Tractor is 47 cub.
 
Your tractor was originally Pos. ground, sometime in the past, someone has reversed the cables. If the ammeter shows proper charge, they apparently reversed the ammeter leads as well. You can change it back, if you want but if it's working well you might choose to let sleeping dogs lie.
 
It's possible that leaving the switch on might have burned/pitted the points. Something to check when you get ready to start the engine.
 
If they reversed the battery without polarizing the generator, the battery may be charged backwards. they will work that way, but it usually shortens the battery's life. Yes, I have seen it happen if someone is not watching the ammeter. You may keep an eye on the ammeter, but that does not mean that the person who installed the battery backward did. All it would take would be to run it for quite a while backwards to reverse the battery charge.
 
Plan to hook back up today same way. Should I polarize generator before running by using jumper between battery positive pole and the A connector on generator since it’s now negative ground system?
 
I would see if it charges first. If it does charge normally, all is well. If when it starts, the ammeter goes to the discharge side pretty heavy, then post back here. If it neither charges or discharges only a little, pthen polarize it. Generators do not normally need to be polarized only for battery being disconnected.
 
Put battery back on tractor and it started fine. Checked ammeter and remembered that previous owner said meter was bad and in fact meter stuck on 12 on discharge side and doesn’t move tractor off, running or battery disconnected. When I removed battery to charge it charged fine. Didn’t get any message on charger that cables were wrong so I assume that it hadn’t been reversed polarized. Forgot to bring volt meter along. Bummer that my job hours interferes with time to play with tractor. I’ll get replacement ammeter and if have further issues I’ll post back. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.
 
It's unlikely that you will find a low scale ammeter that will register in the range that will read the charging system. Probably will have to order one.
 
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