Anti charging generator

[offrink]

I just replaced the battery and voltage regulator on a 54 cub. I was having issues with the battery being dead after an hour or so of mowing and wouldn’t restart. So I figured the battery and vr were bad. So, charged the new battery, put in the new vr, wired it up, connected battery, jumped from gen to batt. When the switch is turned on the ammeter shows discharge, when running it shows even more discharge (-8 to -10) when lights are turned on it goes to -18 to -20. While running with the lights off I attached a volt ohm meter to the batt off of the vr with the negative wire and ground the positive to the frame. The meter shows a -0.4 to -0.44 which seems to show a discharge off of the voltage regulator. What am I doing wrong? I can’t get it to charge the battery.

[Don McCombs]

Have you tried re-polarizing your generator?
viewtopic.php?t=56748

[offrink]

Have you tried re-polarizing your generator?
http://www.farmallcub.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=56748

Yes. I did this before the first start after reconnecting the battery. I started it and didn’t have a charge. I then used a jumper wire to connect the gen and batt terminals and it read a -10 on the ammeter.

[offrink]

After much research, could the new battery have been charged wrong and the polarity of the battery wrong?

[tst]

battery cables hooked up correctly, 6 volt positive ground ? correct regulator, does it say its for 6 volt positive ?
here is a flow chart to find your problem

[offrink]

Yes to all questions. The generator, when jumped from the gen tab to the batt tab will take the needle on the ammeter from -3ish to about -10 showing that the way it is currently set up it will discharge instead of charge.

I don’t seem to be able to reset the polarity on the generator. I have even directly take. The negative battery terminal and connected it to the A lug on the generator and it makes no change.

[inairam]

Assuming you are still 6 v positive ground and that your numbers are current readings and you followed the chart TST posted:

Did you replace the cables when you replaced the battery? They should be #2AWG for 6 volts. Check all connections. If the wire is old inspect the - wire for insulation failure especially under the platform, by the clutch, and by the dash.

What did you spend on the VR? I have had the low-end ones ( $25-$40) be DOA out of the box.

Did you clean the ground end of the cable and metal to the + terminal? If it is still on the sheet metal to the battery box I would move it, at least temperately, to a bolt-on frame like the gear shift or pto cover or rear lift mount holes for now. I use a braided cable for the ground and bolt to the mount on the bottom of the battery box.

The VR needs good ground. Did you clean and bare metal on the mounting location for the VR. I sometimes run a ground wire if there is a lot of paint or rust.

Did you give a good look behind the dash for anything that could be touching the wires /connections causing a drain? ( only if you measure a drain while the cub is shut down.

The current draw is one thing but I would take voltages reading at the different locations. The voltage at the battery with the engine running and charging is just over 7v for a 6-volt system. I have found this post helpful http://www.farmallcub.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=38133 "Voltage Drop Test"

If you do all of this it may be time to pull the generator and do a rebuild or send the generator and regulator to an auto electrical shop for testing or go to the dark side and covert to 12v positive with a one-wire alternator.

[offrink]

Assuming you are still 6 v positive ground and that your numbers are current readings and you followed the chart TST posted:

Did you replace the cables when you replaced the battery? They should be #2AWG for 6 volts. Check all connections. If the wire is old inspect the - wire for insulation failure especially under the platform, by the clutch, and by the dash.
***All wires are correct gauge and in good condition with no wear.

What did you spend on the VR? I have had the low-end ones ( $25-$40) be DOA out of the box.
***The one I bought was the $110 Napa VR.

Did you clean the ground end of the cable and metal to the + terminal? If it is still on the sheet metal to the battery box I would move it, at least temperately, to a bolt-on frame like the gear shift or pto cover or rear lift mount holes for now. I use a braided cable for the ground and bolt to the mount on the bottom of the battery box.
*** all terminals were cleaned. Ground is already attached to a bolt on the frame of the tractor.

The VR needs good ground. Did you clean and bare metal on the mounting location for the VR. I sometimes run a ground wire if there is a lot of paint or rust.
*** everything is clean and wire brushed with a wipe down after.

Did you give a good look behind the dash for anything that could be touching the wires /connections causing a drain? ( only if you measure a drain while the cub is shut down.
*** no drain while off. Once ignition is turned on it drops slightly into the negative. With lights on it drops to the -18 range. With lights off and tractor running a jumper from gen to batt on the VR reads around -9 on the ammeter wick shows that it is providing power but in the wrong direction.

The current draw is one thing but I would take voltages reading at the different locations. The voltage at the battery with the engine running and charging is just over 7v for a 6-volt system. I have found this post helpful http://www.farmallcub.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=38133 "Voltage Drop Test"
*** I have followed multiple guides and done everything multiple times. It continues to produce energy “backward”.

If you do all of this it may be time to pull the generator and do a rebuild or send the generator and regulator to an auto electrical shop for testing or go to the dark side and covert to 12v positive with a one-wire alternator.
*** generator works. With the belt off and connected directly to the battery it turns by itself easily.

Replies are in the above quoted text.

I’m either down to 2 possibilities.
1) the battery from the factory was charged with the wrong terminals. I’ve heard that if I completely dissipate the battery and charge correctly it could work correctly but I doubt that is correct because reading across the terminals it reads in the correct 6.3-6.4 amount when fully charged.

2) the generator is polarized incorrectly and I am having trouble getting it to polarize correctly. What would be a good way to depolarizing? I have connected the positive battery to A post and that didn’t work. Tried to jump gen to batt on the VR and that didn’t work. Running out of ideas to get it correctly polarized.

[tst]

lots to read, when you ground the field on the generator did it charge? should almost bury the gauge

[offrink]

It does but on the discharge side. Ammeter is wired correctly because when the headlights are on the needle goes in the same direction.

[tst]

silly question, when you jump it and the gauge goes to discharge can you hear a change in the engine , like a load is being put on it ?

[offrink]

Seems to run the same at 2/3 throttle but if I remember there maybe a slight temporary drop of rpm’s but not like it’s grounding out.

[Dale Finch]

It does but on the discharge side. Ammeter is wired correctly because when the headlights are on the needle goes in the same direction.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it normal for a tractor to show an increase in charge rate when an additional load is added. So if that's true, then isn't the ammeter simply wired backwards?

[offrink]

It does but on the discharge side. Ammeter is wired correctly because when the headlights are on the needle goes in the same direction.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it normal for a tractor to show an increase in charge rate when an additional load is added. So if that's true, then isn't the ammeter simply wired backwards?

If the tractor isn’t running and I turn the lights on it will be discharging and does show a negative on the ammeter. When jumping the VR it also shows negative on the ammeter.

[tst]

take the wires off the generator, and the belt, run the positive wire to the A terminal on the generator, ground the F terminal and the generator should spin, remove the ground wire and it should spin faster, it should be ok if it does this