92GTA

I installed my rebuilt generator and starter last night. I also had the guy who did the work test my VR on a test bench with my generator, which I watched him do.

He advised me to jump the GEN and BAT connection on the regulator to polarize the system. He said to do it with the engine off. I did this with a flat raze blade I had lying around since they are next to each other and I did get a spark.

My volt guage reads just a bit on the negative side of 0 and I am only getting 12v or less at the battery.

Is there something I'm missing? I know the generator and VR are good. I have an Optima battery which was charged plenty to start the engine but it may not have had a full charge. I know all the wires are hooked up correctly compared to how they were before and I hit all the connections with sand paper before installing, especially the ground for the VR.

Any ideas? Thanks! Alex

92GTA

Crap, reading some more it looks like I should have jumpered the F to the BAT, not the GEN to the BAT. Is that correct? Have I done any harm to the generator do you think?

Argh me I'll have to try again when I get home tonight...

Frankie the Fink

I just (5 minutes ago) looked at my '61 Passenger Car manual due to another post here by EVERGREEN and it specifically says to jumper the BAT and GEN terminals at the V/R temporarily for polarization.
I'm not sure if a '57 is any different but I doubt it...

92GTA

Weird, then I'm just all confused now lol.

Frankie the Fink

Here is the procedure right off the V/R case from the one that was in my '61 for years (hard to read but it says jump BAT to GEN); so you did it correctly:

92GTA

Hmm, maybe I should use something better than a flat razor? I might have some 18 gauge wire around somewhere.

If I did do it correctly, I wonder what else the problem could be...

56Heap

You may not have a problem. If your battery if fully charged and the car is just idling it will show 0 to a small - charge.....bring it up a few revs and see what the gauge reads

92GTA

I had my GF rev it up to 2500 for me while I watched the gauge (it didn't budge) and while I had the volt meter on the battery, only 12v or less

Ron Miller

If you did it correctly and got a spark, it shouldn't have to be done again. It only takes a momentary contact, just "flash" the end of the wire (or whatever) across the terminal, don't use any prolonged contact.

I'd try revving it as suggested above, see what you've got.

92GTA

I made sure to only do it for a second. I did try it 2 or 3 times though over the course of the night since I wasn't sure and still wasn't seeing charging, could I have hurt it doing that?

Ron Miller

Been a LONG time since I've worked with a generator/regulator system, but as I recall, prolonged contact rather than "flashing" the terminals to polarize can have negative effects on the regulator.

Hope that's not the case, and I'm sure some of the guys still running generators will have more current knowledge.

1snake

If it was bench tested, there is no need to polarize anything. I know they recommend it but the only time I've seen one lose polarity was when the gen. was completely disassembled and new fields put in it.

Your test proves that it isn't charging. The test below will pinpoint the problem.

Disconnect all the wires from the generator, hook a volt meter to the arm. terminal and start the car. You should have between 2-6 volts. Now ground the field terminal and you should get over 15 volts when you rev. the engine. If you do, you have a bad regulator or wiring. If you don't, you have a bad generator.

Jim

emccomas

Alex;

Did your guage read differently before you had the generator, etc. rebuilt?

What readings did you normally see before the rebuild?

92GTA

Ok, I'll try that, maybe I did fubar the VR.

92GTA

No it was the same, that's why I took it all in to get rebuilt. that and it sat for 27 years and is 54 years old lol.

I didn't however check the voltage with a multimeter like I did last night. Maybe there is some bad wiring? He did bench test all of stuff and it was working great...

Ron Miller

I doubt that you've hurt anything even by flashing it 2-3 times, the reason you don't leave it connected long is to prevent current from heating the copper wire coils in the system and burning something up. Momentary flashing several times won't do that.

I'd suggest running the tests 1snake has posted, that'll help isolate your problem.

92GTA

Since I don't have the 61 passenger car manual, can someone post a diagram so I know which is what on my generator?

Thanks!

1snake

The armature terminal has a big "A" stamped next to it. The only other terminal is the "field", which is closer to the motor the the "A" terminal. The "ground" is the screw that is forward of both terminals and goes directly into the gen. case.

Jim

K2

A couple of suggestions. Hook up all of the wires on your generator and voltage regulator and make sure the grounding shield wire is attached to the Voltage Regulator frame and Generator frame to properly ground the regulator. The field terminal goes to ground through the voltage regulator so if the field wire or the grounding circuit don't have continuity your polarizing efforts will be to no avail. Then with everything connected, use a short piece of wire to flash across battery to gen. terminal on the regulator (or batt to "A" terminal on generator). If the generator has been polarized in reverse and run for a period of time that way the voltage regulator could be damaged.

emccomas

Problem could be the gauge. My original gauge does not work, it has never been out of the dash.

Since none of my small gauges work, I got a set of three gauges from Advance auto and hung them under the dash.

And you are using 50 plus year old wiring.....