Hi Folks - after cooking my battery from overcharging, I found my voltage way too high - 16+ volts. I replaced the regulator after finding the existing one with most of the points burned badly; I flashed (polarized) the generator by briefly connecting the generator and battery terminals with a jumper wire. I left the field wire disconnected when I jumped the terminals. Now that this in completed, is there a way to know if the generator is polarized correctly? Thanks - (I suspect incorrect polarization fried the regulator in the first place) Richard 1952 Chevrolet 3100, converted to 12 volts with generator
Fried It Indeed , you polarized it wrong and shouldn't have done that in any case . To test : attach a 20 VDC meter across the battery terminals and read the voltage , now start the engine and run it at a slightly fast idle ~ the voltage should slowly rise to the correct charging rate , 7 VDC +/- on 6 volt systems and 13 VDC +/- on 12 volt systems , there are many different generators and regulators so the actual charge rate varies . When it refuses to charge , then and only then *might* it need polarizing and you must have all the wires connected for it to polarize properly . To polarize : connect a wire to the + terminal and quickly brush it against the ' GEN ' terminal of the generator , no more than 1/10 of a second here else you'll begin to damage the regulator's cut out points ~ for some reason , folks always want to arc weld and watch the pretty sparks fly , this is the worst possible thing to do and 99 % of the time , no polarization is necessary in the first place .
