VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Electrical - 6 volt 37 Generator question

Having trouble with my generater charging i polarized it and no go I also touched the field to ground but no spark amp meter still reads discharge any idea what could be wrong?

Could be any number of things; Bare field coils touching the housing, defective armature, defective field coils, one of the brushes not making contact with the comm. due to a broken spring or whatever, broken field wire and etc.

How did you polarize the generator?

I touched the bat. termanal to the field terminal
I got the generator a while back from a fellow chat member can't remember his name but have not had a chance to install it til today it looks really nice from the out side he had it all fixed up and pretty but I guess I will have to take it a part and start with the brushes.

To polarize a generator with a cut-out you touch the "Batt" terminal on the cut-out to the "Gen" terminal on the cut-out. Try polarizing the generator again and see what happens.

Yes that is what I did just typed it wrong I did touch the Bat to the Gen on the cut out but did not seem to make any differance and I also put a voltage meter on the gen term and it reads a discharge on the meter

Did you get a spark when you polarized the generator as you described above? :confused:

Yes I did

With a generator test bench it would be easy to find the problem, but I would check the brushes next to make sure that they are contacting the comm. Also, you said: "I also put a voltage meter on the gen term and it reads a discharge on the meter". What do you mean by a discharge on the volt meter? Do you mean a discharge on the amp meter instead? :confused:

No I used my hand held meter at the gen while the engine was running I was just trying to eliminate the a amp meter as the problem

Okay, so you were using an amp meter instead of a volt meter?

Check the brushes and the comm. and make sure the comm. is clean and that the brushes are making good contact. Also check the cut-out. You can manually close the two contacts by hand and with your meter see if the generator is charging while the car is running.

Yes that is what I'll do thanks for the suggestion

Got to looking at this today and when I touch the cut out points together the amp meter pegs the gauge to the discharge side any Ideas?

Engine running or not running????

Engine Running

Either field coils shorted or cut out is shorted to ground.

Stop engine, remove the fan belt, press on cutout arm and make point contact, generator should run slowly as an electric motor. If the generator does not run, generator is at fault. If points spark and generator does not run. Problem with generator or cutout.

I have had a couple generators that tested out like the one on your car, and upon disassembly it was found that the armature was shorted and needed to be replaced. Also had several where the insulation wrapping on the field coils was badly deteriorated and the field windings were touching the generator case. If your generator turns out to be defective, those are a couple of possibilities to look for. :( :( :(

Well the Gen does turn like a motor so please excuse the dumb questions but if I by pass the cut out and touch a wire between the gen and the bat term. should'nt that peg it to full charge? I did that but still pegs to discharge and I did polerize it again by touching the bat term. to the Gen. Term.

I doubt that this the case, but do you have the wires going to the amp meter reversed? If so, when the generator is charging it will show a discharge on the amp meter. However, if the wires are connected correctly and the amp meter pegs to full discharge when the cut-out points close, I would suspect a short in your generator. :(

If you do have a defective generator, you should take it to an experienced generator man and have him test the generator on his test bench to determine the problem.

How would you determine if there hooked up wrong? When I turn on head lights it will go to discharge just slightly if they were hooked up wrong would it go slightly to charge or discharge
I am assuming that it should go slightly to discharge when hooked up correctly is this right?
Thanks for your patience!

Sounds like you have your amp meter wired correctly. Your next step would be to remove the generator and take it a generator shop and have it tested.

Thats what I'll do....So even though it turns as a motor as radio man say's does'nt mean that the gen. is good?

Sorry I mean Antique Mech.

Right! The generator can "motor" and still be defective. I have tested several generators on my generator test bench in the past that "motored", however they still had bad armatures. :( :( :(

Great Thanks for all the help!!!!

You bet! Also, when you take your generator in to have it tested, be sure that you take the cut-out as well.