VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 1952 Chevy Styleline

OK, Please be gentle with me!! I am fairly new to this. I recently inherited my Dad's 1952 Chevy Styleline. He has been working on electrical issues. When the car is idling, the voltage gauge on the dash reads just to the left of the "C". When I turn on the headlights the voltage gauge drops to the "D" which I believe indicates the battery is not charging. This is an original 6 volt negative ground system. I have had the Generator checked out and it is good. I just put in a new voltage Regulator and polarized it between the ARM and BAT terminal on the VR. Battery is brand new. I am thinking my next option is to start tracing the wiring.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

When at idle and lights are on, it should show a discharge. You never said what happens when given some gas. If it shows a charge at higher RPM its good.

At idle speed the generator is not charging and the needle will drop slightly to discharge if no lights or eletrical accessories are on. Speeding up the engine it should go to the charging side, the amount will depend on the amount of charge is in the battery.
At idle with the lights on it will drop well below discharge unless you rev up the engine. With the enhine reved up it shold go to charging.
I believe that you do not have a problem

As already stated, the charging system is fine, as described.
The 6 volt electrical system is fine, the key is to have the heaviest gauge battery cables you can buy, a 0/0 or 1/0 is good. Nothing lighter/smaller than 2/0.
Find these cables, by length and gauge at a tractor supply store, or a farm implement outlet ... depending where you are located.

If this '52 is going to be part of your life, invest $25 bucks and buy yourself the GM Chevrolet Service Manual, 1949 to 1953, with '54 Supplement.
Find and buy the GM version only, not the Haynes or Motors Manual.

Use this online version, for now, but get a hard copy for your garage.

http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1949_53/index.htm

Yep, sorry, forgot to mention when I do rev up the engine, needle does not move at all.

The next thing I woud suggest is to test if the generator is actually charging in the car. Very simple teat. With the engine runing at a fast idle (so generator is charging) using a screw drive blade, short out the generator field terminal. If it makes aspark when doing so the generator is charging.
Hold side of blade on terminal and end of blade on generator case.

Yep, got spark at high idle so according to your reply, would assume the generator is charging. Thanks so much for all of your suggestions.

As suggested earlier by BOBG, I went to NAPA and they made me 0 gauge battery cables. Put em on and according to the volt gauge at the dash, when I turn on headlights still dropping to discharge. When I give er some gas, gauge stays just to the left of center. So I am wondering if there is a broken wire somewhere or maybe the volt gauge on the dash itself is acting up. I appreciate everyone's help!!!

Would be best to use a volt meter to check voltage. Then you know what you have.

If the dash ammmeter is defective it will not function at all.

My suggestion for the heavy cables was to insure your 6 volt starting system would be in prime condition, to carry current.

One of the more common problems with 6 volt systems are poor battery cables, which folks then blame on the 6 volt system, in general.

If you were under the impression the heavier cables would help solve your charging concerns, then I didn't write my comments clear enough. Sorry if I led you down the wrong road.

Hi Beezy
I had a similar problem with my 53, check every connection from the generator to the battery. I would recommend doing only one connection at a time and then test. That way you will know which connection was creating the problem. On my car it turned out to be the in connection on the amp gauge that created the problem. It doesn't take much to kill the path if the connection is bad. Take each connection apart and then reconnect securely making sure that the connection is clean.