Starter/Generator Charging Question

[DanD 9]

I have a 7016 Sovereign with the starter/generator on it. Most of the time it will not show any charge on the ammeter. This has been like this for many years. When my father used it, he would just put the battery charger on it once in a while since you only need the battery for starting and not ignition. However, in attempting to diagnose the problem, I discovered that when grounding the field coil (to make the generator go into full charge) I only need to just touch the field terminal to ground momentarily, and the system will work almost properly. It will charge when you give it a little gas, when you slow it down, you will see the ammeter go to discharge momentarily before the regulator opens and the ammeter goes to 0, then give it a little gas and it will charge again. Does this sound like a problem with the regulator? Does it just need cleaning? Not the proper regulator for the starter/generator? (I know it was changed at least once many years ago) There can't be any broken wires or bad grounds or it would never work. What do you guys think?

[Willy 2]

Sounds like you have a problem with the regulator.If you remove the cover you can try cleaning the points. Check to see if they are burnt,if not take a dollar bill and run it between the points.(a dollar bill is lint free paper,it won't leave fuzz behind.) If the points are burnt you can try dressing them up with a fine points file, then the dollar bill. When your done flash the field,like you did before. Good luck.
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[ZippoVarga 75]

What you did was to polarize the field coil. IF this was not done when the regulator was replaced then you have effectively fixed the issue by degausing then polarizing the field coil portion of the S/G. I have been told that this is sometimes necessary to get these old S/G's to work properly. I had this same issue with a re-wound S/G and re-calibrated regulator. I tried everything shy of pitching it accross the shop. Then I called the guys who re-wound the S/G and they said, oops, we forgot to tell you that you sometimes have to polarize the field coil. After that, charging like a champ ever sense. Now....the 0 amps at low idle is nothing to worry about. It's when you cant get the S/G to charge at ANY RPM that your unit is in need of service. At idle I have only one S/G that charges out of five in service. The other four begin charging at just over idle. Something to consider with this is....what will you do with the tractor at idle speeds besides cause the engine to overheat? Does the tractor now charge with out doing anything? Or do you have to polarize the field coil each time to get it to charge? Inquiring minds want to know!!

[DanD 9]

I should have been more specific. Every time I start the tractor, I have to ground the field coil momentarily to get it to charge.

[ZippoVarga 75]

Then you have a faulty regulator. Try doing as Jim suggested and if that doesnt work then I suggest either a new regulator or having the one you have serviced. The one I had serviced cost 8 dollars to calibrate. Good Luck!!

[HubbardRA 19]

I had a voltage regulator that needed to have the coil closed each time I started it to make it charge. It would work till the battery was charged then stop charging. It ended up being a broken wire on one of the coils.