Jump to content

Unofficial Home of Old Simplicity & Allis-Chalmers Garden Tractors

More Charging Help Needed!!!


78kitty

Recommended Posts

After my other starter / generator went haywire (literally a rats nest of wires & copper inside) I bought a used one, but one of the ears was broken off in shipment. Today I took it to a starter / alternator shop and had them replace the bearing cap with the broken ear, replace the brushes, and fix or replace anything else they thought it needed. It was a 50 mile trip each way, but was hoping my charging dilemma would be over. I made sure the battery was fully charged, mounted up the generator, started the motor (at least I can start it now) and the charge light is still on! A check with the voltmeter while the engine was running showed 12.5 volts, about 2 volts shy of what it should be. I POLARIZED the generator by shorting between the bat and gen terminals on the voltage regulator. I then restarted the motor and again only 12.5 volts. I also removed both wires from the generator and grounded the field terminal (AKA- "Full Fielding the Generator"), and the battery still was 12.5 volts with the engine running. The next thing I checked, which I'm not sure will tell us anything, was the voltage at the Battery terminal of the generator. It was showing 1.4 - 1.5 volts. The battery charged fine on the 3415H Sovereign after I replaced the voltage regulator until the generator went haywire as mentioned above. So, unless when the other generator went out it fried some wires or the voltage regulator all that should be intact. By the way, the voltage regulator was a new unit from the Simplicity dealer. Anybody got any ideas or other tests I can run? I had a problem like this with the same type Delco Remy starter / generator I had the same shop rebuild for the '72 Sears Suburban 12HP I got from my Gpa and on my 2nd trip to the rebuild shop they put it on a "Growler" and used a hacksaw blade which would hum. That turned out to be a "dead coil" in that generator, which they replaced with a new shaft assembly and it has worked great since.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was having trouble with my S/G for a while. In the end I cleaned and wire brushed all of the terminals on the solenoid and S/G and ground. The wires to the battery were new on mine, but none of the others were. Nothing I did made any difference until I replaced the heavy wire from the solenoid to the S/G. Ever since then it has worked great. This type of system is VERY intolerant of extra resistance in the wires. Hope this helps.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Best thing to do now is have the S/G and regulator bench tested as a unit and that should be more then a 15 minute job by them. That eliminates all doubt about compatibility
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you sure the system is wired correctly? The S/G is self-polarizing when the starter is activated. "I also removed both wires from the generator and grounded the field terminal (AKA- "Full Fielding the Generator"), and the battery still was 12.5 volts with the engine running." Leave both wires on the S/G, then ground the F terminal on the S/G with the engine running. The battery cannot see the S/G output if the battery wire is disconnected. Check the contact points on the regulator. Sometime an arc will leave a tit that prevents them from making good electrical contact. Do this with the battery disconnected or you will smoke the regulator. Agree with Dave's post above. Make sure you have clean connections and both the S/G and the regulator are grounded to the frame and each other. All else fails BLT's suggestion is the way to go. Oh, make sure the S/G is for CW rotation; not CCW rotation. Hope this helps,
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, thanks everyone. I'll try Roy's suggestions and then if nothing turns up I'll go and have both units tested. I actually took the regulator to be tested yesterday when I went to have the generator rebuilt, but the guy said the tester was in their other shop which apparently they can't get into b/c too much stuff is being stored there currently.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I ended up changing all 4, gauge, regulator, solenoid, & key switch to eliminate my problem & all 4 tested OK.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...