Generator Regulator question

edskiboy

New User
Hello all,
New to the forum. I picked up a 69 Ford 2000 a while ago. I was out cutting the field last weekend and the alternator/generator had smoke billowing out of it. I made it back to the garage and parked it. I assumed I fried the generator/alternator. I ordered a new one. it came in and installed everything again. i hooked up the positive battery cable and then the negative. As soon as i touch the negative i get a lot of sparks which i was taught, it means i have something shorting out somewhere. I checked the voltage on the battery before i hook up the terminals and it reads 12.48, after i hook up the terminals, it reads 11.3 so definitely a draw on the battery. i started looking at the generator Regulator and noticed that when i touched the one connector it sparked. it turns out its the #2 terminal which looking at the diagram is the starter solenoid. i cleaned the terminals on the regulator and still the same thing, sparks on the battery terminal. If I disconnect the #2 from the regulator and put the battery terminal on, i get no sparks and no draw on the battery. if I leave it hooked up and try and turn the key, the starter will turn so i assume the starter and solenoid are ok. Does this mean the Voltage/generator regularator is bad? Sorry for the long post but i have been chasing this for a week now and am puzzled. Thanks
Ed
 

" the alternator/generator had smoke billowing out of it."

Which do you have, an alternator or generator?

Your description of the regulator sounds like you have a generator, and if so I would suspect that the points for the cut out relay in the generator regulator are stuck together. If so, the battery is rapidly discharging through the stuck relay and the generator when generator is not charging. This will build up heat and produce smoke
 
(quoted from post at 20:16:21 10/30/17)
" the alternator/generator had smoke billowing out of it."

Which do you have, an alternator or generator?

Your description of the regulator sounds like you have a generator, and if so I would suspect that the points for the cut out relay in the generator regulator are stuck together. If so, the battery is rapidly discharging through the stuck relay and the generator when generator is not charging. This will build up heat and produce smoke

What he said.
 
(quoted from post at 21:48:37 10/30/17)
(quoted from post at 20:16:21 10/30/17)
" the alternator/generator had smoke billowing out of it."

Which do you have, an alternator or generator?

Your description of the regulator sounds like you have a generator, and if so I would suspect that the points for the cut out relay in the generator regulator are stuck together. If so, the battery is rapidly discharging through the stuck relay and the generator when generator is not charging. This will build up heat and produce smoke

What he said.
ot to mention, what is a #2 terminal on a VR???
 
(quoted from post at 18:16:21 10/30/17)
" the alternator/generator had smoke billowing out of it."

Which do you have, an alternator or generator?

Your description of the regulator sounds like you have a generator, and if so I would suspect that the points for the cut out relay in the generator regulator are stuck together. If so, the battery is rapidly discharging through the stuck relay and the generator when generator is not charging. This will build up heat and produce smoke

Thank you for the response. yes, I have a generator, not an alternator. Is there any way to "un-stick" the relay? Is the Voltage Regulator something that can be taken apart to fix? I see they are only 17 bucks new but still would like to try and fix if I can.
 


I downloaded an electrical diagram for the ford 2000. In that diagram they show the voltage regulator and what each terminal is. The particular terminal that the relay seems to be "stuck" as one gentleman described is labeled as #2 which is the starting solenoid.
 
(quoted from post at 08:25:12 10/31/17)

I downloaded an electrical diagram for the ford 2000. In that diagram they show the voltage regulator and what each terminal is. The particular terminal that the relay seems to be "stuck" as one gentleman described is labeled as #2 which is the starting solenoid.

Are you sure that you downloaded the diagram for a 3 cylinder 2000? Ford also made a 2000 series tractor a little earlier that had a 4 cylinder engine, and it's electrical system is a bit different, but I'm still not sure if they had numbered terminals on the VR. The 3 cylinder ones had letters, E, D, WL, F and B marking the terminals on the VR, and no schematics I have ever seen for them refers to any terminals by number.
 
#2 is still a puzzle to me. I believe this is the VR terminal arrangement on that tractor.
OYFpxNI.jpg
 

Okay the regulator can be had for around 22 bucks on ebay..

second. pull off the black cover.. some have screws, others have the plastic rivot with the stake in the middle... you have to take a pointed pick and push the stake out from the back side to remove the rivot..........


take a wooden emory stick. like the kind your wife uses to file her fingernails... and run it between each of the contacts and clean off the carbon.. one of the contacts is stuck shut, from your description...


DO not use a metal file or you will see more smoke. If you do use a "metal POINTS file", you MUST disconnect the battery first.

sometimes unsticking the stuck contract and LIGHTLY cleaning it, will fix it... other times you have to replace the vr.... Dont over file as you will ruin the cheap contact. The good vr's have a harden tungston contacts, the cheap ones have beer can contacts. only clean it to remove any carbon and dirt, that will make the contact stick or burn. becareful not to bend the contacts more open as that will change the current and voltage settings on the vr.

caution!!! most cheap replacement vr's are built in india and are junk, 1 out of 5 are bad.. if your lucky.. I buy them wholesale, 5 at a time for $11 dollars each, and just pitch some of them in the garbage.. I often have to reset the voltage cutoff on them as well as they under charge or over charge, and thats on the good ones.
 
#3 & #4 in your drawing are common, with one supplying battery power to the pair & the other sourcing that power to the rest of the tractor. So, the regulator may not even be related to the problem that you are experiencing. Remove wires from generator & if the drain still exists, then it is time to look beyond the VR for the drain, since that will prove that 'stuck contacts' are not back-feeding the generator & causing your drain.
 

Ok guys, Thanks for all the input. I just took the VR apart and sure enough, the contacts for #3 / #4 where arc'd together. I cleaned them and that seemed to be the problem. no drain on the battery and no sparks when hooking up the battery terminal.
One more question. Now that I have the new generator installed, I measure the battery when the tractor is running and it reads 15.1. The old generator never charged the battery above 12.8. Is 15.1 too high or is that ok? Thanks again, this has really been a great forum for help.
 
15.1 is too high, and 12.8 is too low. How's that for an answer? The ideal charging system voltage for a conventional 12-volt system is in the low 14s, and high 13s for deep cycle batteries.
 
(quoted from post at 13:32:05 10/31/17)
Ok guys, Thanks for all the input. I just took the VR apart and sure enough, the contacts for #3 / #4 where arc'd together. I cleaned them and that seemed to be the problem. no drain on the battery and no sparks when hooking up the battery terminal.
One more question. Now that I have the new generator installed, I measure the battery when the tractor is running and it reads 15.1. The old generator never charged the battery above 12.8. Is 15.1 too high or is that ok? Thanks again, this has really been a great forum for help.
M calls 15.2 the high end of acceptable, but if adjustable, GM recommended set range is 14.2-14.6
 
(quoted from post at 11:49:05 10/31/17)
(quoted from post at 13:32:05 10/31/17)
Ok guys, Thanks for all the input. I just took the VR apart and sure enough, the contacts for #3 / #4 where arc'd together. I cleaned them and that seemed to be the problem. no drain on the battery and no sparks when hooking up the battery terminal.
One more question. Now that I have the new generator installed, I measure the battery when the tractor is running and it reads 15.1. The old generator never charged the battery above 12.8. Is 15.1 too high or is that ok? Thanks again, this has really been a great forum for help.
M calls 15.2 the high end of acceptable, but if adjustable, GM recommended set range is 14.2-14.6

Thankyou very much.
 


with the wildly cheap repro vr's out there.. If I can get it between 13.5 to 14.7,,, I call it good...

If its a lucus reg, it easier to set.. so 14.0 to 14. 3 is good.

The cheap ones. a tiny adjustment throws it off the scale.. and you breathe on it and it changes again. So it takes a lot of patience and a whole lot or prayers...
 
(quoted from post at 16:39:45 11/01/17)

with the wildly cheap repro vr's out there.. If I can get it between 13.5 to 14.7,,, I call it good...

If its a lucus reg, it easier to set.. so 14.0 to 14. 3 is good.

The cheap ones. a tiny adjustment throws it off the scale.. and you breathe on it and it changes again. So it takes a lot of patience and a whole lot or prayers...

I just ordered a new one from yesterdays tractor for 17 bucks. It is a lucas. I figure I might as well put a new one in and have my old one for backup. Hopefully the new one falls in the correct range but if it does not, Is there a document out there that explains how to adjust them?
 

Sorry to bring this post back up again but I seem to be back where I started from. A couple weeks ago my generator had smoke coming out of it, it was so hot. I assumed it went bad after 48 years and put a new one on. At the same time I also put a new voltage regulator on. Started it up and let it run for about 15 minutes. The battery is charging at 14.3 volts so that looks good but after about 15 minutes the new generator started smoking again really bad just like the first time. I could not even touch it. So now I know my original generator was not the problem. Could it be something as simple as the belt it to tight or to loose or is this this just plain electrical between the VR and the generator? Thanks for any input.
 
(quoted from post at 21:11:14 11/08/17)
Sorry to bring this post back up again but I seem to be back where I started from. A couple weeks ago my generator had smoke coming out of it, it was so hot. I assumed it went bad after 48 years and put a new one on. At the same time I also put a new voltage regulator on. Started it up and let it run for about 15 minutes. The battery is charging at 14.3 volts so that looks good but after about 15 minutes the new generator started smoking again really bad just like the first time. I could not even touch it. So now I know my original generator was not the problem. Could it be something as simple as the belt it to tight or to loose or is this this just plain electrical between the VR and the generator? Thanks for any input.
) If you think it is non-electrically caused heat, disconnect wires on generator, run it & see if it still gets too hot. 2) Insert ammeter & monitor current.
 

Just an update on this in case anyone else has this issue. I cleaned all the terminals on the voltage regulator and the 2 terminals on the generator side. I also tightened some that were a little loose. That seemed to stop the generator from getting hot.
 
(quoted from post at 15:55:25 11/14/17)
Just an update on this in case anyone else has this issue. I cleaned all the terminals on the voltage regulator and the 2 terminals on the generator side. I also tightened some that were a little loose. That seemed to stop the generator from getting hot.
ften things get fixed by disassembly & re assembly and we never really know what was wrong.
 
If cleaning and tightening some connections helped with the overheating then it sounds like there was corrosion on some connections that were adding a noticeable amount of resistance to the circuit.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top