D12 12 volt conversion gone wrong

I have a D12 and I'm trying to convert it to 12 volts and failing.

Bought the parts from DJR Tractor Parts including a one wire alternator and 12 volt coil. Reversed polarity of battery so it is now negative ground. New alternator went in great. Wired the one wire from the alternator to the positive side of the ammeter as per the instructions. Installed the new 12 volt coil (have the new polarity correct), and disconnected all the wires to the old voltage regulator.
Went to turn the key to start and nothing. No clicking or anything.
No 12 volts measured on the positive side of the coil.
It seems the ignition switch is not getting any 12 volt power.
How is the ignition switch supposed to get power and why is it not getting power now?

PS: If I try to bridge the gap on the starter solenoid I can get the starter to turn over, so the ignition switch is definitely where I'm going wrong at this point.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

When you removed the regulator. Did you have two loose wire left hanging? Those two wires need to be hooked together.

There were, I believe, 2 wires left hanging from the old generator/alternator and 4 wires left hanging from the old voltage regulator.
Not sure which ones you are referring to.

(quoted from post at 13:05:07 10/30/20)
There were, I believe, 2 wires left hanging from the old generator/alternator and 4 wires left hanging from the old voltage regulator.
Not sure which ones you are referring to.

Click to expand...

Having the D12 manual with a wiring diagram would help you. I think it is like a D14. Basically the two wires hanging on the generator end are not needed and those go to the regulator so find and disregard those two. The other two, one should have been on the Battery terminal and the other on the L (load) terminal, need to hook together. The L terminal supplies the switches and lights. The Battery one should have power on it from the ammeter. You may have to move it to the opposite ammeter post if the ammeter doesn't read right.

I'll give that a try. Thank you!

That worked! Thank you. I now have power to the ignition switch.

Question: Can I just re-attach those 2 wires from the regulator back onto their places on the regulator to get them connected to each other? Or do I need to cut of the connectors off of these 2 needed wires and solder them together and remove and discard the voltage regulator altogether?

Thanks again!

The way I understand it those 2 wire have to be connected to each other but you could maybe use the regulator as a connection point but me I would not do it that way and I would remove the regulator

I always remove the regulator. Cut the terminals off and use a butt connector.

If you connected the two wires (battery and load) with a direct splice of some type, You can remove the regulator if you want. You can leave the regulator and connect the two generator wires (A and F) back to the proper terminals. The two wires that went to the generator can be snipped off at the harness, folded back and taped to the harness, or just left hanging out. Folding back and taping, snipping off, or nothing can be done at the generator end of them as well, you decide what you would like to do, those two wires are dead at this point.

The problems he is having is why do all new wiring when I do a 12 volt conversion and then you know it is how it needs to be

(quoted from post at 15:11:39 10/30/20) That worked! Thank you. I now have power to the ignition switch.

Question: Can I just re-attach those 2 wires from the regulator back onto their places on the regulator to get them connected to each other? Or do I need to cut of the connectors off of these 2 needed wires and solder them together and remove and discard the voltage regulator altogether?

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

In my answer below I thought you had connected the Battery and Load wires connected together already. Re-reading this I now believe you are asking about connecting the Battery and Load wires back to the regulator. That should work but it is better if you connect both to one terminal, not the terminals they were on, if you want to keep the regulator there. I recommend you solder them together, or use a butt splice to connect them as tractorguy2 posted, then you can remove the regulator if you desire.

I won't disagree with you that all new is best. However if his harness is in good condition there is no reason this can't be done properly and neatly. Having the wiring diagram and understanding it, so as to know where wires go and where the changes need to be, is a big help. I believe in investing in the manuals for equipment one owns, but apparently many don't have the manuals with the diagrams, or may not understand them if they do have them. While you, I, or some others, might be able to build a harness from scratch without a schematic; I expect it would be harder for most to make a completely new harness, without that information, than to modify the existing one. JMHO

Wiring a tractor is pretty simple and going 12 volts makes it simpler. But yes many people when it comes to wires get lost before they even start.

Well now I have power to the ignition switch but now I think the starter is dead.
I tried the ignition switch and the tractor turned over a little so I thought I won the game.
Cleaned up the wiring a little bit and went back to start it and nothing. Just the faintest click of the solinoid can be heard.
So I tried bridging the solinoid to the 12v post to try and get it to turn over and nothing.
Is it possible switching to 12volts fried the starter. It doesnt make sense?
Can I pot a new starter solinoid on it?
Do I need a whole new starter?
Man I cant win with this thing!

(quoted from post at 13:55:19 11/05/20) Well now I have power to the ignition switch but now I think the starter is dead.
I tried the ignition switch and the tractor turned over a little so I thought I won the game.
Cleaned up the wiring a little bit and went back to start it and nothing. Just the faintest click of the solinoid can be heard.
So I tried bridging the solinoid to the 12v post to try and get it to turn over and nothing.
Is it possible switching to 12volts fried the starter. It doesnt make sense?
Can I pot a new starter solinoid on it?
Do I need a whole new starter?
Man I cant win with this thing!

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New or used battery? If used, have you had it load tested? Have you checked the voltage at the battery and again at the solenoid? Perhaps the battery has discharged through the alternator or a misplaced wire. Starting to turn and stopping could be a sign of a discharged battery. One wire alternators are more prone to drain batteries than 3 wire ones. Also the starter could have locked up if it went into the flywheel wrong. Try turning the engine over by hand or jack a rear wheel up put it in high gear and turn the wheel to see if the engine turns freely.

Could be a bad battery or a weak battery or poor connections. Clean Tight and Bright are needed at all battery cable connections and a good charge battery that has 12.5 plus volts

Measuring 13.5volts at the battery and at the starter.
Starter does nothing.

Does the starter need to have a 12 volt solinoid on it?
Should I take the starter out and have it looked at at a garage?
I think new starters are like $300+ bucks. Ugh.
Strange the starter died at the exact same time Im trying to do this 12 volt upgrade (which everyone assured me it was going to be easy... yeah right...).

13.5 is an over charged battery or a meter that is not in calibration. I'd pull the starter and take it to an auto parts store or a place that rebuild them and have it checked. Or you could take it off and hook it to a battery with jumper cables and do not use the soleniod. You should be able to get it to spin up if it is good

Lots of good comments. I will add: I shuddered when you
said you disconnected all the wires to the alternator, you may
have needed some of those connections for ground or 12
volts. I did not read all the posts but those I did read did not
mention checking your grounds. You need your grounds as
much as you need 12v. Good Luck. Paul

Which connections do I need to the alternator?
The new alternator is a one wire alternator so thats all I have going to the alternator.
Where should the other (now not used) wires go?
Everyone told me just to let those hang.

And I still cant figure out why my starter wont turn which is the main problem now.

(quoted from post at 03:20:58 11/06/20) Lots of good comments. I will add: I shuddered when you
said you disconnected all the wires to the alternator, you may
have needed some of those connections for ground or 12
volts. I did not read all the posts but those I did read did not
mention checking your grounds. You need your grounds as
much as you need 12v. Good Luck. Paul

Click to expand...

2510Paul, Why would you shudder? Reading the whole thread might make a difference in your thoughts. He did not disconnect all the wires to an alternator. He did a 6 volt generator to 12 volt alternator conversion. He unhooked all the wires from the [u:a79aaf62bd]generator[/u:a79aaf62bd] and [u:a79aaf62bd]the generator regulator[/u:a79aaf62bd]. He hooked up one new battery source wire to the new one wire alternator, by the instructions that came with it. There were some posts in the thread getting him to connect the right two wires (battery and load/ignition), which had been removed from the old regulator connections, together to get power to the ignition switch. Then the possibilities for discontinuing the now unnecessary armature and field wires at the regulator and generator ends of the harness. The one wire alternator should be grounded through the case, as the generator was, unless the instructions told him to install a ground wire for it.

As old posted, the 13.5 volts (if the engine is not running) is overcharged or a bad meter. A bad connection at the battery could add to the problem. He should check and clean all battery cable connection points, both ends of both cables. With it running, 13.5 would be on the low side to me. It is possible the 6 volt solenoid failed with the change to 12 volts and should be replaced, or there could be an issue with the starter itself. As old posted the starter should be checked.

Did you try jacking a rear wheel up and rocking that wheel (transmission in high gear) to see if the engine was free in my previous post? Is the battery new or used? With your voltmeter on the battery posts, what is the voltage reading when you turn the key to start?

The saga continues....

Tried jacking it up and rocking the wheel. That did nothing.

For the hell of it I went out and bought a new battery.
Dropped it in and it started right up! (Thanks guys for all your help)

New issue:
Only problem now is when the engine is running and I raise the RPMs high enough to excite the alternator, the engine dies. Wtf?
What would cause this?

It starts right back up like a champ after it dies though which is good.
I keep the RPMs low to keep it running to let it warm up, but sometimes it will just quit even then for seemingly no reason.

When it was 6 volts, after I got it started, it would NEVER die for any reason. I wonder why it just dies (like someone is turning the key off) now that its 12 volts? What would cause it to shut off like this?