No voltage coming out of voltage regulator

Tom in TN

Well-known Member
Good morning,

1973 Ford 2000, 3 cylinder gas.

I wasn't getting any charge from the generator to the battery. I took the generator to a rebuiling shop and the guy said that it was burned up
inside too bad to repair. I got a new generator from the New Holland dealer and the guy at the generator shop recommended that I also get a new
voltage regulator since it appeared that the generator overheated because the regulator was keeping it energized too long. I installed both the
generator and regulator and still don't have any charge to the battery. Here's what I see with the engine running:

1. The generator light on the instrument panel is off when the key is off, lights up when the key is turned on, and goes off when the engine starts.

2. 15.3 volts on the generator armature and the same 15.3 volts on the armature lug on the voltage regulator.

3. 4.0 volts on the field winding on the generator and the same 4.0 volts on the field lug on the voltage regulator.

4. Battery voltage of 12.3 volts on the battery and on the battery lugs on the regulator.

5. A good ground connection on the voltage regulator ground lug and ground to the cover over the regulator.

It looks to me like the cutout relay is not picking properly, thus, no (regulated) generator armature voltage is getting to the battery lug on the voltage
regulator, but it's a new voltage regulator.

What do you think? Am I missing something?

Thanks for any advice you could give to me.

Tom in TN
 

Expose the wiring loom near the regulator and check the wire colors against the wiring diagram. Possible you have some wires swapped on the regulator.
 
Apache,

Thanks for your note. I think that the wires are on the proper lugs on the regulator. It has six wires going to it. Four of them are in a plastic
connector block that holds the wires captive. The other two discreet connectors are both battery connectors that go onto a lug on the regulator
that is a commom lug that is permenantly connected internally to the regulator.

I just pulled the cover off the unit and burnished the contacts for the cutout relay. I'm going to put it back into the tractor now and try it.

I thought that this was a new unit, but after removing the cover, it is obvious that this is a rebuilt unit. Not happy about that, but maybe it'll
work okay.

Tom in TN
 

Actually I would bet the refurbished units are a better quality than the cheap replacements. I opened up a cheap one and compared it to the Lucas brand and the quality difference was significant.
It kind of reminded me of Harbor Freight stuff. Kind of looks similiar to OEM, but that’s where it ends.
 
Follow up to charging problem - -

That sure enough fixed the problem. I removed the cover and burnished the contacts on the cutout relay. It's charging with about 14.5 volts now.

I was really doubting myself since the unit was a "new" (actually refurbished) unit.

In any event, it seems to be working.

Tom in TN
 
sorry double post.
Note to self: don’t use the back button.
Glad you got it charging. Now how about the condition of the battery cables so it gets where it’s supposed to.
 
more than 1/4 of the new regulators I get are problematic. Either flashing the field or manual pushing the cutout relay seems to "wake" them up and then they work correct. BUT... most of the VR's I get are from India. Very common to have the "voltage level" set too low or too high on some as well. I overnite charge the battery into a "float mode" where it switched over from 14.3 to being held at 13.3 with less than an half amp... then start it and let it charge the battery back up... a good vr will bring a good hot battery back to 14.xx volts in 3 to 5 minutes at 1200 rpms...As the voltage maxes out and sets there for 5 minutes or so, you can quickly see the final setting. and the vr's are very touchy to minor changes.. If I can get a 13.9 to 14.6, I call it good and move on.

In the old days.. the old wives' tale said that a metal cover on a vr will drop .2 volts when you put it back on the VR. Plastic covers dont do it. anyone else heard of this?

Anyway, I very very rarely get a x000 series tractor in with a working charging system.
 
I don't know if magnetics could have been altered with cover on/off, but Delco-Remy VR Service bulletins said leave cover on for at least 15 minutes of operation for temperature stabilization.
 
you won't be the first person to open a lucas style regulator and get it working by cleaning contacts... for some.. that's a part of regular maintenance.
 
(quoted from post at 14:45:22 02/14/19) you won't be the first person to open a lucas style regulator and get it working by cleaning contacts... for some.. that's a part of regular maintenance.
arly on, I almost told him that the contacts had to be making or else his idiot light would not have gone out, since the closing of those cut out contacts effectively short out the bulb or if you like, places same voltage on both bulb contacts. Now, I can see that (15.3-12.3)=3v, would be such a dim glow that it would be easily missed.
 

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