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Junkman, I cant say for sure what, if any, harm may have been done to the Voltage Regulator during the time the battery was reversed, you may have to worry about that later. First thing I would do is repolarize the genny by first temporarily dead grounding its Field post to its case frame ground, and then momentarily flash jump a wire from the VR's BAT terminal over to its ARM (or GEN) terminal and you ought to get a small spark. Then make sure the belt is good n tight and that BOTH the genny and VR have a good frame ground connection n see how she charges????? ????? ? Of course, to accept a charge the battery has to be in good condition (SG near 1.280) with electrolyte above all its plates and no cells having a gray or milky appearance. While running at a high RPM temporarily dead ground the gennys Field to its case n see if she charges more then?? If so but NOT otherwise and Ifffff fff the battery isnt keeping charged (assuming no other shorts or problems and the battery is good) the VR may be at fault if the wire from the gennys Field post to the VR's field terminal is okay and the VR is well grounded. CAUTION If the genny is only a 10 amp instead of a 20 amp genny, the 10 amps you describe may be all shes got ALSO if she charges at 10 amps and if you dead ground the gennys Field she stays at 10 amps, that may be the max output of the genny and theres not a VR problem !!!!! !!!! ALSO once the battery gets charged, I wouldnt expect the ammeter to stay at 10 amps and actually even far less once shes well charged i.e. there may not be any problem at all if she charges at 10 amps and less provided it still charges (at least some unless at slow idle) with the lights on at moderate RPM and the battery stays up. Even with a 10 or 20 amp genny the VR may be doing its job when it decreases the charge rate to a few amps once shes charged, they ARE NOT SUPPOSED to keep charging at the max rate of 10 or 20 amps once the battery is up or they could overchage !!! For the ignition being turned on to make the amp gauge swing to - discharge not running (as it normally should), the wire that feeds the Ignition switch/key etc MUST be fed either off the ammeters load (NOT to battery/starter) terminal or the LOAD terminal if you had a 4 terminal VR and you have a battery powered coil n distributor ignition system. If its a Magneto Ignition it not connected to the battery. YES far as I know you can swap sides with that handle but thats NOT my area of knowkedge. RIMS ? heck if I know John T
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