I'm trying to get the lights and electrical working on my A again after six years. I'm trying to find out - Did I fry my voltage regulator?Here are the basic facts: 1949 Model A, 12V POS ground. I purchased a new voltage regulator stamped "12V P/N" on the bottom and had my generator rebuilt by a professional. Reassembled and put back on tractor. Tried polarizing by momentarily connecting BAT and GEN terminals, but no spark on release. Tried lights and found a couple of shorts as evidenced by the ammeter pegging on the NEG side. Corrected shorts. Started tractor - no charge. With tractor running, tried grounding regulator. No charge, and occasional sudden NEG jump on ammeter. Jumped BAT and GEN terminals - no charge. Jumped FIELD and ground - no charge. Shut down tractor. Did some further tests with my meter and found out that the generator was not grounded at all. Enough crud and rust had built up that reassembly had not made any ground contact. Cleaned up crud and rust and verified that generator now had good ground (0 ohms resistance between generator frame and battery POS terminal). Polarized generator. Big spark on release of contact. Restarted tractor - no charge. Jumped BAT and GEN terminals and the charging system started working as it should have. My info says this means the voltage regulator is no good. QUESTIONS - Did I indeed fry my brand new voltage regulator? Are there any other possible options I should look at? Is there anything within the voltage regulator that I can look at? Any help is appreciated!
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