55/550 Generator Woes

Assuming it to be the generator or voltage regulator, I removed it from the tractor for inspection. Everything was quite dirty, but after hitting the copper coil and metal plates with a brillo pad, sanding the brushes (which were still in great shape) and the points in the voltage regulator, it still didn't charge the battery after about 4-hours of mowing.

What are your thoughts on this? I'm not electrical/generator savvy, so if any of you have suggestions or could tell me what voltometer readings I should be getting (and where), I would greatly appreciate it.

If it's fried, I'm going to check with a local shop that can possibly rebuild it or see if my new-found buddy, Kent Gordon, may have one on his parted tractors.

Thanks in advance for the info and replies!

Justin
in Indiana

Email being sent!

Thanks,
Justin

Sanding the regulator contacts is NOT the best idea, since, likely, they have a thin silver coating, and you've removed that.

Drawing a clean piece of cardstock paper though them several times would have polished them up, followed be cleaning any remaining crud and lint off with electrical contact cleaner.

How to polarize... It's a Delco generator, right?

Nope, didn't know about polarizing. I just cleaned it up, put it back together the way I got it, and tried it out.

As far as sanding the contacts, I probably should have clarified that a bit. There was a little roughness/corrosion (as it appeared) that I took a fine piece of sandpaper and brushed over it once or twice. I didn't do any major sanding on it, just getting the roughness out of the way. Hopefully I didn't hurt the coating!

Yes, it is a 12v Delco generator with a saddle-mounted voltage regulator.

Thanks,
Justin