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Amp meter showing discharge..

5

550Doug

Member
Location
Southern Ontario
on my Oliver 550, so I checked battery voltage when tractor not running and it was 12.65v and when running it is 12.54v. Yesterday it was charging fine. I did notice that on start up, the amp shows charging for a few seconds before going into discharge. The fan belt is tight so I suspect the brushes are worn. Could it be a problem with the voltage regulator? Any other ideas?
Thanks
 
Used to run into a similar problem with 8n/9n Fords.
The battery was hooked up backwards. Also ran into a few where the
battery was charged backwards. Sounds silly, but very possible.
SO, check to see if battery is hooked up right, and to see if battery is not charged backwards.
Should be able to check that with a DVOM.
 
When she's running see if charging improves if you use a jumper to dead ground the gennys FLD post temporarily ??? If it charges better that way I suspect a bad VR or the VR isn't well grounded. Also try to jump a good ground to the VR n see if that helps. If it still doesn't charge with field grounded I start looking at the genny as the problem. Has the genny been polarized ?? may as well do that just in case. If all is working at fast RPM a good genny system should raise battery voltage to at least 13 volts or more.

If all else fails try my Troubleshooting Procedure

John T
John Ts Charging Troubleshooting
 
If it's "as-original", it's a Delco "10DN" with an external regulator. Of course, it could be an alternator conversion to an INTERNALLY regulated 10SI or similar.

wm_ADR0231.jpg"


If a Delco "10DN" (as in the photo) the first thing to do is check for field voltage at the "F" terminal in the 2-terminal plug.

The back of the alternator will have an "F" and an "R" next to the connector.

You want to check for voltage at the "F" terminal.

If near battery voltage there, the voltage regulator is doing it's thing, and the alternator has failed internally.

If NO voltage there, that would indicate a voltage regulator or wiring problem.
 
If it's been charging in the past then
everything is hooked up correctly.
Something has failed either the vr or the
alternator has went bad
 
If you still have an Delco 10DN as Bob mentioned - and need a new regulator? Go with a modern fully electronic unit. I put one on my tractor
15 years ago. Much more reliable then the original mechanical unit.
cvphoto28101.jpg
 
I tried grounding the Field and no changes on the volt meter, voltage stayed at 12.67v.
However, after doing that I found that by increasing the throttle it would start charging and the reading then was 12.71v. So again I'm suspecting the generator may be the problem as it cannot put out enough volts.
 
(quoted from post at 12:52:13 07/02/19) I tried grounding the Field and no changes on the volt meter, voltage stayed at 12.67v.
However, after doing that I found that by increasing the throttle it would start charging and the reading then was 12.71v. So again I'm suspecting the generator may be the problem as it cannot put out enough volts.
Click to expand...
ut the suspense & tell the world what kind of generator or alternator you have.
 
(quoted from post at 13:43:38 07/02/19)
(quoted from post at 12:52:13 07/02/19) I tried grounding the Field and no changes on the volt meter, voltage stayed at 12.67v.
However, after doing that I found that by increasing the throttle it would start charging and the reading then was 12.71v. So again I'm suspecting the generator may be the problem as it cannot put out enough volts.
Click to expand...
ut the suspense & tell the world what kind of generator or alternator you have.
Click to expand...
It is a factory generator on the 550 and I believe it is Delco. I have used the word 'generator' as well as 'brushes', so it is NOT an 'alternator'.
 
(quoted from post at 13:54:07 07/02/19)
(quoted from post at 13:43:38 07/02/19)
(quoted from post at 12:52:13 07/02/19) I tried grounding the Field and no changes on the volt meter, voltage stayed at 12.67v.
However, after doing that I found that by increasing the throttle it would start charging and the reading then was 12.71v. So again I'm suspecting the generator may be the problem as it cannot put out enough volts.
Click to expand...
ut the suspense & tell the world what kind of generator or alternator you have.
Click to expand...
It is a factory generator on the 550 and I believe it is Delco. I have used the word 'generator' as well as 'brushes', so it is NOT an 'alternator'.
Click to expand...
lternators have brushes. Bob thought it came from factory with 10DN and if so, grounding field was wrong approach, but with Delco generator , you tried the right thing. On here, when someone says generator, it often turns out that they don't know an alt from a gen.....clearly, you do. You can go ahead and short BATT to ARM while running AND grounding Field & thereby effectively remove VR from circuit & look for charging.
 
(quoted from post at 16:20:39 07/02/19)
(quoted from post at 13:54:07 07/02/19)
(quoted from post at 13:43:38 07/02/19)
(quoted from post at 12:52:13 07/02/19) I tried grounding the Field and no changes on the volt meter, voltage stayed at 12.67v.
However, after doing that I found that by increasing the throttle it would start charging and the reading then was 12.71v. So again I'm suspecting the generator may be the problem as it cannot put out enough volts.
Click to expand...
ut the suspense & tell the world what kind of generator or alternator you have.
Click to expand...
It is a factory generator on the 550 and I believe it is Delco. I have used the word 'generator' as well as 'brushes', so it is NOT an 'alternator'.
Click to expand...
lternators have brushes. Bob thought it came from factory with 10DN and if so, grounding field was wrong approach, but with Delco generator , you tried the right thing. On here, when someone says generator, it often turns out that they don't know an alt from a gen.....clearly, you do. You can go ahead and short BATT to ARM while running AND grounding Field & thereby effectively remove VR from circuit & look for charging.
Click to expand...

After doing this test of BAT to ARM and FIELD to GROUND I found that it was charging nicely at 13.5v, so I'll toss that VR. A solid state VR was suggested in a previous comment but it was for an alternator. Is there such a solid state VR for a generator?
Thanks for all the info.
 
(quoted from post at 17:13:03 07/04/19)
(quoted from post at 16:20:39 07/02/19)
(quoted from post at 13:54:07 07/02/19)
(quoted from post at 13:43:38 07/02/19)
(quoted from post at 12:52:13 07/02/19) I tried grounding the Field and no changes on the volt meter, voltage stayed at 12.67v.
However, after doing that I found that by increasing the throttle it would start charging and the reading then was 12.71v. So again I'm suspecting the generator may be the problem as it cannot put out enough volts.
Click to expand...
ut the suspense & tell the world what kind of generator or alternator you have.
Click to expand...
It is a factory generator on the 550 and I believe it is Delco. I have used the word 'generator' as well as 'brushes', so it is NOT an 'alternator'.
Click to expand...
lternators have brushes. Bob thought it came from factory with 10DN and if so, grounding field was wrong approach, but with Delco generator , you tried the right thing. On here, when someone says generator, it often turns out that they don't know an alt from a gen.....clearly, you do. You can go ahead and short BATT to ARM while running AND grounding Field & thereby effectively remove VR from circuit & look for charging.
Click to expand...

After doing this test of BAT to ARM and FIELD to GROUND I found that it was charging nicely at 13.5v, so I'll toss that VR. A solid state VR was suggested in a previous comment but it was for an alternator. Is there such a solid state VR for a generator?
Thanks for all the info.
Click to expand...
do not know of any commercially available, but probably somewhere there is a 'garage-shop' making them????? I knew of one once upon a time, but the old fellow died.
 
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