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Old 10-01-2012, 03:34 PM   #141
joeypoconos
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Default Re: Is There An Electrician In The House?

Tom - If I’m understanding you correctly, the generator is no longer providing output at the armature side of the cutout as proven by the zero voltage reading. Prior to Saturday, I was getting consistent readings at the armature post of anywhere from 8 to 10 volts, obviously produced by the generator. After Saturday, the voltage dropped to 6.3, that can be explained by the generator going away leaving the battery (6.3 volts) as the only source of power. Okay, finally it’s starting to come together. So now it appears something on Saturday, the motor test??, caused the generator to go belly up.

Bob C/Mitch – The amp gauge is only showing negative amps when the lights are turned on. I’ve moved the third brush from one end of its travel to the opposite end with stops in between. I checked the amp gauge at all stops and only witnessed a very small movement, if any, to the positive side. This is in deference to the +4 to +10 amp readings I received earlier on in this saga.

Should the next step be to have the generator gone through??
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Old 10-01-2012, 03:56 PM   #142
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Tom - Just a clarification. When I stated "after saturday, the voltage dropped to 6.3" that did not include the armature side of the cutout. Reading there was 0.
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Old 10-01-2012, 06:11 PM   #143
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Default Re: Is There An Electrician In The House?

Yes, the generator needs to be gone through.

How long did your friend lock it up while on 12 volts when he was checking the torque?
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Old 10-01-2012, 07:37 PM   #144
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Very quick. A few seconds.
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Old 10-01-2012, 09:21 PM   #145
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Default Re: Is There An Electrician In The House?

i see a long tunnel and no light...
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Old 10-02-2012, 08:57 AM   #146
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i see a long tunnel and no light...

No way. This is a simple system with only a couple major components. You have:

1. generator
2. battery
3. wiring

If all else fails, you "shotgun" the thing and replace all 3. Problem solved! Light at the end of the tunnel and on all sides.
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Old 10-02-2012, 09:08 AM   #147
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ha ha 8 pages for one 'simple' thread is a tunnel. The shotgun should have fired long ago ha ha
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Old 10-02-2012, 11:04 AM   #148
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Tbirdtbird – My apologies for rambling, theorizing and wearing everyone out. I’m sure the day will come when I look back at my posts and cringe. So be it! It has still been a learning experience for me and I’m grateful for all feedback.

So Tbirdtbird my friend, some people look through a tunnel and see darkness. I look through that same tunnel and see light. PEACE BE WITH YOU!
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Old 10-02-2012, 11:06 AM   #149
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ha ha 8 pages for one 'simple' thread is a tunnel. The shotgun should have fired long ago ha ha
LOL, I've been thinking the same thing for several pages.
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Old 10-02-2012, 11:54 AM   #150
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Originally Posted by joeypoconos View Post
Tbirdtbird – My apologies for rambling, theorizing and wearing everyone out. I’m sure the day will come when I look back at my posts and cringe. So be it! It has still been a learning experience for me and I’m grateful for all feedback.

So Tbirdtbird my friend, some people look through a tunnel and see darkness. I look through that same tunnel and see light. PEACE BE WITH YOU!

No shame in this thread at all. It's interesting to see someone 'evolve' and uncover more info about a subject.

Heck, take a look at some of my own ramblings when I'm stumped on a motor problem, and I will be the last to cast a stone!!
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Old 10-02-2012, 11:56 AM   #151
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Default Re: Is There An Electrician In The House?

At about pg 2 I would have put a 6V alt on it and been done. JMO
Paul in CT
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Old 10-02-2012, 12:52 PM   #152
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1931 flamingo – I respect your opinion and believe me I considered doing just that. My reluctance came about when I read of instances where Model A’s went up in smoke due to loose wiring connections etc. So my thought was, right or wrong, an alternator, or some other device, would put a band aide on a serious underlying problem. I’ll be the first to admit I’ve carried this thread on much too long. But on a positive note (I think), there are over 4000 hits on this thread. Hopefully someone has gained some knowledge from the expert advice (not mine) I’ve received or at least had a few laughs at my expense.
Gezz, if I could have charged 10 bucks a head admission, I’d be one happy camper.
Well there I go again, rambling on. I’m outta here.
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Old 10-02-2012, 01:22 PM   #153
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At about pg 2 I would have put a 6V alt on it and been done. JMO
Paul in CT
No, No, No, alternators just look so wrong on any antique car.

I'm not sure at what page the generator was found to be the problem, but I thought it showed output until the shop guy looked at it and motored it on 12 volts. This shouldn't have damaged it if done only for a few seconds. Generators are easy to take apart and check, so that's what I'd do at this point. The field windings should draw 3 or 4 amps on 6 volts and you'll need to use a growler to test the armature. Inspect the armature for thrown solder or bare wires.
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Old 10-02-2012, 02:17 PM   #154
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Default Re: Is There An Electrician In The House?

Tom – You are correct, the generator output varied from 8 to 10 volts prior to taking it to the shop Saturday morning. When I re-installed it Saturday afternoon, no juice.
The shop owner is on vacation for two weeks, upon his return, he will go through it from top to bottom. Thanks for the feedback. Regards
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Old 10-02-2012, 06:03 PM   #155
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Tom - I'll enter this one into the here we go again category.
I have three spare generators, when terri from jackson was here helping me trouble shoot he motor tested all three, Only one spun, albeit very slowly, but it did spin. I took it apart and found one brush wired to ground. Second brush wired to the armature terminal. Third brush connected to one of the field windings via a wire. There is a wire from the other field winding that is grounded EXTERNALLY to one of the generator mounting bracket bolts. Seems kinda odd, is this correct?
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Old 10-02-2012, 07:49 PM   #156
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Tom - I'll enter this one into the here we go again category.
I have three spare generators, when terri from jackson was here helping me trouble shoot he motor tested all three, Only one spun, albeit very slowly, but it did spin. I took it apart and found one brush wired to ground. Second brush wired to the armature terminal. Third brush connected to one of the field windings via a wire. There is a wire from the other field winding that is grounded EXTERNALLY to one of the generator mounting bracket bolts. Seems kinda odd, is this correct?
The later Model B generator had 2 wires coming through a rubber grommet, rather than a brass terminal. One is the field ground wire and it is grounded under one of the cutout mounting screws. The other wire is the output wire and is connected to the armature. The adjustable brush must be connected to the field wire.

I've seen a few generator shops mix up the output and field wires, and the result was a fried generator.
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Old 05-31-2014, 01:13 AM   #157
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Default Re: Is There An Electrician In The House?

Holy cow, this must be the longest thread on Fordbarn about a problem and it seems there never was closure.

To do a quick recap the generator was putting out high voltage until it was bench tested by someone who motored it with 12 volts. Since then it was reinstalled and now has 0 volts output, so we know the generator has a problem. I wonder if the original generator problem was that someone mixed up the field and output wires going to the brushes. I've seen people (generator shops) do that and it fried the generator.

I hope joeypoconos comes back with a reply as to what he did.
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Old 05-31-2014, 08:00 AM   #158
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Default Re: Is There An Electrician In The House?

My suggestion is for Joey to ship his generator to Tom Wesenberg for his experience to look it over......and by all means please use UPS!!!
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Old 11-14-2014, 09:43 PM   #159
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Default Re: Is There An Electrician In The House?

[QUOTE=Tom Wesenberg;886510]Holy cow, this must be the longest thread on Fordbarn about a problem and it seems there never was closure.

I have a "New to me" 30 Tudor with ~9 volts out of the generator at fast throttle. The lights are very bright and when I use the horn is sings soprano.
What regulates the VOLTAGE of the generator?
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Old 11-14-2014, 10:20 PM   #160
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I have a "New to me" 30 Tudor with ~9 volts out of the generator at fast throttle. The lights are very bright and when I use the horn is sings soprano.
What regulates the VOLTAGE of the generator?
Hster, You should have started a new thread.
Here's a LINK to answer your adjustment question.
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