OT - How do I polarize a voltage regulator

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2013: OT - How do I polarize a voltage regulator
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Will Copeland - Trenton, New Jersey on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 01:44 pm:

My new regulator came in for my 49 Plymouth but I need to polarize it for positive ground. Iv never done it before. Thought I better ask the pro's before I install the regulator in the car.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Carnegie on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 01:50 pm:

Battery terminal to armature terminal. Just flash it after it is all hooked up. You are polarizing the generator, not the armature.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Will Copeland - Trenton, New Jersey on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 01:57 pm:

Now that leads to another question, The generator was working fine before the regulator quit working, If its the same generator do I still need to flash the new regulator?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dick Lodge - St Louis MO on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 02:46 pm:

Send it to Washington. Everything there gets polarized... :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Will Copeland - Trenton, New Jersey on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 03:08 pm:

No No Dick, I rather not send it there. After the Senate gets done with then it with get passed to Congress then the president will just veto it and then it will get sent to the Supreme court for review, I need need the car tonight!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Carnegie on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 03:19 pm:

Can't hurt.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John F. Regan on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 06:09 pm:

I think Tom meant to say you are polarizing the generator not the regulator but I also agree with Tom that it can't hurt to polarize the setup since if it doesn't need it then nothing really changes by doing it.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Carnegie on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 07:23 pm:

Yes, I meant polarize the generator, in fact, that is what I wrote! :-) However, I meant "regulator" not "armature"?

Here is my quote:

"You are polarizing the generator, not the armature."

This is true, but what I meant to say was:

"You are polarizing the generator, not the regulator".


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Aaron Griffey, Hayward Ca. on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 11:20 pm:

some you flash the "arm" to "bat" terminal
Some makes you flash the "field" to "BAT".
On all you flash from "BAT" to whatever terminal is next to it, in the center.
Does not make any difference if it is negative or positive ground, when you flash it it will make the generator the same as the battery is grounded.
Ford is different from GM. One has the field in the center of the regulator and the other has the "arm" in the center.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Stitt-Southern Oregon on Friday, December 06, 2013 - 03:39 pm:

Aaron correct, He describes an "A" Circuit and the next is a "B" circuit. Autolite should be "A" circuit.
I would not throw out the VR. If you still have a problem I'd go with old OE stuff, imho.
New VR's are shall we say not made well.
Not always but almost always it's the generator.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Carnegie on Friday, December 06, 2013 - 03:45 pm:

Just one more note on this, If it is a Ford, you must disconnect the field wire from the regulator before you flash it to prevent damage to the regulator.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Will Copeland - Trenton, New Jersey on Friday, December 06, 2013 - 04:17 pm:

Tom, This is a 49 Plymouth. Its sposed to be OEM for the car. This unit has Arm and Fld on one side and Bat on the other. Theres mo brand name anywhere on the outside of the unit. On the mounting base there is stamped Pos- Neg and under that its stamped 45 - 57 Amps. It started to rain yesterday so I didn't get to put it on.

Im assuming that I flash Fld to Bat as this is the one thats in the middle?

I'll try and give some history on this problem, When I bought the car someone had put in an 8 volt battery. I wanted it as it was supposed to be. So I installed the right 6 volt battery for the car and it was over charging, So I sent out the generator and the matching regulator to a generator repair shop. They returned it with a new voltage regulator saying the generator was good but the regulator was bad. It worked good for about a month. Then it wouldnt start charging until the car had run for a few minuets. Then it wouldnt charge until I drove it for a couple of miles then it stopped working completely. Then one day the wife and I were coming home from a friends and it started working again. Shut off the car and restarted it and it stopped working again.

Thanks for everyone help on this.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Will Copeland - Trenton, New Jersey on Friday, December 06, 2013 - 04:23 pm:

Sorry I cant take a photo as my pic are to large for the site and none of them will load


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Aaron Griffey, Hayward Ca. on Friday, December 06, 2013 - 04:57 pm:

If it's a Ford you disconnect the field wire only for safety reasons, it is not a MUST. I have done hundreds without disconnecting anything. Unless the regulator is stuck those wires are not connected to anything that will cause a problem anyway.
You just gotta make sure you don't accidently touch the wrong wire.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Carnegie on Friday, December 06, 2013 - 06:20 pm:

I think the deal with Ford regulators is that there is a low-value wire-wound resistor from the field terminal to ground. It wouldn't take too much to make it into a wire-wound fuse. It is always hooked to the field terminal, even if all of the points are open.
reg


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mark Strange on Friday, December 06, 2013 - 06:39 pm:

You might find this website useful:

http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Electrical/generator.htm


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Stitt-Southern Oregon on Friday, December 06, 2013 - 06:47 pm:

Aaron I agree, as it's a B circuit the VR sends current to the FC to ground, On two point VR's yes you should disconnect the field , Bosch type for example.

You are right it's connected to really nothing, just the stationary point basically,other than a resistor.

As a side, this was fun as I dug thru' a bunch of old Autolite VR's, still in the boxes.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Carnegie on Friday, December 06, 2013 - 08:22 pm:

I said you "must" disconnect the field wire. Probably should have said you "should" disconnect the field wire. Obviously you can get away with leaving it hooked up. I have never tried though, I always unhook the field wire when polarizing a Ford two brush generator.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Stitt-Southern Oregon on Friday, December 06, 2013 - 09:20 pm:

Tom, better safe than sorry is an OK rule in my book.


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