Re: [Amc-list] generators

[Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

-- d stohler <das24rules@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> well, i took my generator to a shop. they checked it
> out. the drive bearing is still good they said. but it
> was not putting out any power. when i took it apart,
> you can see where the armature?? (the center pice that
> spins) has been rubbing on the case inside. (magnets?)
> if i jump the wire on the regulator from the wire
> going to the bat to the one going to the heavy one
> going to the generator, it will start putting out
> power, but it makes a whining noise when it does it.
> then when the regulator is bumped or vibrated enough,
> it stops charging again....

Wow, if the armature was running on the field pieces the bearins must have 
been really shot! The lack of output, and what I think your quick test did, 
indicates almost certainly a bad regulator, or one needing adjusting.

Generators with mechanical regulators are kind of a black art these days. 
There's procedures in the TSM for adjusting them -- but they might not work 
with a digital voltmeter! Old analog pointer meters average out the 
on/off/on/off/... pulsing but DVMs try to follow the instantaneous numbers.

Don't throw out the old one, but you could try simply substituting another 
regulator. They can be adjusted... it's all turn screws, bend tabs, 
excruciatingly carefully....

> does this sound like a gen problem or regulator
> problem? i thought the gen was suposed to put out
> power without an energize to it like an alt has.

Alternators use a bit of battery power to start up; generators use a bit of 
"left over" magnetic field stored in the field windings; the armature spins 
inside the weak magnet, as it spins it generates current which creates 
magnetisim which creates more...

The point of "polarizing" a generator is to create, restore, whatever, that 
initial leftover magnetic field. Brush a wire from the F terminal to the 
battery briefly (it'll spark) is all it needs.

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