The Ford Barn

Paul from Maine · 05-20-2013, 08:50 PM

Generator quit working so removed it to the bench. All brushes worn down so that the brush holders were rubbing on the armature. No new brushes available on Saturday, so elongated the brush holes, shimmed the top of the brushes with tape, reinstalled generator and it now charges fine. For fun I connected a voltmeter to generator post on generator side of the cut out. At idle it read seven volts. wheneverer I reved up the motor the voltmeter would read zero. Slow down to idle and voltmeter would jump back up to seven volts. Repeated it several times. Clamped voltmeter lead under generator post nut to ensure good connection and bolted other lead to clean ground. Repeated several times again and same result. Drove a hundred miles Sunday and generator was charging strong. Why the voltage drop to zero at speeds above idle? I can't figure it out!

05-20-2013, 08:50 PM	#1
Paul from Maine Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Oxford Hills, Maine Posts: 325	Generator question Generator quit working so removed it to the bench. All brushes worn down so that the brush holders were rubbing on the armature. No new brushes available on Saturday, so elongated the brush holes, shimmed the top of the brushes with tape, reinstalled generator and it now charges fine. For fun I connected a voltmeter to generator post on generator side of the cut out. At idle it read seven volts. wheneverer I reved up the motor the voltmeter would read zero. Slow down to idle and voltmeter would jump back up to seven volts. Repeated it several times. Clamped voltmeter lead under generator post nut to ensure good connection and bolted other lead to clean ground. Repeated several times again and same result. Drove a hundred miles Sunday and generator was charging strong. Why the voltage drop to zero at speeds above idle? I can't figure it out!