Ammeter problems STILL

[Tom F OHIO]

For those that tried to help me earlier, Thank You. I'm still having problems. I'm not the best when it comes to wiring, or reading my volt meter, but I got out my Brattons book to page 92 and put in a new harness up to the dash. Somehow my coil is turned around and looking at the coil the positive is on the right and negative on left. When I hooked it up the first time I had the red wire from the switch on the neg side of the coil and the black wire from the pos side to right hand side of the junction box. Well, I switch the two wires around on the coil and hooked the yellow to the + side and the yellow -black stripe to the - side of the ammeter and now I still dont show any charge on the ammeter when running and if I turn on the lights it shows CHARGE. Did I burn up my coil or generator by having the wires backwards? If anybody says to do this or that with the volt meter please explain in detail. I'm ok with 110, 220, but struggle with low voltage in DC especially where to set the meter. Thanks for any help
Tom...

[Bob C]

If the ammeter shows charge with the lights on and the engine not running then it is wired backwards.

[Tom Wesenberg]

If you have a 6 volt POSITIVE ground system as original, then the switch should go to the POSITIVE side of the coil, since the switch connects the coil to the points, which are ground. Connecting the coil backwards wouldn't hurt anything.

Jump across the two cutout terminals for one second to polarize the generator, then see if you have output. Set your multimeter to a low DC scale, like 10 volts DC then connect the red positive lead to ground and touch the black negative lead to the generator output stud with the engine running. It should show about 7 to 8 volts on each of the two cutout terminals.

[tdlmomowers]

Does anyone know if a Model A needs to be polarized when the charging system is repaired? Tom replaced the battery in his Model A and I was wondering if we should polarize the system. If we need to polarize the charging system, then could someone explain how it is done, please. I am related to Tom and will probably be helping him with his repairs.

[Tom F OHIO]

Tom, I do have a 6 volt positive ground system. I checked the incoming or battery side of the cutout and had between 6 and 8 volts. The out side marked armature only had 1.8 volts coming out. Can the cutout be taken apart and checked without messing it up. Does this mean my points are stuck inside?

[Tom Wesenberg]

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The armature side is the input side and shows the power coming from the generator. It seems the generator isn't putting out like it should be. I'd take the generator apart and have a look inside.

[Franchise_24]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

The armature side is the input side and shows the power coming from the generator. It seems the generator isn't putting out like it should be. I'd take it apart and have a look inside.

Is it a generator problem or a cut out problem?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by Franchise_24

Is it a generator problem or a cut out problem?

The generator isn't putting out, so it needs to come apart to see what's wrong.

[Mike V. Florida]

[Franchise_24]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

The generator isn't putting out, so it needs to come apart to see what's wrong.

Ok Tom thanks. What would be some steps to take if you were going to take it apart. What to look for, what to test etc etc. Thanks again for the help.

[Tom F OHIO]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

The armature side is the input side and shows the power coming from the generator. It seems the generator isn't putting out like it should be. I'd take the generator apart and have a look inside.

Tom, I will look at the generator. On the other problem that when I turn on the lights and it goes to charge, should I just switch the two yellow wires on the ammeter and will that be OK???

[Charles Reese]

In Mike Vs diagram, does the:
* yellow wire go to the ‘driver’ side ('discharge') of the ammeter (as seen from inside cab) & 'driver' side of terminal box (as seen from inside engine compartment)

* yellow/black to the 'passenger' side ('charge') of the ammeter (as seen from inside cab) & 'passenger' side of terminal box (as seen from inside engine compartment)

I have another diagram that seems to show the opposite ... or more likely me misreading it!

[Tom F OHIO]

Originally Posted by Charles Reese

In Mike Vs diagram, does the:
* yellow wire go to the ‘driver’ side ('discharge') of the ammeter (as seen from inside cab) & 'driver' side of terminal box (as seen from inside engine compartment)

* yellow/black to the 'passenger' side ('charge') of the ammeter (as seen from inside cab) & 'passenger' side of terminal box (as seen from inside engine compartment)

I have another diagram that seems to show the opposite ... or more likely me misreading it!

Charles, I'm seeing the same thing you are. The left picture shows the yellow wire on the charge and on the right picture is opposite. One shows from the back and the other from the front. Is this how you are looking at it. I have it like the left picture and it is showing charge when I turn on the lights. Thanks...

[Tom F OHIO]

UPDATE: I messed with the third brush and got it to start showing charge, but it is showing about 18 amps and no matter if I move the brush up or down it wont change. Could it be the brushes that need changed. I do have between 7 -8 volts on both sides of the cut-out.
Thanks for any suggestions. PS. I crossed to two yellow wires on the ammeter to get it to charge and discharge correctly.

[Franchise_24]

Thanks for the diagrams. Those were very nice.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by Tom F OHIO

UPDATE: I messed with the third brush and got it to start showing charge, but it is showing about 18 amps and no matter if I move the brush up or down it wont change. Could it be the brushes that need changed. I do have between 7 -8 volts on both sides of the cut-out.
Thanks for any suggestions. PS. I crossed to two yellow wires on the ammeter to get it to charge and discharge correctly.

I wonder if someone installed the two wires onto the wrong brushes. You have to make sure the power brush goes to the output stud, and the wire coming from the field brush must go to the adjustable brush. Since you have such high output and it won't adjust, this is probably the reason. 18 amps is way too much and will cook the generator. A couple years ago I had to fix two generators that were fried because the generator shop had the wires switched as I just described.