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Farmall & IHC Tractors Discussion Forum
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Farmall B alternator

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Dave H (MI)

08-04-2007 07:50:39




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Good Morning! Kinda pretty one here in SE Michigan but me thinks the heat will be back in an hour or two. I soldered up my wire last night using the 3 amp diode from Radio Shack. I found the part Rich recommended but it is a long way into town and I was unsure so I went with the known quantity. I am not a fan of soldering on #10 wire especially when my larger solder tips are AWOL but I got it done. Installed it this morning, propped the ammeter where I could see it and hit the switch. Immediately noticed the static discharge reading on the meter...hopes soared. Pulled the starter and she fired to life. Meter jumped all the way to the right (20) and then settled down gradually to around "5". This alarmed me because I thought it would be close to 14 but then I remembered that "around 14" was the reading at the battery with the VOM meter if the alternator was charging. When I checked that reading it was indeed about 14 volts.
Tractor is running currently and it is too soon to tell if it will run better but it seems to be.
This sounds like a positive result to me! Appreciate the massive effort you guys put in helping me. Now if anyone has an easy way to get a #10 AND the coil hot wire onto a quarter inch spade connection at the new switch I would love to hear it. I hates these big stiff wires! Would like to avoid that carburetor if at all possible and move on to the 2N now! Had the battery for it on charge all night but she is not taking it.

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Idaho Ron

08-04-2007 18:53:29




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 Re: Farmall B alternator in reply to Dave H (MI), 08-04-2007 07:50:39  
I turned on my lights and ran the battery down for about 10 minutes. When I started it it stayed on a higher charge until it charged the battery back up and went back to about 5 or so. I think everything is just fine. Ron



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Idaho Ron

08-04-2007 10:41:27




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 Re: Farmall B alternator in reply to Dave H (MI), 08-04-2007 07:50:39  
My SC is doing the same thing. I have a new Alternator, and battery on my SC. After I wired it up, and started it. I saw the ammeter went to 20. Then it would go down to about 12 or 14 I don't remember. Then I wired the lights in and everything has been fine, The lights are bright.
Now when I turn on the switch it shows discharge of about 10 or so like before. I hit the starter and she fires up great. The ammeter will go to 20 for a little while and then go to about 5 or so running half throttle or more. My multimeter is not digital, It is a needle. It says just a whisker over 12. Even when I turn the lights on it still stays the same. If I lower the RPM to WAY LOW. it will show a discharge on the tractor ammeter. Is my Ammeter off? Ron

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old

08-04-2007 09:25:58




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 Re: Farmall B alternator in reply to Dave H (MI), 08-04-2007 07:50:39  
Thats why they make a number of sizes of connectors. Yellow for the bigger stuff blue and red for the smaller stuff. Red is the smallest blue in between and yellow if for #10 and bigger, they also make others but those are what I keep on hand all the time. As the other guy says the only one that needs to be #10 is the one from the big post the others can be #12 or #14 I use either one depending on what I have at the time. The diodes I told you about are 6amp jobs so if you find that 3 amp blows you will know what will work to replace it. I also don't solder any thing I use the crimp on connectors and so far never had any problems and I've done 25 plus conversions

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Dave H (MI)

08-04-2007 09:37:52




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 Re: Farmall B alternator in reply to old, 08-04-2007 09:25:58  
Hi Rich! Hey...just another foolish question...how will I know if my diode "blows"?



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old

08-04-2007 09:54:24




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 Re: Farmall B alternator in reply to Dave H (MI), 08-04-2007 09:37:52  
Your system will stop working. Think of a diode as a check valve for zap-u-trons and when they blow they are an open circuit. If you would hook a meter to a new diode you will find you get an open hooked up one and and a short hooked up the other way so theres the check valve lets zap-u-tron flow only one way and thats why it works to excite the alternator but not let the alternator back feed to coil

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Janicholson

08-04-2007 08:07:48




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 Re: Farmall B alternator in reply to Dave H (MI), 08-04-2007 07:50:39  
Well it is great that we are moving in the correct direction. The wire sizes are an issue. The wire from the big alternator stud is the only big one #10. It should go from the big stud directly to the non battery side of the amp meter. That should be a ring terminal on both ends. The wire from the spade terminal should be 14 gauge, and two of them can connect to one terminal with a spade terminal that adds a second male spade (they are at NAPA etc. and help putting two terminals on one spade) JimN

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Dave H (MI)

08-04-2007 09:51:17




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 Re: Farmall B alternator in reply to Janicholson, 08-04-2007 08:07:48  
Well I'm glad I didn't stick it all back together yet. I thought I was supposed to put a #10 wire to the side terminal and take it to the non hot side of the switch and put a diode in it. A smaller wire would have been a LOT easier. The post on the back of the alternator already had a wire on it and it isn't any #10 wire judging from my eye and the blue connectors. So I should grab some smaller wire and redo my diode wire (should have asked twice on this cause it made no sense to have that big wire for a little excitation current!) and then move my #10 wire to the big post (losing the diode) and THEN I should be OK???
Man, can I mix things up!!!

Now, about this ammeter. It shows a solid static discharge. It jumps to 20 amps at startup. It then trickles down to about 3 amps. Doesn't bother me 'cause I have 14.5 volts at the battery posts BUT, ya know, the ammeter SAYS it should read about that much on it's face and it does nag at my mind a little. Is the ammeter just broke or what do you think? Am I getting enough to charge my battery?

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Owen Aaland

08-04-2007 13:09:35




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 Re: Farmall B alternator in reply to Dave H (MI), 08-04-2007 09:51:17  
If your ammeter does NOT drop down to a few amps after running a little bit you have a battery or wiring problem. If it were to stay that high with a good battery you would soon boil the water out of it. What the meter is reflecting it the amount of amps going to the battery to recharge it after starting the engine. The ignition system and lights are getting power from the alternator and so no power is going through the ammeter to those things unless the alternator output drops so low that it can not keep up. They will then draw power from the battery and show a discharge.

Ammeters have been mostly replaces with voltmeters on equipment built in the last 30 years or so. A voltmeter will better show what the alternator is doing since if the voltage stays around 14.5 the alternator is producing enough amperage for the system. A drop in voltage means that the system is not able to meet all the demand that is being placed on it.

If the alternator was able to produce only enough to maintain the voltage at 12.8 volts a ammeter would not show discharge since the voltage would still be above battery voltage, but the battery would end up going dead because there would not be enough voltage to recharge it after starting the engine. A voltmeter would show this low voltage problem.

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Janicholson

08-04-2007 08:13:43




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 Re: Farmall B alternator in reply to Janicholson, 08-04-2007 08:07:48  
I just thaougt of another possible solution. Take the 14 ga wire with the diode in it and connect it to the coil at the positive terminal. That would allow the system to work correctly, and save wire in the box. (you stated that the coil has no ballast resistor and needs none if I remember correctly) If it has a Ballast resistor this wire I am discussing goes on the key side, not the coil side of that resistor. JimN

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