C charging

I still csant get my C to charge over 10A hookied up to the VR. If I ground the F it will charge 20 to 25A. I cleaned the F relay contact but it did not help. WHen you increase the rpm the A meter will flucatiate back and forth.It is a 3 bruch gen with a 2 coil VR. Is there anyway a 3 coil vr can be made to work on this unit?

Thank you

If the battery is in decent shape that 10 amps may be allllllll she is supposed to charge at because the VR is doing its job??? Now, if after a long cranked start when the battery has been discharged Id expcet a higher amp charge for a while at least but then she ought to back down. What Im saying is if she charges at a higher (then 10 amps) rate right after start up and she keeps the battery charged it may be okay???

As far as other maintenance, you may wanna insure the VR has a good ground itslef and remove n clean n check the VR conenctions especially the wire from FLD on VR to the Gennys FLD post.

Thay made both 2 and 3 coil VR's but I have no specs as far as what IHC used. If the ground n VR connections are all good yet she never exceeds 10 amps despite a weak battery, the air gap and/or spring tension adjustments on the VR Field control relay may need adjusting. Still if she keeps the battery up I wouldnt be too worried just yet before you try to adjust the relay i.e. if shes not broke dont fix it. Jim or Bob M may have guidance as far as VR adjustments I dont have any.....

That jumpy ammeter may be cuz the gennys commutator is gunked up (try n clean it) or the mica insulatior segments need undercut or the brushes are worn down short or the brush hold down springys are sticking or else the VR's relay contacts are burned/carboned......

John T

As John T notes it could be the battery is fully charged and the VR is simply doing it's job - ie. there is no problem.

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For those old 6 volt electrics a 3 element regulator offers no significant advantage over the OEM style 2 element unit. (The 2 element unit simply combines the voltage and current regulating functions into a single relay.)

Also it's highly likely a 3 element 6 volt regulator you find will have a higher current limit than the OEM 2 element unit - ie. retrofitting one to your C may risk burning out the generator.

My suggestion: If the battery stays up don't worry about it. Or take a voltmeter reading across the battery posts after the engine has run several minutes at full RPM. A voltage of 7.0 - 7.5 says everything is OK.

10 amp is about all them old gennys were supposed to put out.