? for John M or Janicholson

I appreciate all the info you guys have given me; I assure you I am no electrician. At present I have the front and rear lights wired to the switch. I have a fused wired from the ammeter to the switch. Does it matter which post I use on the ammeter? Currently using the one on the right as viewed from the back. With the switch in the L position and tractor running the ammeter reads 0. One click to H and the front lights come on dim and the ammeter shows discharge. IS THIS CORRECT? I thought at the H position the ammeter would show High charge and the lights would remain off. Another click to D should turn the lights on dim but they go from dim to BRIGHT. Another click to B the front lights stay Bright and the rear light comes on. Ammeter showing discharge at all times any lights are on. Seems like something is still wrong. Should the lights come on in three postions of the switch H D and B? What happened to High charge? Should I replace the four position light switch with a three position switch? I hope I can leave you guys alone after this, I'm sure you are tired of dealing with my problem. I need straight forward answers as I am no good at reading schematics or understanding alot of the terminology. Please note that I ask several different questions in this post. I am a novice at best. Thank you very much for your time and patience!!!!

Im by no means an electrician or expert, but...and someone correct me if Im worng, On a 4 position switch, you have L,H,D,B. L would be low charge, like around 4 - 6 amps, H wouls be High Charege - 10 - 20 amps. On B or D which is Bright and Dim, youre still running in High Charge, this is a Cutout switch, not a regulator switch. On a 3 postion, all you have is O,D,B, Off, Low and Bright. This is a regualtor switch, since the regualtor controls the batery charge, not the switch. You can use a 4 position switch with a regualtor, but all you need to worry about is the lights, not anything with the regulator. You need to run a wire from the "non battery" side of your amp gauge to the light switch, then from theswitch to your lights. Shoot me an email, Ill try and get you some pics of how mine is wired up on my Cub and it will help you I think.

What do you mean by the non battery side of the ammeter? Currently I have an in line fuse/wire going from the right post of the ammeter as viewed form the back. I ran it this morning and with the lights on a get a DRASTIC discharge.

Okay according to the cub operators manual the right side post on the ammeter as viewed from the back is the battery side (the side wired to the B post of the regulator). The post on the left side is the "Starting switch to ammeter cable". This is how mine is wired. However I did have the wire going to the "battery in" post on the light switch wired to the battery side of the ammeter, so I took your advise and moved it to the non battery side. This is what I get-L no lights ammeter reads 0. H front lights are dim NOW the ammeter remains at 0. D front lights are bright but should be dim and ammeter reads 0. B Front light are bright and back light comes on BUT ammeter still reads 0. The ammeter is the original, do you think all this messing around has damaged the ammeter?

You just moved the wire from the right side of the ammeter to the wrong side of the ammeter.

Some of your wiring problem is evidently that you do not have a (L H D B) switch but a (O D B R) stitch.

You just hit on something that no one else has. I will call Steiner tomorrow and see what they sold me. The thing came in a box with a schematic and that was it. Their catalogue doesn't differenciate between the two and makes no mention of the type you mentioned. With that being said and if it is the type switch you mentioned, with the wire moved back to the right side of the ammeter should I be getting a DRAMATIC discharge anytime the lights are on? And does this do away with the High Charge? because that is what happens?

If you have a full regulator(as your posts have indicated), you have no need for the Low and High switch, a simple Off is sufficient. You don't need the R position unless you have a combination rear light with 2 leads (evidently you don't). So a 3 position switch is all you need. You can ignore the 4th position.

I'm not sure what you mean by "dramatic". If the engine isn't running, or is just idling, turning on the lights will cause close to 10 amps of discharge. If the engine is running roughly 2/3 speed or more, the generator should put out enough power to run the lights and prevent discharge.

I appreciate your input it has been a big help. What i meant by "dramatic" is the ammeter shows a discharge of 10 to 12 amps with the lights on in any configuration. I thought that to be excessive but apparently not. Even with the lights off the amp never goes past 0 to the positive side even at nearly full throttle. You are correct I do not have a combination rear light only a one wire job. However it doesn't come on until the fourth position. I think what I am going to do is order a three postion switch and put this puppy to bed. Thanks for all of you advise.

Sorry, Im not John M or Jim but until they arrive this may help,

The Ammeter has two terminals. Lets call one the SUPPLY SIDE (to Battery only) and the other the LOAD SIDE (to loads like lights PLUS BAT terminal on VR or Cutout relay).

Theres only one wire on the Suppy Side, that gets to the hot ungrounded battery post, often via a wire to where the big battery cable attaches to a starter switch or solenoid.

The ammeters other Load Side feeds hot battery voltage to lights and ignition PLUS wires to the BAT terminal on a Voltage Regulator or Cutout Relay, i.e. loads PLUS the gennys output (via the BAT terminal on VR or Relay) MUST WIRE TO THE SAME AMMETER TERMINAL AND NOTTTTTT THE ONE THAT WIRES TO THE BATTERY/STARTER.

If the ammeter is wired correct, if you turn on lights or ignition engine not running, it should swing over to - discharge. If it instead swings to + charge, the ammeter is backwards and needs the leads swapped but stilllllllll only one wire on the Supply side to battery/starter and 2 or more on the Load side, loads PLUS the BAT terminal on VR or Relay

LHBD that switch is for use with a Cutout Relay charging system where the gennys FLD post wires to the light switch to regulate Low versus High charge.........If you have instead a full fledged Voltage Regulator the light switch (3 position, lights on bright or dim) has nothing to do with charge regulation, the VR performs that function and the gennys FLD wires to the VR not the light switch

On a Cutout Relay system (gennys FLD wires to light switch) and LHBD switch, in L position she should charge a few amps at fast idle or full RPM..........In H position she should still charge but even higher then at L........If you go to B or D she should still charge, but not as high since the lights rob some of the current

Got it????????????????

John T

You are correct I do not have a combination rear light only a one wire job. However it doesn't come on until the fourth position.

Click to expand...

I don't remember which thread had your switch diagram to go check it. However, your switch probably has one terminal marked TL and another marked RL. If so, your rear light is connected to one and nothing connected to the other. If you move the rear light wire to the currently unused one, your rear light will be on in the second and third positions, and off in the fourth.

Got it!!!! Great explanation for an electrical novice just as me. Thanks a bunch.

Hello 47H...
The switch you have is probably not even close to the correct device. I believe it may be, as John M indicates, a 4 position switch from a different application. You should get the three position switch. It has nothing to do with regulation, (which you do not need), and will make life simple.

Assuming new three position switch.
The regulator will have either three or four terminals on it. If it has three the F terminal connects directly to the Field (12ga wire, small terminal on the Gen.) The Arm terminal connects directly to the Arm terminal on the GEN (#10 wire, big terminal). The bat terminal connects to the load side of the amp gauge (as John T described correctly) With the battery hooked up, engine not running, touch a jumper between the Bat and Arm terminals on the regulator (this polarizes the generator) it will spark that is OK only hold it for one second.

It should now charge the battery correctly if it is taken to 2/3 throttle or more it should begin charging at 7.1 to 7.5 volts measured across the battery.

The light switch should have its supply from the fuse, and it from the load side of the amp gauge.

The O position Full CCW is off.
The D position (middle) is Dim.
The B position is bright.

The rear light should be bright when in D or B positions. If it does not charge, there is still something wrong, let us know!! Jim
The bat terminal h

If the Amp meter has an L terminal ignore it! Jim

I don't know if he got it, but I did. Right in the middle of doing that myself, appreciate the post.