M not charging.

I have tried everything. I just had the generator tested, perfect. I have a new voltage regulator. I have a new wiring harness and the amp meter is hooked up correctly. I copied John T's list and took it to the farm as a guide. FRUSTRATED to the max. It has to be really simple but I can't figure it out. I am not a good electrician. please help me Thanks, Ellis

What is the voltage across the battery with engine running and without?
Does the ammeter show discharge with lights on? Is the generator belt tight. Maybe try polarizing the voltage regulator. It involves touching two of the leads on the regulator(and I don't remember which two)with engine off.

i fought with my h over charging issues. janicholson helped me figure it out. on the studs on the genny, there is a f terminal and the a terminal. the insulation was cracked around one of the terminals, and then it was put on the tractor and tightened up, it would ground out and not charge. cant remember the whole proceedure, but you would isolate the brushes with slips of paper than use a continunity tester between the posts on the terminals and the chassis of the genny. maybe jim will jump in on this and explain it better.

Step one is to polarize the generator (not the regulator). This is done with the tractor off. with things connected as the diagram, use a piece of copper wire (#12 solid is good) and jump between the regulator Bat terminal and the Arm terminal for one second. This bypasses the regulator and will spark some.
If it is still not charging, clean the mounting bracket and attachment of the regulator. It must be an excellent ground.
If no charge, use that jumper wire to ground the field terminal on the gen. Run it at 3/4 throttle and see if it charges. If not make sure the gauge is working when the lights are on, or the Ign switch is pulled. If not, the gauge may be stuck.
Get back to us with answers to these efforts Jim

Make sure you check all your grounds. Generator and regulator housings should be grounded. I've spent alot of time and money over a bad ground before. Good luck

Ellis,
What battery are you using? 6, 8 or 12 volt? I went down the exact same path your are travelling now. The ground on the voltage regulator has got be be good. Janicholson also pointed me down the right trail in putting in a 6 V battery and removing the 8. H charges as it should now.

i kinda just went down this path with my H.

came with a newish, non working junky chinese regulator.

I dinked with it and cleaned up the contacts and had to tweak them to make them strike correctly, and rigged up a tickle switch while waiting for parts...

I got one at napa that was worse.. and didn't work.

finally got one at car quest that works ok.

if you can ground the field and make the ammeter show charge.. it's simply a regualtor field circuit issue...

if that works.. get back with us.

if not, then pull the belt off and motor test the geny.. if it motors, then it should charge.

get back to us for a detailed set of tests to bypass the cutout and field..

soundguy

You don't polarize the regulator. You polarize the generator. Battery to armature.

Thanks for all the comments. I won't be back to the farm for about 1 week so don't feel like I am ignoring the replys. I will print this and take it with me. I will respond when I have tried these suggestions. Thanks, Ellis

Ellis: Had the same problem with my M. Fixed it by ensuring that there was a good ground between the light switch box and the cover. Apparently the two bolts holding on the cover were paint covered or corroded and were not providing sufficient grounding.

I've been down this road, too. Everybody's advice sure can help. I'll add one thing, and this very comment helped a friend with his super M: Don't assume a new regulator is any good. I've beat my head against the wall trying things just to end up with a bad regulator. I'm just saying that these indian made regulators are not always right. At NAPA, you can request the american made version. It is $100 to the indian made $40, but it was the solution for my friend's super M when he was having problems. It also would have been the answer for a Ferguson I re-wired for a friend, but the guy wanted to be done spending money and it was charging well enough, just not the way I wanted it to. If you've got everything else right, and you know it is, and everything you do points to a POS regulator, it may very well be bad even though it is brand new. -Andy

If you dont have one get a meter so you can check for ground the whole system needs a ground even the sw on the steering post. Then check the voltage on the batt terminal on the reg then when the engine is running check the voltage on the A term. You do have the gen A term going to the GEN term on the reg and same with Field on gen going to Field on reg. Try simple test when the engine is running ground the field if that shows charge the reg is bad and if it doesent show charge the gen isnt working

This agrees a lot with my friend professor Jim (janicholson) but heres my inpit FWIW

1) If the genny tested good its likely okay

2) The new VR is likely okay

3) THERES A GOOD CHANCE IF THE GENNY WAS TESTED IT MAY NOW BE POLARIZED AT NEG GROUND SO I WOULD RE POLARIZE IT AT YOUR TRACTORS GROUND JUST IN CASE ITS OPPOSITE (see how to in my procedure)

4) Make surt the VR has a good ground, or even run a jumper wire from the batterys grounded post direct to the VR metal

5) Also make sure the genny has a good ground???

6) POlarize the genny (before starting),,,,,insure VR and genny grounds,,,,,,,,,put voltmeter on battery and read voltage (6.3 if 6 volt 12.6 if 12 volt),,,,,,,,,,,start her up and at fast RPM the battery voltage should increase if shes charging to 6.5 to 7 on a 6 volt or 13 to 14 on a 12 volt DOES IT?????????????? If so shes charging regardless if ammeter works or not.

7) If no charge temporarily jump the gennys FLD post to ground see if it charges then?? If so but NOT otherwise the VR is bad or not grounded or teh wires bad from FLD on VR to gennys FLD post

MAKE SURE ALL IS WIRED CORRECT?????? It may not be wired right

If its wired right??????????? Polarized right???????VR and genny well grounded????????? run my Troubleshooting procedure below

I may be down a WHILE Im replacing my hard drive today or tomorrow

John T
John Ts Troubleshooting

(quoted from post at 20:35:49 02/02/12) You don't polarize the regulator. You polarize the generator. Battery to armature.

Click to expand...

Actually, you polarize the whole system.

(reply to post at 20:33:17 02/02/12)

Click to expand...

It's not been covered yet so I'll offer it. Are you sure the battery will hold the charge? Test by charging over night on a charger, then leave it till the next day and check the voltage. If it takes AND holds charge, then there is a fault probably in the wiring.

My H would charge like made but not hold one in the battery all week, but off the tractor it held just fine. Turned out the wire going to the gauge was leaking voltage due to cracked insulation on it. Very tiny crack at that, actually had to take it off tractor and bend it to see it. Used a multimeter to ohm out all the wiring and finally noticed a difference in readings on that one wire from one test to the next. Replaced wire, problem solved.

Was glad that my Dad is a retired electrician!