B voltage regulator revisited

Back on Dec 2 I posted about the regulator on my B not charging and I asked about the reason for the ballast resistor bolted to the field terminal of the regulator. This afternoon I finally had a chance to fiddle with it. I removed the resistor and put the field wire from the genny straight on the field tab of the regulator with no results. It ended up the field points needed cleaning. That got it charging but only two or three amps like it always has in the past, never past three amps or so. This was with the resistor back on. The battery was a little low so it should have been putting out a few more amps than that, so I increased the spring pressure on the field points just a bit. That got it to putting out ten or a little more with the lights off. When I turned the lights on the needle went to zero but at least it didn't discharge. Dead grounding the field makes it peg the ammeter at 20 amps. I'm leaving it alone at that. It's ready to be tucked away for the winter. Oil is changed, zerks greased, fresh anti-freeze, what more could it want? LOL. Thanks for the suggestions you guys gave me in the first post.

Jim, you wanted a picture of the regulator with the top off and a pic of the 'resistor'. I didn't read your request till tonight after it was buttoned up. It's a regular looking two unit regulator and the resistor is approximately 5/16" in diameter and maybe 2" long with a long 6X32 thread bolt going through it from top to bottom. The bolt fastens it to the field tab on the regulator. The field wire from the genny bolts to a tab on the side of the resistor. I can see the wire wound around it under the plastic covering. Thanks again. Jim

Good to go as is. Thanks for the reply. I think the resistor could be a part of the limitation on voltage. So, if future issues haise their ugly heads, (and if the resistor is adjustable with that tab) it might be good the adjust the resistor shorter, or remove it. Jim

Place I used to work had an old Farmall H to push dead cars in the building, never ran over five minutes at a time and batt. always low. Installed a new reg. on it probably 10 years ago and it came as a kit to repl. the cutout. Had the 2 inch resistor and some wire and terminals, you repl. a wire, moved a wire or 2 and removed a short wire off the light switch I think.
Anyway it charged ok until a year ago, ground the field and charged good, threw the resistor in my tool box and tweaked the regulator a little and alls good.

Like you guys said, the resistor might be gone in the future. Time will tell. This tractor runs wide open for a couple hours at a time when it is used so I don't want the genny charging too hard. It already welded the voltage regulator points together once when I dead grounded the field and ran the engine wide open for a minute. OOPS! Jim

jim, i bought a new regulator some years back from my trusty case i-h dealer. the regulator was to replace an old cut out style and eliminate the low-high charge. it had the long resistor on the regulator, and the wiring instructions had you disconnect the resistor inside the lamp switch housing.

That is interesting in that a real voltage regulator will have a low charge resistor to ground for when the points (in the field circuit) are open this resistor is still in the circuit. Putting one in the field circuit in series with that would be rather wrong if it were still connected to the light switch. If not, what??? Jim

I ran out to the shop and got lucky taking a blind photo with the cell phone. This shows the resistor sticking up. Jim

That is a near nothing resistor. It is rated at one ohm and is adjustable. Which means that the collar with the terminal can be moved up and down the resistor to adjust the series resistance of the path to ground in the regulator. Because one ohm is near nothing, and because it id slid all the way to the bottom, that resistor is doing nothing. If you take it out of the circuit (disconnect one end) I bet it reads just a few tenths of an ohm. Taking it out will make no discernible difference. Jim

Really? It's covered with rubber. How do I slide the collar? Cut the rubber? If it's only 1 OHM then you're right in saying it's darned near worthless. Now I wonder about the REAL reason for that resistor being there. Jim

I don't know how it slides, but resistors of that style often have a section of the internal resistor wire exposed on one side with the band being a "wiper" that contacts the wires. Moving the band, changes the length of wire, changing the resistance.
Put a meter on it and see what it reads, It might have the bolt holding it down used as a conductor resulting in the bolt extending to the top, and the collar at the bottom (one Ohm) (just making mental noise because it is fun). Jim

Now you got me curious. I might pop the hood and take it off again to see if I can play with it. Jim

Did you follow the instructions that came with that reg. It is made to replace the cut-out on the 1101423,355 Delco Remy three brush gens and you no longer use the wire going from the field to the lite sw resistor. But the new wire is for the lite circut. I had one of those regs on a B that i sold later on and it worked OK. There was an article about those reg from the pres of the company who makes them in Red Power Magazine.Does your gen have the adjustable third brush if not you dont have the correct reg.

Yup, thats the same vr i got form the dealer.

Yes it's three brush and yes the light switch is re-wired. This regulator has worked moderately from the time I put it on maybe ten or so years ago till two years ago when the amperage finally dwindled down to nothing. It's working now since I cleaned the points and tightened the point tension just a bit. When dad was still active he put more hours on this tractor in the summer than I put on the field tractors. It's been a good little trooper. I put new Pistons and sleeves in it in 1975 and that's the last major work I've done to it. I bought the P&S for 5$ apiece!Jim

If you ground the field on the gen what does it charge. It should charge 10-15 amps then if not the gen is bad and probably needing refreshed bushings,bearings and brushes. just remember the reg does not charge the gen does.

Uh yes, I believe I stated it pegs the ammeter when I dead ground the field terminal.