What the heck???

I was doing some re-wiring on one of my H Farmalls this afternoon.

It all started when the tractor kept running the battery down. I traced that to the points being stuck together in the voltage regulator. I ran some fine sandpaper through the points and that seemed to fix it, but the wiring was horrible with some bare areas. Hence my project this afternoon. I decided to rewire the whole thing, except for a couple blue wires by the regulator that someone replaced recently.

This is a 1941 H with the regulator on the generator.

Here's what stumped me. The regulator has three posts, and in the photo the oldest wire, bottom left with the tape on it, goes all the way back, and was simply taped off inside the ammeter box. I thought, "what the heck?"

So where is this wire supposed to go? I printed out several diagrams off the 'Net, so I'll play with it some more tomorrow. Since I bought this tractor several years ago, the ammeter has never really shown a charge, but on the other hand it's never shown a discharge or run the battery down. (Until the points stuck in the regulator).

I have another H, but it's a '51 with the regulator back by the starter.

Just rewire the thing with new wire, soldered connectors and heat shrink. Not many wires on an old tractor.

A schematic would help but I wonder if the long blue wire is wrong. I have doubts if both connections on the generator go to the regulator.

Two wires off that lower post looks wrong somehow. 41 so I'm assuming it's 6 volt. Which post is which? Armature and Field.

That's what I'm doing.

That is a cutout relay not a voltage regulator. The blue wire (looking newer) is the field connection, the older blue wire under it is the armature connection, the red wire connected in back is going to the ammeter. (or battery if the ammeter is disconnected). The old cutouts have a wire wound resistor under the bottom that provides a low level of constant charge rate, by providing a ground for the field (which gets its voltage in the inside of the generator, and is grounded to make it operate.
If you disconnect the red wire, it should show 6v on the wire, and nothing on the terminal it was connected to. The red wire should be a #10 gauge if it is not. The taped up wire should be removed. This tractor was probably purchased without lights. It is simple and worked OK for the time it was made. If you want to have it regulator controlled, let us know and we can make it work a little more in the modern direction. Jim

Thanks, Jim!

Sounds like you nailed it. What you're saying matches a wiring diagram I pulled off the 'Net for a tractor without lights. I did use 10 gauge wire to the ammeter.

This tractor didn't have lights on it when I bought it, nor are there any remnants of wiring that would have gone to lights, so maybe it never did have any, even though the bar is there. Right now, I don't see any need to put lights on it for what I use it for, mainly pulling a field sprayer and running a log splitter.

The old wiring was so bad, half the insulation fell off when I removed it.

here is a copy of the original wiring for a 41 H, courtesy of Farmall Bob. If it is still the original cutout, the F terminal was only used on stationary engines, because on a tractor with headlights the light switch controlled the charging.

Thanks!

That matches one I pulled up off the 'Net. Looks like we're all on the same page.