Re: Power to the People (Part 2)

Posted by Ken Sadler On 2011/4/8 2:44:22

Thanks guys for your valuable insights.

I am slowly learning the finer details of the 3 brush dynamo (infact I get it 100%) and the regulator/cut out (about 60%).

It is sometimes confusing as there is a lot of seemingly authoritative advice on the interwebs which is actually not properly thought out or just plain wrong. Commonly terms are confused - current / charge / volts / field / induction / amps etc seem, to some people, to be freely interchangable!

(Dont worry - I know exactly what each one means unlike some so-called experts)


Now - back to the saga.

This morning I;

1 removed the relay

2 connected voltmeter between the +ve output on the generator and the +ve terminal on the battery (+ve grounded!) - 0 volts

3 Started the engine 0 volts

4 Connected the field wire on the generator to the -ve battery terminal with a jump lead - 14 volts !!

5 Increased revs from tickover - 19 volts !!

So the good news is that the generator is working very well indeed. I was confused as to why the voltage was so high but I have now seen OD's post regarding the lack of load from the battery. This was of course connected but the flying lead from the ammeter to the relay was not, hence no current was able to flow to the battery.

So step 1 complete!

I now have to turn my attention to the Bosch regulator / cut out I have. I'll take a look at the one on Ebay as an alternative but there is no reason at all why the one I have should not work - its specification is all but identical to the factory original.

More to follow but, in the meantime, thanks again for your advice.