Packard Forum Index » General

Got it dropped and it was jammed over the stop…I tweeted it a little but the needle is pretty bowed…it works now and if it does get stuck I can tap the glass and it falls right back…I have no idea how it ever got over the stop tab! But thanks for all the help…took it for another decent ride and it ran and charged great….much different though starting it with a 6 volt compared to the 12 volt…it almost sounds like the battery is dying when pushing start button but it fires up in seconds

Sounds like it had been running the 6v starter on 12v which is a very bad idea that can cause serious damage. However as long as your battery cables are 00 Awg you’ll be fine. That was something I didn’t know at first as a teenager in the ‘60s so always had slow cranking on my 1939, 1940 and 1941 Packards but what a difference the proper cables made!

Yeah, on my (12V) car the battery cable is a bit corroded on the negative side (and/or is undersized) so it actually heats up to the point of smoking if I crank for, oh, 5 seconds. That would never be acceptable on a 6V car but on 12V it fires right off.

Just a point...If your cable is getting hot with short cranks, change it asap...fire can result...Ernie in Arizona

Well you may be right I just took it out for 30 minutes..the ammeter is reading that I’m charging battery but when I got back I waited 30 minutes now it’s dead?. Voltmeter says battery is at 5.8 to 5.9 but barely even a turn from starter..so I don’t know what’s going on now! What now!! Help please…

Well yeah 5.8 is a dead 6V battery. Full charge is 6.4V.

Did you leave the key in Acc? Did you connect the battery positive or negative ground?

Cables in correct..I will test generator and regulator tomorrow..the only thing I did today was drop the ammeter to fix stuck needle..I did have to disconnect and reconnect both cables at ammeter and are secure..I did not polarize again after fixing the ammeters .. could that be an issue?

It is positive ground…

You could repolarize again. It will not hurt anything and may do some good.

If your voltmeter is reading correctly, with the numbers you reported in your first post in this thread I would wonder if the generator is actually charging or if the regulator is adjusted properly. Standing battery voltage for a charged battery at rest should be 6.3 volts across the battery terminals. When the engine is at fast idle or greater, if the generator is charging and regulator is adjusted properly the voltage produced is generally about 1 volt higher than standing battery voltage so I would expect you would be reading at least 7v and maybe a bit more instead of the 6.6 you reported..

A simple way to test generator or regulator is to momentarily short a terminal to ground. Note that in a working generator this will bypass the regulator and cause the voltage to jump higher by a few volts so try not to have any bulbs lit or accessories turned on when doing the test.

To do the test have the volt meter connected across the battery terminals to read the battery voltage before and during the test. Start the engine and run it at fast idle, then use a small jumper wire to MOMENTARILY short the F terminal on the regulator to ground. Make sure it is the F or FIELD terminal you are shorting. That should immediately cause the generator to go to full output and you should see the battery voltage jump up at least 2 or 3 volts. Only keep the terminal shorted long enough to read the meter. If voltage jumps up the generator is working but if there are still charging issues then the regulator is suspect. If there was no change when shorting at the regulator you could move the test jumper to the FIELD terminal on the generator and short again to rule out a wire issue. If still no change then the generator is suspect.

Ok thank you .. I will do all the tests in am and report back! Appreciate all the info