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Dear Steve:

New regulators are available (Standard VR-8, and others like Napa). However, supplies are dwindling due to the decline of USA economic health. Let's look at how the system works.

The generator harness has three wires - Field, Armature, Ground. You can make up a new harness with wire from Napa and black tape. The field and armature wires go directly to the regulator. The ground wire ends up at a junction block, but you might as well send that to the regulator as well. Lastly, on your car the battery post on the regulator goes directly to the starter. You should include that in the generator harness by creative taping. You can also buy a partial from one of the RI suppliers by asking for the generator harness only.

I once got a kick out of taking a pair of wire cutters and amputating a defective generator harness in front of a visitor and throwing it over my shoulder. Then I ripped out the distributor wires and did the same thing. They thought I was mad.

Anyway, next let's look at the Generator Light. It gets power from the ignition switch and grounds through the generator. If the generator is charging there is no ground path and it goes out. If the wire is shorted it will come on even when the generator is charging and the generator will be shorted as well. Not good.

You can run a new one of these from the armature post on the regulator to the light on the dash.

Also, I would invest in a disconnect switch because in reality the car is trying to catch on fire.

Hope this helps.

WOW Thank You ,Lots of good feedback ,Im Taking the car to a diagnostic guy who only does old cars in the am ;the charging system is the last thing before becomming my commuter car .Ill need to tell him to make sure the wire from the ignition switch to the battery light isnt shorted

\ ,One thing I learned in everybodys comments ;I didnt know one had to polarize the generator!! ... the voltage regulator comes with intructions in the box that says to polarize it with a little u shaped piece between 2 of the terminals but

I didnt know about the generator ,andd yes each time I get one id bolted it in adjusted the belt and fired up the car ,maby Ive been running off the battery the whole time and never had a charging system working !charge it up run a couple of hundred miles and then it goes dead ,not too much actual driving miles during the restoration How do I polarise a generator ??\
My cables are from the Max Merrit guys and are the correct gage ,The battery is a interstate and not too old but the car has sat from time to time and maby its sulfurated or theres an internal shortor resistance in one of the cells so itll hold a charge but act funny ,so Im suspicious of a battery problem that isnt obvious are the available voltage regulators set up for positive ground and 6 v ?
Im not smart enough to do all of the adjustments of a voltage regulator so if its not right as it comes out of the box im out of luck

One other possibility is covered at Delco Remy Tech Bulletin but it seems unlikely you would have had this 'shorted wire' problem in several generators.

Looks like most things covered Steve, and I think the polarisation of the generator would have to be a very likely cause of your problems. Let us know when you get it sorted.

The knowlegable mechanic said that when one depolarizes the voltage regulator its the same thing as depolarizing the gennie .He took the gennerator to the shop and turns out on dissambly it was a faulty rebuild ,new brushes and pain but everything else was shot inside ,I was running off a charged and recharged battery this whole time ,bad on max merrit for selling me an incompletely rebuilt rebuilt repeatedly ,the last one had a bad rotor that fell apart and the one before that was a baddie too !
Now to find out if the bad component overtaxed the voltage regular or battery when itwas in from too many charge discharge cycles or low voltage high ampand heat issues .
I have a modern belt .I think the old timey belts were bigger and weren't torqued so tightly ,maby me and my small modern belt did the damage .there was a shiney ring insode the generators pulley where I had possibley overtightened the belt .It says in the manual not to use a bar but the be
lt would slip when I turned on the lights
Any belt wisdom?
I had discussed a 12 v conversion with the mechanic but he said that was a new harness and id just put one in so forget it

Quote from previous post:
"The knowlegable mechanic said that when one depolarizes the voltage regulator its the same thing as depolarizing the gennie ..."

Note that the mechanic said DEpolarize. I'm not sure what he means. What is the process to DEpolarize the regulator and gen?????

As i understand it, it is the GENERATOR that requires polarization IF it has been DISassembled as in armature removed. However, just to be safe, i always "polarize the regulator" if the regulator has been replaced regardless of any action taken or not taken on the gen.

I'm curiuos as to why u bought so many generators from parts supply houses when u had a good mechanic available to do the rebuild.

quote:
"I had discussed a 12 v conversion with the mechanic but he said that was a new harness and id just put one in so forget it"

I'm not sure why that is. The 6v harness should be just fine for the 12v. If converting from 12v to 6v then wireing harness MITE be an issue. 6v requires heavier wire than 12v.

I would be a bit concerned that he thinks going to 12v requires a new harness. 12v is typically 1/2 the amperage, which means SMALLER wires that a 6v harness. A 6v harness can handle a 12v system. Just not the other way around.

Hello ,I meant repolarize the generator ,thank you ! how does one repolarize a generator? The mechanic I had before I movedto california wouldnt look inside a generator ,He would ask me to get another rebuilt ,I started getting the rebuilts and instaling them myself as its not too tougha job ,but with some tricks ! like the re polarization issue and the belt issue and the voltage regulator issue
,When I moved out west the generator had been replaced yet again , and started doing funny things i.e. light for the battery going on at at speed or sometimes when parked ,this is when I started seeking advice on your excellent site.I found an old car specializing fellow who would do the diagnostics on the car ,where most guys wont .He said its an internal problem with the generator that was spoted on the bench at a good generator shop that will mess with a 6v positive ground piece of equipment .I ve learned a lot from the posts
is there a piece that fits between the rear bumper and the supports? or behind the supports ? Ive removed the bumper for a rechrome and one spot had a bumper bolt ,castle nut and then a flat piece of metal that conformed to the bumper I wonder if I was supposed to have one on all six attachment spots ,its A 52

battery driving was the clue ,The generator turned out to be completly shot inside ,machanic noting that the rebuilders said the inside looked 20 yr old even though it had been recantly rebuilt .So I was probably driving on the battery charge with a generator that never worked .Now the engine ran smooth and had good power but then I had problems with the car at highr rpms .stuttered .The coild it turns out was wired backward with t6he neg pole goig to the distributer rather than the positive like it should be on a positive ground car ,am looking for other problems .
I wonder if the pulley on the generator or water pump are the wrong size spinning the gennerator too fast and blowing them out?