Packard Forum Index » General

Don I have electrical experience. IF you send me your details of what you have so far I can give you my thoughts on it and hopefully suggest some options.

For many years ive been finding a modern compatible VR and mounting/hiding it in the frame. Run dumping wires to the Period VR. Run the working wires to the modern.

Had cars go to PEBBLE done this way and they have never picked it up.

Do those people at "rabble Beach" know what they are looking at? That scene is like something out F. Scott Fitzgerald's worst nightmares.

Interesting idea but not what I'm looking for! None of my cars will ever be Pebble Beach quality or anything even remotely close to it but they do need to look authentic in anything I do so I'm not looking for a replacement to the regulator but rather an internal retrofit for it. Thank you for the thought, though.

It looks like I may have a working schematic so now it’s a matter of trying to build it to fit inside a standard housing. Currently (no pun intended) I have a 1951-1954 Delco-Remy regulator as a sample for fit and testing but would like to get an Autolite too and spread out to 1956 and prior to postwar 1951 to be sure it is sized to fit as many as possible. The design is made to be 6v/12v and positive/negative ground selectable.

I visited Mike at Tucson Packard today and got a couple 1956 cores for reference. One is Autolite for the Clipper and Packard Executive; the other is Delco-Remy for the rest of the Packard line.

I am not clear what it is in a mechanical regulator that would determine whether positive and negative ground! No diodes or anything polarity-specific so can anyone clarify? Of course, the capacitor might be polarity-specific but it’s external.

Attach file:

---

  4107E07B-CCB4-4AA3-9593-E2C5068A171A.jpeg (158.12 KB)

Quote:

You have asked the question that has been asked by many others for quite some time. There is nothing specific mentioned in literature that anyone has found or referred to so far and there does not appear to be any visual difference as far as components and layout in the regulators. About the only thing anyone has come up with that makes any sense is the material the contacts are made with is different on one side of a set of contacts.

When the heavier arcs that weld and pit and do most damage occurs on a contact it is usually made when the contact breaks and arc will want to jump in a specific direction according to polarity. It has been speculated that a harder material is used on the side of the contact where the arc will do the most damage. The harder material is less likely to melt so will tend to prevent excessive pitting so that would mean the fixed contact on one polarity regulator might have hard material and the movable contact on the other polarity.

Again, this is speculation only without benefit of a manufacturer specifically stating this is the case so take it with the proverbial grain of salt -- or maybe a shaker full. If anyone does come across something official it would be nice to know for sure so we can put this question to rest.

Although I have always wondered this very question and have read a few things here and elsewhere about it, it came up now because a new replacement Delco 6v mechanical regulator that I recently bought is polarity non-specific while the old 12v Autolite that I bought today is clearly stamped with Negative Ground.

On a NON solid state regulator, I would expect that you could swap from negative to positive ground configuration by swapping the Arm and Field wires. But don't quote me on that.

EDIT: See Howard's comment (first on next page).

Interesting but not sure it would do anything as those terminals each service a specific purpose. Howard’s thought makes the most sense but as he said, it is more urban myth than anything and I am sure that in making contact points, it would be cheaper to make them the same than to make one side different.

On the solid state regulator, the plan is to isolate the board, then switch between ground and positive as to which goes to the BAT connection. The problem so far is to find a small switch that is capable of handing the amperage.