1955 to 1962 Voltage Regulator Bench Tests

[Richard M.]

Pictures for now, will update details later. Some of it is self explanatory in photo sequence. The one with the chrome cover is bad and caused generator to go to max output, ie stuck on. The one with the black cover, and the 2 others, tested fine.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1955 to 1962 Voltage Regulator Bench Tests

Late yesterday I did a generator "motor" test with belt removed and it does spin but not very fast. I didn't have a ammeter to do a thorough load test but I think it would fail.



I installed the new VR. Reconnected the drive belt and ran up the engine(started right up!) and generator output is 19 volts. Not good. It appears the defective VR also caused the generator to fail. It has a low grade short between the Field and ground, on the order of about 4 ohms. I suspect the armature has a internal short in some of its windings, not a dead short, but one that still lets it run in "motor" mode but not to spec. I need to open it up and also check commutator segments for carbon build up, but I think it's the armature. I tested the harness for shorts to ground and power and all is fine.

This exact same scenario happened to my '59 charging system years ago. The VR stuck on, generator overcharged to high voltage, and fried the armature and the generator harness melted. I'm lucky it didn't explode the battery.

I have several spare armatures so we should be able to keep the original "blue" generator. I'll bring my Growler with me this morning to test the suspect armature and pre-test my spares. Will update later.

[Joe R.]

Re: 1955 to 1962 Voltage Regulator Bench Tests

Rich,

It was the blue paint that screwed up the Generator!

Yuk Yuk!

JR

[Richard M.]

Re: 1955 to 1962 Voltage Regulator Bench Tests

JR, you are correct. We painted it black and it now works fine! LOL

Actually, just fixed it. Bad armature. Going back in the car right now.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1955 to 1962 Voltage Regulator Bench Tests

All set yesterday afternoon. Charging fine now. We had another 001 regulator and just swapped the chrome cover to it. At 1050 RPM, we get 13.8 volts. Higher RPM a little higher, but never over 14v.

Also had to replace a few bulbs that burned out due to the high charge voltage when the VR failed and generator armature failed. The courtesy bulbs, and the tail lamp on the left side. That one took a little longer than normal....