An interesting phenomenom(sp?)

[Deleted User]

My generator checked out in great shape but while I had it off I discovered something interesting. Because I have always been losing charge I put the battery tender on once in awhile. The red light always stays on indicating the battery is always taking a charge. Not a good thing. While the generator was off I put the charge on to keep the battery up and the light was green indicating a full charge. I had the generator checked for shorts and it's okay so I must have a problem in the voltage regulator. I took the cover off and one set of points is open and two are closed. I'm thinking that is correct but I don't know for sure. The regulator was put on new last year. There are no adjustments in the regulator but it seems something must be closed that shouldn't be to keep a continous draw on the battery. Does anyone know the normal points status on the regulator?



Harry

[Deleted User]

The cut out relay is open which is probably what you see. The current regulator and the voltage regulator are closed.

[Deleted User]

Is that proper? If it is, what is causing the current problem? I'm starting to wonder if I have a short someplace, maybe it isn't the voltage regulator. My dome lights have never worked, the switch for the dome light in the driver door is missing, maybe it is actually inside the front panel and open causing an unseen drain on the battery. I think I have to polarize the regulator again since the generator has been off.



Harry

hudsontech

Harry, again I'll relate a problem I had with a 1969 Rambler, at the time about 25 years old. I had an idiot light that would glow all the time - sometimes bright, sometimes dim, but it was on most of the time. Battery never went down tho.



Finally after checking just about anything I could check and finding no answers, I took every electrical connector I could get a wrench, screw driver or whatever to apart and cleaned them. End of problem - a corroded connector can give you problems.



Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

HudsonTech

Memphis, TN

Unknown

Harry, with your ignition off, take your battery cable off the battery and measure with an anolog meter between your battery post and your cable. If you read any voltage you have something using power when it shouldn't be.

[Deleted User]

Alex, thank you, I will get busy cleaning connections. Most were corroded when I first got the car and I probably didn't get them all. That and after a year the ones I did clean can probably use another wire brushing. The guy at the generator shop told me to check and make sure the wires are on the regulator correctly. I would have sworn I had them on right but swearing just makes me look foolish when I find out I made a mistake.



Harry

[Deleted User]

Jim, thanks, I will check it tonight when I get home from work. I hate how work interferes with my play time.



Harry

[Deleted User]

Harry, that is the proper config of a regulator at rest. You can check that nothing is corroded or shorting.

hudsontech

Harry Hill wrote:

Alex, thank you, I will get busy cleaning connections. Most were corroded when I first got the car and I probably didn't get them all. That and after a year the ones I did clean can probably use another wire brushing. The guy at the generator shop told me to check and make sure the wires are on the regulator correctly. I would have sworn I had them on right but swearing just makes me look foolish when I find out I made a mistake.



Harry

I even took the little slide on spade terminals apart, Harry - if they were used back then, that is. If you have them, pull one off and look inside - there should be a little lip in the part that slides into the cover that with a thin screw driver you can depress enough to slide the terminal cover off.



Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

edhamlin

hudsontech wrote:

I even took the little slide on spade terminals apart, Harry - if they were used back then, that is. If you have them, pull one off and look inside - there should be a little lip in the part that slides into the cover that with a thin screw driver you can depress enough to slide the terminal cover off.



Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

Check out DE-OX-IT (do an Amazon search - they carry it, as does Radio Shack). It's great for cleaning and protecting all the various terminals. You just spray or brush it on and leave it. For seriously corroded terminals, you can wipe it off after a few minutes and reapply. DON'T wire brush the contacts in the regulator - they are silver plate and you will ruin them. If they have been arcing and are melted or black, use a little #400 grit emory paper between them and rub back and forth a few times, clean, then apply DE-Oxit.



Rgds

Ed

[Deleted User]

I have had people tell me Radio Shack has this or that But EVERY time I have gone to the local Radio Shack (even when I had a part number) they don't have it and can't or won't order it. I will NOT deal with Radio Shack! Sorry....Just had to Vent...
Bob

hudsontech

Corporate American, in all to many cases today, seems to be locked in what I call "Customer Denial". All to many businesses today seem to have the attitude that "we don't care if we lose your business - there'll be another sucker come thru the door right after you leave!!"



Couple that with to many in the work force who don't care, don't have a work ethic and are just interested in the weekly pay check, and you have bad service and dis-satisfied customers.



My Dad ran his businesses for 50 some years with only two rules:

#1 - The customer is always right;

#2 - If the customer is wrong, see rule #1.



But that's small town America - don't know if the way he ran his life and businesses had anything to do with it but when he passed away there were over 500 people at his funeral - that, at the time (1989) was probably near 10% of the town's permanent population.



Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

[Deleted User]

I forgot that tarnex will remove oxidation also, I'm using that as I have some.



Alex, I run an equipment rental yard and your dad's policy would break us. So many customers rent equipment they can't pay for or don't want to after they are done. Although others are great to deal with and I go out of my way to make them happy, the others feel if they can get away without paying for what they use they will. I guess it's a sad commentary on today that so many feel they have the right to cheat a business. It's always a balancing act on how you have to react to what the customers are doing but the customer is always right would never work. Saying all that I still try to give everyone the benefit of a doubt until they prove to me they don't deserve it.



Harry

edhamlin

BJ__TN wrote:

I have had people tell me Radio Shack has this or that But EVERY time I have gone to the local Radio Shack (even when I had a part number) they don't have it and can't or won't order it. I will NOT deal with Radio Shack! Sorry....Just had to Vent...

Bob

Well, sorry I brought it up! I'm not particularly enamored of R-S myself. You can get DEoxit online at Amazon.com (among other places) and Techni-tool. It really is great stuff.



Rgds

Ed

[Deleted User]

My Dad had a roofing/remodeling company. I remember in the 70s when we roofed a house for an elderly little lady, about 80 I think. She called Dad about 3 years later and said her gutters were leaking. Instead of telling Her that WE didn't do the gutters, another company did them, He sent a couple of guys over to clean and fix the gutters. No Charge....
Not many companies would do anything like that anymore.
SAD....
Bob

[Deleted User]

Bob, believe it or not there are still people who do things like that. An elderly lady called me to see who could do some dirt work for her. I recommended someone I trust and he went over and decided she didn't have enough work to warrant a bid so he just had a couple of his guys do what needed to be done, no charge. Your Dad is someone special to do that kind of thing and it's good to know there are still some special guys out there doing the right thing. Those guys are rarities though