Hello all...
I've been away from here for a while and been busy with other things.
That said...I have an old Allis Chalmers tractor with a 6 volt electrical system featuring at least a generator made by Delco-Remy. Recently the generator decided it did not want to charge the battery any longer. It was putting out about 5 volts at best and just not getting the job done. Some quick piddling with the brushes got it charging, but I took it off and took it home for further examination. Further examination showed that it has had virtually no care ever taken of it. It was stuffed with carbon dust and the bearings were a bit stiff.
(Yes, I realize that I could just convert this to 12 volts and be done with it. I don't have the time for that right now and at least this tractor has an electric starter. I have another that doesn't and starting it is a two-man and one-pickup operation as the crank is ridiculous!)
Anyway...with the tractor being far away and my having done a lot of work on the generator to clean it up and hopefully get it working better... Does anyone know how to wire the generator up so that it can charge a battery for testing purposes? I have a 1/3 HP electric motor spinning at 1700 RPM to drive it on a test bench. I have messed around some with a 6 volt battery, the generator, some wires and the motor. So far I have gotten nowhere with trying to test this generator. I figured I would quit before I let the smoke out of anything or hurt myself and ask the experts here what I should be doing and how.
Also, has anyone ever tried 8 (yes, 8) volt batteries on a 6 volt system? Do these work well? There is a farm store nearby selling them and I've heard they are a "poor man's upgrade" for a 6 volt system.
Does anyone know about how to "polarize" this generator? I've read that it should be done, but I'm not sure exactly how. The regulator has two screw contacts on it and appears to be the original Delco-Remy part.
Finally, is it possible to overspeed a generator? I've noticed the ammeter on the tractor tapers off at high throttle and goes back up when the engine slows down.
Thanks in advance for any answers. Apologies for what may be an excessively OT posting...and all of these questions.
William The Guesser