</font><font color="blue" class="small">( it up - the ammeter acted funny for a little bit then jumped several times then settled down and showed full charge which dropped down as I ran it a while and appeared to act like it should. Before this it hardly showed any charge when running more likely even being in - range. )</font>
That negative on the meter was probably the ignition draw on the battery. Most likely the genny was polarized for positive ground, and with the battery hooked up negative ground, the genny wasn't charging. The reason why the whole thing didn't smoke was the cutout relay in the VR. The cutout relay is a bit of wiring magic. I won't go into the whole specifics.. but a vr has current and voltage relays.. anyway.. the cutout doesn't 'close' and connect the armature and battery connections untill the voltage on the armature exceeds the voltage at the battery. When you hooked the battery up correctly, it started charging, like it was polarized for. The bouncy needle readings are common when the cutout closes and the field current adjusts back and forth for a few seconds ( it is going from no load to full load ).
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Now the question - my coil has bat and dist markings (not bat and grnd or + & -) dist pole is to dist as hooked up now. )</font>
That means you have an older oem style coil. In that case.. distrib meant grnd.. and oem it was positive grnd. If you are now positive grnd.. dist goes to ground (+ ). etc. ( If i were you I'd get a new oil filled coil from tsc.. the 6v ones are less than 20 bucks and will outperform the oem 6v coil big time... )
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The gen has two poles on top - one marked grnd the other not marked and one pole on back )</font>
Grnd pole on the casing is ground to the genny case.. and is also the ground reference wire for the genny.. it is good to have a ground reference for your genny running to the vr to make sure there are no differences in ground. For instance.. painted frame may make a minute difference in ground reference at the genny / vr.. that results in a ground loop, and incorrect field control. The other pole on the case is insulated with a fiber or phenolic washer.. it is field. If this is the 2 brush oem genny, the field is internally hot, and needs a ground reference from the genny field tab so that variable field current can flow via the vibrating field contacts in the vr.
The large stud on the back of the genny is the armature.. it is the output stud.
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Wondering if I should polarize the system even though it seems to be working fine now. If I need to polarize it, which poles do I short out on the gen )</font>
If it is working now.. don't fix it. Although, repolarizing a genny multiple times will not hurt it. If you ever did need to repolarize it.. on the a circuit gennies you short the armature to the battery 'hot' So on a positive ground system, you are jumpering the armature over to the battery negative post which is also hooked up to the side of the starter solenoid. This polarizes the genny field, for charge polarity, and also polarizes the regulator cutout relay for correct operation.
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Also, were you saying earlier that you get a hotter spark with neg ground vs positive ground? If so, maybe I should change it back and change coil wires and repolarize. )</font>
Yes / no. Due to the edison effect.. the positive ground system works well.. ( has to do with the spark plugs, gap, and discharge.. electron theory.. etc.. ) That said.. if you have the later 8n with the side mount coil, you can run it either negative or positive ground as long as you have the igniton coil matched and wired correctly, with no change in high voltage.. though positive ground may make the spark plugs last longer. If you are using a front mount distribuitor and square coil.. it is hardwired, and should really only be run positive ground when on a 6v system, because otherwise you do sacrifice some high voltage.
If you have it back pos grnd.. and have the coil hookd up correct.. leave it.. unless you want to change it.. it is already setup for optimum efficiency ( unless you want to upgrade that coil.. ).
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( but if you can help I can save having to do that I hope )</font>
I agree.. if it's working.. don't fix it.
The only differences you may find with what i wrote, is if your genny is not the oem 2 brush a circuit setup. There was a lso a 3rd adjustable brush genny that had the field contacts on the housing.. but was only used on the very early 8n.. if you have an 8n with a side mount distribuitor and coil.. it should have come with the 2 brush genny. In rare cases a genny shop may have accidentally rebuilt the genny as b-circuit like a hundred series genny.. if so. it uses a different vr, and polarizes differently. But again.. you's is working.. so no need to worry about that...
Soundguy
