gt14
Silver Member
Does anyone know of a way to test a regulator? My tractor used a generator/regulator setup. Now I what to know if the regulator is good or bad.
gt14 said:Does anyone know of a way to test a regulator? My tractor used a generator/regulator setup. Now I what to know if the regulator is good or bad.
The problem with this is that you are not really testing the voltage regulator, you are testing the output of the alternator. If you measure at the battery and it's only 11 or 12 volts, then that does not mean the regulator is bad, that means the alternator is.J_J said:To test a regulator, measure the voltage on the battery with the tractor off. Now start the tractor, and measure the voltage at the battery. Charge voltage should be around 14 volts. You need a voltage meter of course.
If your tractor is a 6 volt system, the charging voltage should be around 8 volts.
Apparently in the early 70's Yanmar and Datsun applied the same family of Hitachi gear on some machines.FL_Jerry said:What model do you have? There are some ways to convert to an alternator that are cheaper than getting new generator equipment. I have a 2000BD with a Datsun 510 alternator and regulator that bolted right in without mods.
Dmace said:The problem with this is that you are not really testing the voltage regulator, you are testing the output of the alternator. If you measure at the battery and it's only 11 or 12 volts, then that does not mean the regulator is bad, that means the alternator is.
The voltage regulator does just that, it regulates the voltage sent to the battery. If a voltage regulator is bad, then the power sent to the battery will be jumpy and erratic.
What I do is put a voltmeter on the battery terminals with the car idling and it should read about 12-13 volts, then have someone slowly raise the idle of the engine and you should see the volts raise to about 14-15 volts. If it goes above 16 volts or does not hold a steady reading at a steady engine speed then the regulator is gone or going. If the reading never goes much above 12 volts, then the alternator is on it's way out.
Yeah. It seems like a 12 volt conversion driving a 6 volt starter would burn it up but actually the starter's internal windings are twice as heavy as needed, so all that happens is it cranks twice as fast. I think overall the life of the starter is about the same as it would have been using 6 volts. BTDT - on a 54 Willys Wagon with Studebaker 259 V8, the only engine that dropped into those and bolted up without adapters. It started real good!J_J said:I believe he said he had a generator not alternator. I would replace the generator with a one wire alternator. I replaced my generator with one of these, and it works great. The starter is still 6 volts.
J_J said:To test a regulator, measure the voltage on the battery with the tractor off. Now start the tractor, and measure the voltage at the battery. Charge voltage should be around 14 volts. You need a voltage meter of course.
If your tractor is a 6 volt system, the charging voltage should be around 8 volts.