Alternator not charging battery on FarmPro 2420

[Affordable]

We have the new alt.in stock

Tommy
Affordable Tractor Sales

 

[Soundguy]

For cheap alternator retrofits.. it's hard to beat a gm/delco 10si or 12si. In some places they are 25$ already checked.. out of barrels at junkyards.

Get a '3 wire' job.

Soundguy

Well, on Saturday I replaced the Voltage Regulator and found it still isn't charging the battery (tested by just turning on the lights and observing the amp gauge which goes negative when I do so). I believe the Alternator is bad still at this point now that I see 12v at the field winding. Anybody know of a cheap alternator rebuild or new one ?
Also, I did the rebuild of the power steering cylinder. It turned out ok. The seals inside of it were shot and the new ones are a different design (duh). That works like new. Thanks for the tips on it.

Steve (Pittsburgh, pa)

 

[tat2z1969]

I buy from Summit racing http://www.summitracing.com/
a early GM alt. it has 1 wire hook up to the battery, the reg is internal and nice if you want to add work lights, its like 60 amp alt. you have to tell them you want the single wire hook up one, it like $70.00.
The early GM one bolts right up to Jinma mounts.

 

[greg_g]

you have to tell them you want the single wire hook up one, it like $70.00. The early GM one bolts right up to Jinma mounts.

Just to clarify a point - will this Summit Racing 1-wire alternator produce usable charging voltage in a stock FarmPro 2420 at anything less than full throttle ? If yes, what would you estimate the minimum rpms necessary to obtain usable charging voltage?

//greg//

 

[Soundguy]

Once it excites.. the gm 10si should charge fine at rpms as low as 450-600.. however.. getting it to excite is another story. Some 10si can take 1800 rpm to excite.

I MUCH prefer the 3-wire jobs... On a diesel it is a super easy hookup.. #1 terminal to switched side of ignition, and #2 terminal to the charge lug.. and charge lug to amp meter or battery or wherever oem charge line hooked to.

A diode inline with the #1 terminal, , cathode facing alternator, or a 194 trailer marker bulb will help protect the regulator in case the charge line ever becomes disconnected, as the alt will try to charge thru the #1 line and cook the regulator.

Soundguy

 

[Harrygoodwrench]

I retrofitted a GM 10 SI to my Jinma 224 two years ago. I kept it a three wire.
Why? some may ask. I had a good 60 amp 10 SI laying around and just for kicks decided to see how it would fit. It relatively easy. I used the original Jinma pivot bolt and the pulley lined up perfect. I did have to hunt thru my "junk" for a different adjuster bracket. I found one from a Toyota that fit well. I did have to get a different belt. (also from my Totota stock LOL)
I had to eliminate the current going thru the ammeter as a 30 amp gauge can't handle 60 amps. I just wired in a 10 dollar voltmeter under the dash from Advance Auto.
I used it to run my snow plow on my Jinma which used an electro-hydraulic pump and that draws quite a bit when energized. So far it works perfect.

Here is a link to some GM one wire alternator stuff.

One wire alternator conversions

 

[Soundguy]

Considering the ammeter commony used today is a shunt voltmeter.. the 60a on the 30-0-30 ammeter probably wouldn't have hurt it at all. and if it was an induction type.. it deffinately wouldn't have hurt it. Also.. Those charge systems are 'net' charge / discharge. Very rarely will you have a 60a charge goin on. Perhaps if you had a hard start and ran the battery down starting, then there would be a few seconds at 60a.. then it would taper off very fast.

Running the high current capacity equipment shouldn't effect the gauge, again.. as it should be setup in a 'NET' charge / discharge arangement.. thus any current the alt was providing would be supplied directly, and not show up on the meter.. only the charge TO the battery would show.. as a positive deflection.. .. or. if the equipment was using more than the alt could provide, thent he battery would be in a state of discharge and make up the shortfall and that would show up as a negative deflection.

I restore antiques, and it is real common to see 30-0-30 amp gauges as these old babies oly had generators that produced ont he 7a - 25a range.. and it is quite common to see a 10SI alt on one using the oem ammeter. I have a NAA and 2n both with 30-0-30 ammeters.. one is new.. one is vintage/old.. but not oem, and both work fine.. even charging from a near dead battery state..

I like ammeters better than volt meters, as an ammeter immediatly shows you if your alt or genny stops working, as you get an immediate negative deflection.. or a -0- if it is a diesel and not 'using' any power.. A volt meter
, if it is cheapy.. like you see at napa or TSC.. is hard to tell if you have 14v.. or 12v registering, and if so.. you may actually have a non working charge system and just be measuring static battery voltage. Usually when i install a voltmeter.. I also leave the ammeter.. that is a 'best of both worlds' situation.. you get to see charge current, and charge votlage.

Another good thing about an ammeter vs a voltmeter, is it is easier to detect an aging battery.. or one with a bad cell.. as you can get excessive charge current during a time when the battery should be topped off. Very hard to detect this with a volt meter, due to the fact that the alternator's VR will keep the charge voltage correct as long as the alt can come up with the current to push thru the battery. Thus in a hypothetical situation where you have a battery with a shorted cell, and it is drawing a 10a charge.. but otherwise 'operating'.. on an ammeter.. you will see that high charge that does not taper down to near -0-.. on a voltmeter.. you may notice nothing, as the alt can easilly put out 10a at the correct charge votlage.... so you will see the needle in the correct place.. and not immediatly notice the battery.. till you see it bulging, venting water or gas bubbles.. or it explodes.. or just plain dies and leaves you stranded somewhere.. or a combination of those outcomes..


Soundguy

 

[kidney]

I have an one wire GM alternator on my 2004 Kama TS354C for 1 & 1/2years. I fried my regulator on the orginal alterator. I was in too big a hurry and didn't disconnect the battery when I used the welder to fasten a hook on the loader . The GM alternator works fine and I only changed the bracket. It charges at an idle everytime. Kidney

 

[tat2z1969]

Just to clarify a point - will this Summit Racing 1-wire alternator produce usable charging voltage in a stock FarmPro 2420 at anything less than full throttle ? If yes, what would you estimate the minimum rpms necessary to obtain usable charging voltage?

//greg//

I can only say about the Summit racing ones since they are the only 1 wire Alt's I have used. They will charge at 500 rpm once they excite. I did have one that took 850 rpm to excite, but only that one out of the 14 or 15 I have used. I even have one on a 933 Cat that works just fine. One word of caution, I would not use a thru put amp gauge I would use a inductive amp gauge, the higher output of the Alt will fry the former.]
The factory Alt on my 354 was fine, but I added work lights on the ROPS and they would pull to much for that little 350 watt Alt, that is why I converted mine

 

[Soundguy]

Shunt-voltmeter style ammeters are virtually bulletproof... I'm not sure how you were frying them...

Soundguy