VTPSD
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2013
- Messages
- 86
- Location
- Starksboro VT
- Tractor
- ford 420 industrial with custom turbo setup, diesel converted wheel horse
I have a 75 ford 420 industrial (i think). It appears to have the factory alternator with external regulator. It hasnt charged since I've owned it. I put a new aftermarket regulator in it first, but no change, charge light stays lit and voltmeter says no charge at all. I did some research on these alternators and found some pictures that show what each post is. I did figure out how to 'full field' it and it charged very well then (15-16 volts) and the charge light went out for the first time ever! Sounds like a bad regulator, except mine is new. Now maybe I got a bad Chinese made regulator (certainly possible), but I would like to trouble shoot a bit more before I drop some more money on another regulator.
Here is the ugly old girl that I am working with
the green wire with brown stripe that is just hanging with a ring terminal was just hanging with no connector. I added the ring terminal and put it on the lowest post (4:00) position because i thought maybe there is a stray wire and an empty post, they go together? This made no change so i removed it. That stray wire is not grounded and has no voltage on it. Dont know what it is. The feild (top, 12:00) terminal has about 2.5 volts with engine not running (key on) and about 10.5 when running. The regulator terminal (9:00) has about the same voltage as the field terminal under key on not running and running. I already rewired the ignition switch on this which was all sorts of backwards, and I think i have that right, everything else now behaves like it should. I dont assume the alternator is wired correctly, Im just not sure how to tell.
Looking for some pointers where to go from here, not sure how the regulator is supposed to behave. My old one looked like it got hot and melted all of its insulation out at some point. This new one has never gotten hot, but it also never worked with it. I am happy to find that alternator works, if I could just get the rest of the system working my tractor would be happy and I could install some lights and run them!
Here is the ugly old girl that I am working with
the green wire with brown stripe that is just hanging with a ring terminal was just hanging with no connector. I added the ring terminal and put it on the lowest post (4:00) position because i thought maybe there is a stray wire and an empty post, they go together? This made no change so i removed it. That stray wire is not grounded and has no voltage on it. Dont know what it is. The feild (top, 12:00) terminal has about 2.5 volts with engine not running (key on) and about 10.5 when running. The regulator terminal (9:00) has about the same voltage as the field terminal under key on not running and running. I already rewired the ignition switch on this which was all sorts of backwards, and I think i have that right, everything else now behaves like it should. I dont assume the alternator is wired correctly, Im just not sure how to tell.
Looking for some pointers where to go from here, not sure how the regulator is supposed to behave. My old one looked like it got hot and melted all of its insulation out at some point. This new one has never gotten hot, but it also never worked with it. I am happy to find that alternator works, if I could just get the rest of the system working my tractor would be happy and I could install some lights and run them!