D Light Switch Wiring Trouble

[Joel Sanderson]

Like I said in another post, my D has been charging full all the time, so yesterday I changed the light switch to a new three position switch. It didn't make any difference. It still charges full, and there is no change what-so-ever reading on the gauge. I followed the book as far as I know. Did my best. Any suggestions where to go from here? What to test? Please be patient with me. I'm a blacksmith, and electrical wiring thingies are not part of my experience.

Here are pictures of what I did--colored wires connected to the same at the other end. If you need to see more, let me know.

Thanks.

Joel

 

[buickanddeere]

This is a situation where few to no people will fault your for installing an ordinary regulator.

 

[Joel Sanderson]

Ugh. I like the idea of manual control. My experience with voltage regulators is not happy. Any Ideas whet could be wrong?

I'm considering getting all the lights to work (which I want to do anyway) and just working with the lights on so I don't over generate. But that's a temporary solution and
not a fix.

 

[wore out]

I'm ASSUMING this is a "third brush generator" and the charging rate can be set down by moving the third brush away from the output brush holder. This will get the output in the range you can control it with your new lightswitch.

There's a screw in the back casting of the generator that can be loosened to unclamp the mechanism that holds the third brush so it can be moved.

(NOTE that this is a generic drawing and the location of the screw or the third brush MAY not be exactly as shown.)

One more thought... if you disconnect the green wire from the lightswitch or the "F" terminal on the generator charging rate should drop to zero.

If this is NOT happening, there's a short in the generator field coils, or perhaps at the "F" stud that passed through the starter "belly".

 

[buickanddeere]

Manual control will always undercharge or overcharge to some degree.

 

[Joel Sanderson]

Excellent information. I'll look into this and see what I find. Thank you.

joel