Need 6V help from group

[Jub 631]

Here are the facts...I have a Ford 631 6V. It has been sitting a while. Took battery off (don't know if it was positive or negative ground....did not pay attention when battery was disconnected and 6v solar charger was installed a year ago ). Went to charge battery last week and neg was positive and positive was negative on battery ( did I hook up solar backwards and that caused the polarity to change over a year? Don't know). I think I remember when I got tractor that it was negative ground. I purchased new battery and have it installed as negative ground. Starts up just fine. Nothing is showing up on amp meter. All looks original on tractor. Questions ... Voltage Regulator was positive ground when original correct?...Generator, if original, positive ground correct?... Will tractor start and run ,if my assumptions are correct about positive ground of regulator and generator and if I install battery as negative ground?...Hope all this makes sense...Thanks in advance

 

[Royse]

The starter will work with the battery installed either way.
So will the ignition. But the charging system will suffer.
631 gas would be positive ground originally.

 

[Den N Ms]

Jub 631 As Royse says it came out with positive ground system.If the generator charged before and is not charging now. You might try and polarize the generator and see if it charges with the amp meter showing charge in the proper + direction if you have the battery hooked up positive ground.If the amp meter shows discharge when running like 10 amps or more just swap the two wires on the back of it to make it show correctly.

 

[Tim PloughNman Daley]

Does the battery ground strap fasten to metal somewhere? Yes? It's positive ground. Tractor will run on POS or NEG ground 6V and 12V. What's 'solar backwards'??? A new battery can be junk out the door. Some part stores will try to pawn off expired batteries on customers. It may work for a while, or not and a standard trickle charger isn't going to fix it. Do you have a float charger like the DELTRAN Battery Tender Jr.? A trickle charger isn't the same and will not shut off when charged thus overcharging and killing the battery. ALWAYS connect the battery POS to POS and NEG to NEG when charging regardless if POS GRN or NEG GRN. Connecting backwards may do some internal damage to rectifier and/or diodes. Your local starter/alternator shop can test it for you. He also can bench test the battery so start there. If battery fails to meet specific gravity, it won't sustain a full charge and you need that to start with, pun intended. Verify all the wiring is correct before starting. Do you know the correct method on polarizing the generator via the VR? GEN has a 'B' Circuit Design. OEM 6V GEN is 20A, 3-Wire/2-Brsuh unit. Does it have the belt tensioning bracket? Failure to maintain fan belt tension results in battery not charging. Once battery and wiring are verified to be correct, polarize gen and THEN you can apply power. If ammeter doesn't show a charge, VR may be fried and/or Ammeter doesn't work.


FORD 600/800 TRACTOR IGNITION TIMING & ELECTRICAL WIRING:

Tim Daley(MI)

 

[Btzj02]

Went to charge battery last week and neg was positive and positive was negative on battery ( did I hook up solar backwards and that caused the polarity to change over a year? Don't know).

From the above, it seems you are saying that the positive battery post is now negative and the negative battery post is now positive. Strange as it may seem this is possible if you completely drain a battery, usually caused by a short, and then hook up a charger positive to negative and negative to positive. I have not done this myself but the neighbor mechanic with 55 years experience with these tractors has seen it done! He has also seen a battery explode too but that is another story!
JB

 

[jimtrs]

(quoted from post at 19:51:48 12/08/20) Questions ... Voltage Regulator was positive ground when original correct?

As said, Yes.

... Generator, if original, positive ground correct?

Generator doesn't care about polarity. The voltage regulator usually does though.

... Will tractor start and run ,if my assumptions are correct about positive ground of regulator and generator and if I install battery as negative ground?

Yes. Charging system probably won't charge though. Would need a negative ground voltage regulator, and would need to polarize the generator. This procedure is different between "A" circuit and "B" circuit.


Unlikely you reversed the polarity of the battery. May just be the way your taking the readings.

600 series would have "B" circuit generators originally. In simple terms, this means that the output of the generator is controlled by the voltage regulator using current to the field, versus "A" circuit design which uses ground to the field. Using an "A" circuit regulator on a "B" generator will not work.

In addition, a lot of regulators are specific to the systems polarity (neg grd or pos grd). Using any wrong combination will not work and will most likely burn out the regulator.

 

[Jim L WA]

Try hooking up the battery as positive ground like it originally was and see what happens. Then make sure your solar charger is wired for positive ground, "hot" wire to the Positive post and the other wire to the negative post.

 

[Jub 631]

OK...So if the gen and regulator are original (as it appears) you are saying that the regulator and gen is the B series type so how do i
polarize these correctly...As i say the battery is installed as a negative ground and starts fine, however my system is not charging.

 

[Bruce(VA)]

See tip # 23
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