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My ammeter often flicks around rather than showing a steady charge, usually between about 1800 and 2400 rpm. The charge is usually steady at 2500 rpm and above and often steady at around 1500.

Would this be dirty regulator points?

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Normally the ammeter will not be showing any charge or discharge once the energy used for starting has been recovered by the battery. Most of the time it should be sitting at zero.

 

If yours is flicking around it may be a poor connection somewhere, the regulator contacts as you say, or maybe the dynamo brushes or commutator are worn. Since what you are seeing is speed-related it may be the latter.

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Thanks for the advice.

 

I went out to the garage, it is late here, and checked and cleaned the generator terminals, regulator terminals, solenoid terminals and ran some 1200 grade paper through the regulator points. No appreciable change.

 

The dash lights flicker lightly with the ammeter, the charge light stays off and below 1500 it is usually a steady charge and once it gets to about 2400-2500 it charges steadily.

 

The generator was new about 15-20,000 miles ago. Brushes have normally lasted longer than that for me, but brushes are the suspect!

Edited by John McCormack
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If its the brushes they could be just stuck in the holders rather than worn John. They should last longer than 20k. The only other thing is the rear bearing on the dynamo. If that is a sloppy fit the commutator may be moving around.....

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I took the car for a TR Register coffee run this morning and had the chance to talk with the TR Register parts distributor on this subject. In my words, the generators are poor chargers below about 2000rpm and it will be the regulator trying to get the right voltage at lower and mid range revs. This is particularly the case when the battery is full charged.

He said it is unlikely to be the generator which will last many 10s of thousands of miles provided you don't over tighten the belt and you don't have extractors that go close to the generator.

After start or after a period at the lights with the electric fan running the ammeter is quite steady. Once at cruise speed, above 2100rpm, the ammeter settled down and at normal cruise of 2300-2800rpm it was perfectly steady.

Cleaning the points last night did improve the charging, the ammeter flicker disappears a couple of hundred rpm lower than previously.

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I assume - though you did not say- that this flicking is something new that you have not seen before?

Yes the dynamo output is limited at low revs but the output should still be steady once the ignition light has gone out when the dynamo output exceeds the battery voltage. If its working properly the regulator does not have any problem with setting the 'right voltage' - it is continually adjusting the dynamo field current at high speed and should not visibly 'hunt' as the chap implied.

 

I suppose one thing that could cause needle-waggle is variation in the battery current while charging, possibly due to bubbles in the electrolyte, but would that be limited to only part of the revs band?.

 

Just a thought - you say the ammeter is perfectly steady at cruising speed - what is it indicating at that point ? It should be zero once the battery has regained charge. If it isn't then you probably have some load connected to the 'wrong' end of the meter as is sometimes the case where additional kit has been installed.

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I assume - though you did not say- that this flicking is something new that you have not seen before?

Yes the dynamo output is limited at low revs but the output should still be steady once the ignition light has gone out when the dynamo output exceeds the battery voltage. If its working properly the regulator does not have any problem with setting the 'right voltage' - it is continually adjusting the dynamo field current at high speed and should not visibly 'hunt' as the chap implied.

 

I suppose one thing that could cause needle-waggle is variation in the battery current while charging, possibly due to bubbles in the electrolyte, but would that be limited to only part of the revs band?.

 

Just a thought - you say the ammeter is perfectly steady at cruising speed - what is it indicating at that point ? It should be zero once the battery has regained charge. If it isn't then you probably have some load connected to the 'wrong' end of the meter as is sometimes the case where additional kit has been installed.

Thanks Rob. I think the flicking has been noticeable since this regulator went in which is probably now about 20,000+ miles. The car has done a lot of long high speed trips with it like this, I have just taken an interest in it after doing some Googling, probably shouldn't have done that.

My view is the regulators are all now reproductions and are not maybe as good as they were/should be. These regulators are provided through our TR Register parts supplies and these ones are the ones used worldwide in the tractor trade. The member in question sells hundreds of them every year worldwide so has a thorough history of their foibles.

To be clear the ammeter isn't 'hunting' as such, the charge seems to be steady with the need flicking around a +ve charge.

When steady with the battery well charged it shows a very slight amp or two of charge, exactly as expected.

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If it's any comfort John, I have the locally sourced tractor voltage regulator (and generator) and despite cleaning the points as part of annual servicing, the ammeter still fluctuates as you describe.

 

To preserve contact points surfaces, I use Contact Cleaner then run thin cardboard though to remove any debris.

 

Speaking of Fergie tractor parts, it's amazing that a new crankshaft prefectly good for a road use TR, sells for just A$253.18 inc tax - less than a blue TR3A apron badge !.

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If it's any comfort John, I have the locally sourced tractor voltage regulator (and generator) and despite cleaning the points as part of annual servicing, the ammeter still fluctuates as you describe.

 

To preserve contact points surfaces, I use Contact Cleaner then run thin cardboard though to remove any debris.

 

Speaking of Fergie tractor parts, it's amazing that a new crankshaft prefectly good for a road use TR, sells for just A$253.18 inc tax - less than a blue TR3A apron badge !.

Had a great turn up today Viv for a regular monthly run to a cafe in Picton. 5 TRs and a couple of members in other vehicles. The Common Ground cafe is just on the southern side of the old Hume Hwy Razorback road. Although it is now an 80km/h limit judicious use of power can get a bit of a drift.

I cleaned the points last night with a light wipe with 1200 grade piece of wet and dry and then a clean with clean printer paper. As I said above it did make a difference because the flicker disappeared at a couple of hundred lower rpm.

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I had years of trouble with new regulators. After some research it appears that the copper used in the new units is recycled and therefore not pure.

 

I have a collection of old units which have been overhauled. About every 18 months I have to fit a fresh one and send the old one away for adjustment. It is more technical than you think.There are a few workshops who will take it on in the UK,

 

Lucas said that they made £5.00 every time an owner opened the lid on the regulator.

 

I am in the process of upgrading to solid state now and will let you know how it goes.

 

Richard

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