Welp...the third VR tested out bad at the rebuilder's shop. He's actually questioning the integrity of his testing equipment and told me to slap it on the car to see if it was working in case there was something wrong with his test bench. Nope. It's dead alright. Gonna order up the Lucas (shudder) electronic VR and see how that goes. I will say that the return process with RockAuto on this current bad VR was seamless and easy. They even sent a pre-paid return label. Andy
You do not polarize regulators, you polarize generators. You only need to do this if the pole shoes in the generator have lost their magnatism. You send current through the field coils in the normal operating direction which will add enough magnetism to get the generator charging.
Yes, I understand this, but the person asking the question may not have. My point was do not attempt polarization with this regulator or you will destroy it because of the type that it is.
Update... There's a knowledgeable old timey Ford generator restorer guy in my town. Found him on the Barn. Brought my gennie to him and he opened it up to have a lookey. He found that the previous 12V conversion set the gennie up for an "A" circuit which differs from the standard "B" Ford circuit. This is why the GM regulator I had worked so well, even though it only lasted a year. Anybody have a reliable recommendation for an "A" circuit 12V regulator? Andy
Anybody have a part number for an "A" circuit 12V regulator for a generator? I'm still looking. Thanks in advance. Andy
I would think any GM 12v regulator would work. Because it is a homemade generator you don't know how much current it can handle so get a regulator that is set for lower output current wise.
so looking in a '68 motors manual I see a '62 ChevyII regulator #1119000 that has 25 amp output. Also a #1119001 has a 30 amp output For vette and other Chevys, 1119002 has 35 amp output Not knowing what your armature can handle I would stick with the 25 amp unit moving up to the 30 amp only if needed. Maybe it would be a good plan to start over with another known generator and get the regulator to go with it. I have 3 cars with generators and they are very dependable .... I guess these are GM part numbers
The reason for this is because the quality of new regulators is so bad across the board that you can’t stand behind what you sell. A lot of new regulators don’t even work under ideal test bench conditions, let alone on vehicle with vibration and questionable wiring and bad electrical connections that exist on your customers car. You can only eat so many regulators to keep a customer happy and your reputation intact, even our suppliers won’t constantly warranty their new regulators so the shop ends up eating the cost. After a while you just say no more and stop selling them, you let the customers take the risk and buy their own. I know this sounds crappy but it’s just the way it is anymore.
@e1956v I completely understand, the shop can't supply or suggest garbage and that's what's out there. I had hoped the 'old guy' would have some positive info or direction for him. It hurts his solid honest business when he can't offer even a possibility of the other part of the system.
eBay an New Old Stock Replacement regulator, I can look one up tonight when I get home. No warranties but they're good quality old brands.
Currently searching for an electronic regulator. There's a place I found online that will convert your electro-mechanical VR to solid state. Waiting on a call back/email response. Called another shop I used to deal with when I lived in NY and the owner says that when a customer requests he also supply a VR, he automatically orders three of them because it's likely that at least one and usually two are bad. The quality is absolute garbage. Another generator COULD be sourced but this would be difficult as I'm running the radiator fan for the flatty mounted to the gennie and those aren't easy to come by. A new gennie would also need to be converted to 12V. There's really no reason to replace the gennie I have as it is working fine, putting out 18V and 25 amps on the test bench. Upon opening it up, it appears it was converted to 12V by changing out the field coils and not the armature which is a common conversion. The armature is fine, commutator is good, brushes good, bearings good. I just need a good voltage regulator and I'll be set. Apparently not an easy thing to find these days. When I built ny '55 Chevy 1/2 ton with the '58 235 I6 (!2V stock gennie), I went to the FLAPS about 12 years ago and slapped a 12V regulator in it and it's been trouble free since. Everybody I talk to latley in the business is comp[laining how the quality of new VR's is garbage. An NOS regulator is an easy thing to source but there's no guarantee that it will be any good off eBay. A 40 year old NOS VR can have it's own issue from laying around who knows where for that period of time. Will it be rusty inside? Will the contacts be dirty? Will there be other issues from age? Is what's printed on the box actually what's IN the box, etc.? Go ahead and try to return that. Good luck. Think I'm going to order an "A" circuit VR from RockAuto because their return policy is just so good, but at this point I'm going to hold out for an electronic version or a shop that will convert my old one to electronic. It's pretty obvious that even if I get a mechanical one, the quality is so bad that it won't last. That's what got me to where I am now. Charging system was working great with the "A" circuit mechanical VR until it failed in less than a year. Andy
I just sold my old generator and regulator off of my Chevy panel and the only other I have is for an alternator. I'll look tonight, I think the 90s Standard Ignition was electronic.....if I remember correctly. My Elco had one, I'll see if I still have it. Personally I still would gamble with an old one off eBay, just look for a clean box from a dry state and clean it out when you get it. I bought a bunch of NOS and NORS points and condensers that I use, every once in awhile I have to take a file to the points on first install.
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