Flashing generator

[gtsickle]

I'm assuming you flash the gen. on a 67 sporty with a magneto and no battery, with a alternate power source; on the bike and wired? thanks for any help with this.

[mmoore]

you got a 50-50 chance just start it and see if it works if it dont then do it with a battery and 2 wires I run a mag ign and no battery also and have not had to polarize it yet

[Perry Ruiter]

Yes, you'll need to use an external battery to polarize the generator ... Perry

[KNUCK]

I need a little info on this polarize thing.
I have a 46' Chief with the cut out regulator. When I connect the green wire to the reg it sparks and the volt meter jumps. I have a good ground to the battery from the cut out mount screw.
I touched the wire to the base of Gen, small spark, and back to the reg but still a big spark. Not sure where to go......

[mmoore]

to polarize I always make sure all wires are correct and hooked up . leave ign switch off take a piece of wire, touch the positive terminal of the battery then momentarly touch the armature terminal of the generator (not the field) that should do it a decent spark is usally ok but a heavy spark might indicate a short I had to do a buddys bike 3 times once before it worked a easy way to remember is a generator is like a junkie they need a shot in the arm (armature) to get going

[mmoore]

knuck this is a neg ground bike right? sorry but im not up on indians

[KNUCK]

It's a negative ground. I only have the one wire out of the gen.
I will try it tonight.

[Perry Ruiter]

The one wire coming out is from the positive brush and is equivalent to the A terminal mmoore is talking about. Typically on an Indian it's connected to the underside of the cutout (some replacement cutouts have it connected to a tab on the end). Give that a jolt from the positive battery terminal and you'll be polarized ... Perry

[KNUCK]

I touched a wire from the positive to the cutout terminal tab, has an "S" marked on it. No change when I took the green wire off and put back on again. It still sparks and starts to make the armature want to turn the belt pulley. Maybe I should just touch to the wire coming out of gen. and not the tab on cutout.
This is a cutout with the wire connected underneath.
My wife is going to put me on suicide watch pretty soon..................

[mmoore]

it sounds like a cross short between the armature and field windings. by energizing both the field and arm you turn a generator into a electric motor. a generator should not try to turn while polarizing. I would like to see a charging schematic as the problem may not be the gen. a short in wiring or a bad relay might cause this. we used to do a bench test on h-d generators by putting a wire on its case to ground then putting positive wire on both the field and arm at the same time. if it turned like a motor they usally were ok (this test was not always a true indicator but was a good fast check) I hope some of our Indian people can get us some better clues. I will try to find a diagram so i can see what it might be

[Perry Ruiter]

mmoore - the Autolite three brush generators will motor (as will the Splitdorf and even Harley 32E with a good battery and a twist to help them get going). When you're talking about A and F terminals you're thinking about Harley two brush generators. These are three brush generators with one wire coming out, the output, which is equivalent to the A terminal. The field coils are energized by being attached to the third brush rather than an F terminal. The position of the third brush determines how energized the field coils become.

Now Knuck - what's the green wire? The wire to the battery from the cutout? You're hooking this to the S terminal on the cutout? Normally the S terminal is equivalent to the A terminal (the underside terminal that the wire coming out of the generator is attached to). This isn't where you hook the output wire. Do you have a terminal on the other side (typically marked BAT on the mounting leg). That's where you hook the wire that goes to the battery (possibly via the ignition switch and or ammeter) ... Perry

[KNUCK]

I have a terminal on each side. The other terminal has no marks on it. The green wire goes , if I remember up to the amp gauge, or maybe it was the ignition. I am at work an not sure. The wire from the generator is hooked up to the "S" and that is where I have been hooking the green wire up to. I can redo to the other one. I will try to see it all is well and if not try to flash. I leave for the AMCA meet in Dixon Ca tomorrow about noon so I will let you know, or if you have other info let me know. I will check back here today a few times. Thanks again

[Perry Ruiter]

Here's a photo of what I think your cutout looks like:

The S terminal is on the right. You can see it's the same physical piece of metal as the A terminal on the under side. So when you connect the wire from your generator to the A terminal underneath (as you said you did in an earlier post) and then connect your "green wire" to the S terminal you're completely bypassing the cutout. You need to connect the "green wire" to the terminal on the left (which apparently is unmarked on your cutout (and this cutout is too crudy to tell what it says but usually marked BAT on a mounting leg)) ... Perry

[KNUCK]

Just got back from Dixon. I figured it out from what was said and got it solved in time. This autolite cutout is off something else so the letters were odd. I did have it connected to the wrong side, electrical is not my strong suit. Your last entry is accurate as to the problem and solution. All is good. I did mange to score 94 3/4 on the Chief for the first time out.
Robin Markey did the judge work on it. Kevin Valentine made the trip out here also. Good show!

[mmoore]

good job perry I know my 2 brush gens quite well but havent messed with a 3 brush for over 25 years. my only 3 brush on my 34 is a model 30F with a relay and a switch terminal on the gen case. has not had any problems with it (yet) anyway I got to get ready to go to work now. I work for a canadian company here in iowa, good place, I wish i found them years ago (magna) eh!!