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I am trying to diagnose a charging problem on my 53 Chief equipped with a standard Autolite 6V generator. When started cold, the generator puts out tons of power. I am reading 8-9v with the headlamp off and 6-7v with the headlamp on. I get essentially the same readings at the battery post on the regulator or the positive battery terminal. However, after 10 mins of riding with the headlamp on, the output drops to zero. I thought the TC regulator was routing the field circuit though the resistor and depriving the field circuit of ground, but when I manually move the position on the regulator from partial to full field the output of the generator does not change. After sitting for a while, the cycle repeats itself, good generator output for 10-15 minutes followed by a loss of output. I have moved the third brush to increase maximum output (which it did), but eventually I still lose all output from the generator. Any ideas?
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What is your battery indicating for dc volts before and after you ride? If the battery charge is say 6.6v before you start the bike and is the same or higher when you get back, the regulator is doing its job properly and the behavior you describe is normal since it is essentially protecting the system from over-charging. If you get back and the battery voltage has dropped then something is wrong.
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