generator out question.......

[john fretschl]

if your generator is operating properly what should be the out put. Like when it's under aload when you have your head lites on etc..

[Yellow53Chief]

Hi,
From my experience, the practical output of the standard Indian generator is something around 8 Amperes. The high output generator might give you 12 Amperes. Much depends on the setting of the third brush, in the three brush generator. If the third brush is adjusted to be on the low side of output - the above numbers might be cut in half. The low setting might be appropriate for use where the headlight is seldom used. If the headlight is on all the time, the third brush should be adjusted for maximum output. It is not unusual for the high output generator to be inadequate for full-time headlight use. Back in the day, there were no headlight laws and the generating system was only really designed for occasional headlight use. On the Indians with an ammeter, with the headlight on, you will be lucky if you have two Amperes left to charge the battery. Sometimes you only have one Ampere left. That is cutting things really close. The situation becomes more critical if you are only running a small battery inside the regular battery case. Those small batteries have very little capacity - maybe only half of what the original Indian battery had, and if you idle around a lot, the small battery will soon become depleted - and forget about headlight. For maximum output from the Indian Auto-Lite generator, wiring the generator 'shunt' and running an electronic regulator can get you as many as 20 Amperes. Check out the splitdorfreg.com website for the details. Good luck.

[john fretschl]

Hi,
From my experience, the practical output of the standard Indian generator is something around 8 Amperes. The high output generator might give you 12 Amperes. Much depends on the setting of the third brush, in the three brush generator. If the third brush is adjusted to be on the low side of output - the above numbers might be cut in half. The low setting might be appropriate for use where the headlight is seldom used. If the headlight is on all the time, the third brush should be adjusted for maximum output. It is not unusual for the high output generator to be inadequate for full-time headlight use. Back in the day, there were no headlight laws and the generating system was only really designed for occasional headlight use. On the Indians with an ammeter, with the headlight on, you will be lucky if you have two Amperes left to charge the battery. Sometimes you only have one Ampere left. That is cutting things really close. The situation becomes more critical if you are only running a small battery inside the regular battery case. Those small batteries have very little capacity - maybe only half of what the original Indian battery had, and if you idle around a lot, the small battery will soon become depleted - and forget about headlight. For maximum output from the Indian Auto-Lite generator, wiring the generator 'shunt' and running an electronic regulator can get you as many as 20 Amperes. Check out the splitdorfreg.com website for the details. Good luck.

thanks for the reply. the generator is at the repair shop right now. will talk to them about up grading it with a solid state voltage regulator so It will put out the higher amperage. thanks also for direction to the web site. it's very informative!

[fillibuster]

thanks for the reply. the generator is at the repair shop right now. will talk to them about up grading it with a solid state voltage regulator so It will put out the higher amperage. thanks also for direction to the web site. it's very informative!

Get the biggest 6v batt you can find, or one of size similar to stock. I bought one for the scout a few years ago. Jello brand. from Batteries Plus. High amp-hour rating so it won't cook right away. 90 bucks then. Pay attention to the gauge.