charging system

[willy wagon]

440ic the 6v. system does not charge the battery. battery is new. any tests to find out the problem?

[Pammark]

The first thing I would do is take a volt meter and read the voltage across the battery. Do it before you start the engine and it should read 6 volts. Now start the engine and read the voltage again. If it is 6 volts or less, then the generator/voltage regulator is the problem, or wiring inbetween. If the voltage is above 6 volts (7-8), then the charging system is working.

Check for dirty battery cable connection on both end.

Generators need a small amount of residual magnetism in the filed coils to kick off and generate. Just like a priming a water pump with water. I have seen old generators loose this and need a kick start. My 2010 is pos ground so you want to make sure you use the correct battery post. Take a set of jumper cables and connect one end to the battery hot post (opposite ground). With the engine running take the other jumper cable end and momentary touch the field coil terminal on the generator (sometimes labeled F on the generator case) and throw some sparks. This will put enough juice into the field coils to get them going. Do not do this too long or you might burn up the voltage regulator or wiring between. Just a quick spark is all that is needed. Test again to see if the voltage across the battery is slightly above 6 volts. If not, then it might be the voltage regulator or just a rebuild of the generator.


Mark