The "F" wire on the generator is the GROUND side of the system. It goes to the LIGHT SWITCH and  thru a RESISTOR for normal 3 amp charging.. When you have the lights ON and using more power, the SWITCH shorts the "F" wire around the resistor, directly to GROUND and you get a full 8 amp charge..

--You can test battery voltage at the input to the CUT OUT.

--You can test OUTPUT of the generator when running by putting a volt meter from the "A" terminal to a GROUND on the tractor frame..  

--You can jumper the "F" wire to GROUND to bypass the light switch and check for FULL CHARGE..

--If you measure 7 v out of the generator and only 6 v on the OUPUT of the cutout to the amp meter... then the CUTOUT is not closing / failed.

Common modes of failure is the CUTOUT is broken and does not Switch open- closed... and the LIGHT switch is rusty or the resistor has failed and you dont have a GROUND connection....assuming you have voltage output at the generator.

If the 3 position Headlight/Charging switch wasn't grounded correctly, could have been something as simple as that.  Generator might have been working. But it's always a good move to have someone go through the Generator and do a complete overhaul on it. Change the arm out in it too. That's the correct way to have it done...

Steve@B&B

most ( all ?) generators of that period were 'slow' chargers, tractors ran 8-10-12 hours every day to recharge the battery so if you only run 1-4 hrs after starting, the battery doesn't get a full charge. Eventually,it doesn't have enough guts to turn over the starter.

Since I'm not a farmer, only use tractors for short time, i tossed alternators into them ( 4, D-14s) since alternators recharge batteries FAST.

When keeping 6 volt system, be sure to use BIG battery cables( thick as your thumbs ) ! and CLEAN as ANY itty bit of cable corrosion will stop electrons from flowing.

Also check that the 'box' where light switch is in has a GOOD GROUND. Run a separate wire from the switch case to the battery ground, or at least a KNOWN 'good ground'.

6 volt systems need a lot of 'quality care' compared to the 12 volt ones.

Luke, here is another site the is good. Duey's helpful homepage, it's in the farm equipment-knowledge base section, once open go to allis chalmers page 1

.

I have a non AC 6v tractor that was idling and quit because the rpms were not high enough to get the generator outputting anything.

That tractor has been rewired for 12v with alternator and it's a completely different tractor now. My folks might have had less battery and starting frogging around back on the old farm.

There were time we had to park it on a small hill in the yard to roll-start it.

So it's worth investigating generator spin speed needed.

.

To insure a good ground at the 3 position switch, run an auxilary wire from the switch mounting screw to the Battery pos. ground. This insures the switch is grounded. The 3 position switch operates this way:

IN- low charge through the resistor (2-3 amps) 

Second pos.- Headlights ON resistor by-passed  (full field ground to the Gennie) 4-6 amps depending on third brush setting inside the Gennie)

Third pos- Headlights OFF  (full field ground to the Gennie- high charge to the Battery.

Don't let the Generator fool you. If the 3 position switch is forgotten about and left in the high charge mode, depending on where the third brush is located in the Generator will determine maximum amps put into the Battery. If forgotten about you can and will boil the Battery! Most of those early 6V Gennies can put a max of 8-10 amps at full field mode again depending on where the third brush is set...... HTH

Steve@B&B

AC WD45 wrote: Yes that ws with the 2 wire generator. This tractor is currently set up with a 1 wire alternator. In your picture, the colors apear reversed. How is a 1 wire alternator supposed to be wired in?

If you want to use the ammeter (assuming it is functional) then it goes straight to the ammeter. The stock ammeter probably doesn't have adequate range though, and you would be better advised to use a voltmeter instead

Otherwise, straight to the battery positive post (assuming it is negative ground, which is most likely).

THe RED wire is HOT... on the alternator, that is 12 v NEGATIVE GROUND... On your 6v systme it is 6v POSITIVE GROUND.... the BROWN is the GROUND wire to the light switch.. the RED is the HOT wire to the amp meter, or bypass that directly to the NEG bat terminal.

The 1 wire alternator has 1 RED HOT WIRE... the CASE of the alternator is GROUND thru the strap to the engine block, to the battery.

Which battery terminal is PRESENTLY GROUNDED ?   Are you going to leave it this way with the NEW GENERATOR ?

The light switch was original to charge ONE 6v battery.. You have TWO.. Are you going to use a 12v generator, or just charge ONE battery ?   A 12v system does not use the LIGHT SWITCH, it uses a new VOLTAGE REGULATOR.

Hold on here a second!!!  I thought you were working with the 6V PG system. You have an Alternator sitting up front???  No wonder you can't make things work. You have Peaches and Apples here. First off, get rid of the Ammeter so you don't burn your Tractor up. Replace it with a Voltmeter for safety. As the guys said, you're working with 12V Negative Ground now, not Pos Grd. If you're going to run a one wire Alternator, you need to run the output wire (heavy wire from the rear of the Alt) to either a junction block or to the Starter motor.  In order to start the charging process with a one wire Alternator, you need to rev the engine to 1200-1400 rpm in order to excite the VR to start the charging process. This is why I tell people to move to a 3 wire system. The 3 wire system immediately starts the charging process once the engine is started. Charging should start around 450-500 rpm. Much easier on the engine. Anyway, getting back to the one wire delma, from your Voltmeter + side run a 14 ga. wire to the Starter motor where the Alternator output is. Run a ground wire from the - side of the Voltmeter to either Battery ground or a good CLEAN chassis ground. If you have a couple 6V Batteries in there, toss them out and put a 12V Battery in. Why complicate something that you don't need to complicate.  The 3 position light switch shouldn't even be in the equation at all. If you want the Headlights to work, put a universal fused 12V Headlight switch in place of the 3 pos switch. Those 3 position switches do not like the fast moving 12V current running through them. That's fire n' smoke ready to happen.  With the Tractor wired the way I explained, once the engine rpm is brought up around 1200 or so, the Voltmeter should start to show a charge between 13.9-14.5 volts. 14.2 being ideal.  Now, the proper way to do that is run a 3 wire system like I mentioned above briefly through a key switch to control power on board the Tractor. DO NOT USE A TOGGLE SWITCH to control current from the Alternator. Most general toggle switches are only rated at 10-15 amps tops. You're asking for trouble doing that....

Steve@B&B

Yes and still doing the same now on my hotrod Camaro. I guess I will put a shutoff switch in place. Is there any chance of that starting a fire???

DrAllis wrote: 30 years ago I quit using single wire Delco alternators because if you didn't use the tractor on a somewhat regular basis, they would run the battery down !!!!!!! Kind of defeated the purpose of the 12volt upgrade.

Interesting. I have owned several of these (still do) and never had that problem; it is pretty easy to check parasitic current draw with a good VOM.

The Doc is correct. If anything sits long enough with a one wire Alternator connected directly to the Battery, the Alternator acts as a dynamo and will drain a Battery down to dead. Just depends on the Battery and the electronics in the Alternator. I always preach to my customer's, one of the best things you can invest in is a good Battery shut off switch. If the vehicle sits for long periods of time before its used, its always a good practice to sever the Battery from the vehicle. Doesn't matter what the vehicle is. Its either that, or remove the Battery from the vehicle and put it in an area where you can put a Battery tender on it to keep the Battery "active". You'll get the longevity out of the Battery keeping it active. If it gets pretty cold in your area, remove the Battery and bring it in to a warmer area and put a tender on it.

Luke, take your Generator to a local rebuilder and have him throw it on his machine and have him do some load tests on it to see if the unit is working as it should. If it passes all load tests that are put on it, in your mind you know the Gennies good. Then move on to the next item. Make sure the 3 position switch isn't cooked. If it looks okay visually where it doesn't look like it got hot or anything, clean up the instrument box where it bolts to to make sure its grounded correctly.  Next would be to inspect the wiring. If any of it is questionable rewire it via the wiring diagram Steve posted for ya. Lastly, have the Battery your using draw tested to make sure your power supply is in tip top shape to use. There's only 3 cells to a 6V Battery, so if you have one cell starting to go away, you've lost a lot of your power source. And a bad cell or low cell can cause the Generator to start a high charge because the low or bad cell in the Battery is putting a load on the system.  Once all of that is taken care of, there's no reason in the world why the 6V system won't work correctly. We're not liftin' the space shuttle here. Go to it!......

Steve@B&B

There are a couple reasons why an Alternator will drain the Battery. If you have an Alternator that has a diode or trio fail, that would cause a ground in the electronics, close the loop in the unit and draw current from the Battery. If the unit is a one wire, because the unit is hooked directly to the Battery, this keeps the magnetic field "active" in the VR. When the magnetic field is constantly activated, it steals mili-volts from the Battery. Eventually, if sitting long enough it can and will drain the Battery. As I mentioned earlier in a post, it acts as a "dynamo" because its constantly active. When you insert a key switch in the middle and control the current to the VR, when the key is off so is the VR. No magnetic field activation, no drain.  The voltage sense circuit (#2) on the Alternator, works great on larger Tractors such as the "D" series on up. This circuit can be run parallel with the heavy output circuit and either run to a junction at the dash area, Voltmeter + or Starter solenoid. The voltage sense circuit now monitors current usage and signals the VR when to ramp up the Alternator when loads are applied to the system. The Battery stays "full" the Alternator keeps 14.2 volts throughout the system keeping components working properly, engine running correctly and makes for a happy system.  Three wire system is the bestest!  

Steve@B&B

Ed (Ont) wrote: What is it that causes those 1 wire to drain battery. Mine will drain battery in couple weeks. I do need to determine for sure if it is the alt tho but pretty sure it is. Problem started when I put the 1 wire on it. This is car I am talking about tho - 70 Camaro. Thx.

Disconnect the wire at the alternator and connect an ammeter in series from the wire to the alternator terminal. Draining the battery in two weeks time will probably require a current draw in excess of ~100 mA or so. if the current draw at that location is less-than 10 milliamps then you need to look elsewhere.

Yup, you need some new parts my friend

I recommend a new ammeter as well, also take a close look at those wires with the crimp terminals.

Edit: There really is no need for a key switch unless you just want one; all it does is add complexity to a simple system.

Had a used a key switch, I would have lost the key 15 times by now.  Keep it simple!

The WD45 had a Battery ignition. (Distributor)  So a key switch is needed to send power to the Coil. Simple ON/OFF is what was used as OEM.  So you did good with a new key switch. If your Tractor was changed over to a Starter solenoid, then you would need either a key crank switch, or pull power off the Ignition switch to power up a start button. 

Now, looking at that 3 position switch, I can see its all wired incorrectly. Here's what should be on that switch.

Jumper wire from the Ammeter minus (-) side to the fuse tower on the H/L switch.

Headlight circuit & Tailight circuit (if equipped) to the screw terminal that has the "S" on it.  (If you look real close, you'll see letters next to the screws.) Looking at the switch, it looks like the terminal without the screw in it is the "S" terminal that should be used.

Generator Field circuit to the resistor leg on the bottom of the switch.

Should be no more than 4 wires on that switch. (3 with no Tailight or Work light)

There should be a flat resistor on the bottom of that switch. If not, you need one. This is why nothing is working correctly. I have the resistors in stock if interested. As Phil mentioned I do service/rebuild/restore and make parts for those OEM Delco switches. I'm probably the only knuckehead on the planet that does. Take all those wires off and clean up that switch. The only wire that looked correct on that switch was the jumper circuit from the Ammeter to the fuse tower.....

Steve@B&B

Lon(MN) wrote: Looks like the switch resistor is installed on the generator.

Good catch! Seems as though that would leave it stuck on low charge.

Somebody really hacked that system up.

-------Somebody really hacked that system up.----  and didnt have a CLUE what they were doing..

I looked online and really dont see a WD45 type wire diagram. I marked up the B -C Print to show a COIL- DISTRIBUTOR - STARTER SOLENOID - Key SWITCH in addition to the original 6V POS ground system with the Resistor light switch.. I believe this to be correct.

(and your readings were AMPS on the AMP GAUGE ? )

Replaced the key switch with a brand new Briggs/Stratton key switch last fall, 70 years of use, been finicky for the last number years of having to set it in a certain position to get it to work.

  When I changed the this tractor over to the DelcoTron alternator, I put in a new Niehoff lighted ammeter of higher amps and attached the 'on' wire for the regulator to the key switch and rewired the light switch so it was off in the 'IN' position, middle position turned the front headlights on with halogen sealed beams and 32cp bulb in the red tail light on the fender.  Third position, all the way out, turned on the FireCracker halogen driving lights bolted ontop of the hood and the rear halogen tail light. Man that tractor had good lights. Was fun cultivating at night with it. 

  With all the lights on it, a generator would not have kept up. Having the alternator was really nice.

 I had removed the resistor off the light switch too when I had converted it over to 12 volts.

Looks like your needing to ground your Generator there at the battery box. A voltage regulator for the gennie would probably be a better idea, then you won't be overcharging the battery. and won't need to worry about grounding the control panel.

  Also check your ammeter to see if it has continuity across the lugs. Have had several that failed over the years.

Luke,

Providing your switch is rebuildable, you can exchange it for one of my switches ready to go. Remove the rod and knob, cause' that sounds like they're not frozen and working and send your switch in. It's $85. bucks exchange without rod n' knob. If you visit our website, our P/N is 1501-02A.  You can also email me at customcircuits@gmail.com. JoAnna can send you an invoice to your email address through Paypal if that works for you. Anyway you want to do it. We're easy here.........

Steve@B&B