Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:43 am
I just went through the exact same wiring migration you are going through. I went from hot wire directly from the battery to installing a regulator and generator. I'm no expert but understand basic electronics.
First , I tested every lead on the regulator to dist/dash harness for ohms and shorts. I ended up rebuilding part of the harness because of concerns. I did the same test with the reg to gen harness but it tested good.
Second, I polarized and tested output of gen as Wes has described in many posts. Like Wes suggested I used spare pins soldered to a wire to build test wires.
The hard part is the Regulator. I adjusted the gap on the relays but to set the spring tension you need to build a test setup using a shunt (to measure inline current) and reostat with some means to supply power like bench mounting the generator (see regulator guide Wes posted on this site). The current and voltage relays work in unison so you can't just monitor voltage and expect to adjust it.
Luckily I didn't have to build the test setup because it was changing fine after I set the gaps. I ran it with the regulator cover off to monitor the back flow relay. As I recall it should kick on when charging and shut off when the generator is not running but I would double check that. The current relay is the one thing that may pose a problem as you can't really test it without the test setup.
Be carefull if you ever power the regulator with the cover off. And don't try to adjust anyting in the regulator with the cover off. Get a battery cut off switch and make it a habbit of turning it off when you are working on the electrical.
Like I said I'm not the expert but I think these are some good common sense things to look at. One thing is you have to be maticulous and patient when doing electrical so take your time.
First , I tested every lead on the regulator to dist/dash harness for ohms and shorts. I ended up rebuilding part of the harness because of concerns. I did the same test with the reg to gen harness but it tested good.
Second, I polarized and tested output of gen as Wes has described in many posts. Like Wes suggested I used spare pins soldered to a wire to build test wires.
The hard part is the Regulator. I adjusted the gap on the relays but to set the spring tension you need to build a test setup using a shunt (to measure inline current) and reostat with some means to supply power like bench mounting the generator (see regulator guide Wes posted on this site). The current and voltage relays work in unison so you can't just monitor voltage and expect to adjust it.
Luckily I didn't have to build the test setup because it was changing fine after I set the gaps. I ran it with the regulator cover off to monitor the back flow relay. As I recall it should kick on when charging and shut off when the generator is not running but I would double check that. The current relay is the one thing that may pose a problem as you can't really test it without the test setup.
Be carefull if you ever power the regulator with the cover off. And don't try to adjust anyting in the regulator with the cover off. Get a battery cut off switch and make it a habbit of turning it off when you are working on the electrical.
Like I said I'm not the expert but I think these are some good common sense things to look at. One thing is you have to be maticulous and patient when doing electrical so take your time.
