After shorting the field wire to the battery wire and confirming it was charging I could not get it to charge after hooking everything back up as it should be. The regulator albeit I'm sure Chinese is brand new. The original regulator was lost years ago during the restoration unfortunately.

Thanks

 

Let's back up...

You do know that it isn't a given that the AMP gauge will always show a charge indication. This can be true if the battery is actually charged up.

Which generator do you have? The 36 Amp C8BA, the 40 Amp 8EL, the 60 Amp 8BA? Do you have the matching regulator the C51A-C, the 8BA, the C8BAS (or equivalents)? If you are unsure, provide us pictures, part numbers, receipts, links - whatever you may have to help us identify what we are specifically dealing with and help build an efficient troubleshooting tree for you.

 

I think he was looking at charging voltage across his battery. So when he full fielded his generator the voltage rose at the battery from 6.3 to 8
So it looks like his generator works.
The voltage regulator sounds either bad or way out of adjustment. But that's just my 2 cents.
EDIT:
You are right about AMP gauge not showing a charge on a fully charged battery.
Maybe we should ask the OP what voltage he was seeing across the battery after he hooked everything back up and reved the engine up. Hopefully over 7 volts.

 

Yeah, trying to get back to square one and get a good known foundation and then smartly navigate a troubleshooting tree rather than just chopping the tree down and throwing random branches out.

 

After hooking everything back I'm still reading battery voltage (6.3ish). The reason why I believe it's still not charging is because when I turn the headlights on the amp meters constantly shows a discharging state whereas in my 55 Dodge it will only show a charging or neutral state.

 

I dont have that info off the top of my head other than the generator is original and the truck is 1/2 ton 239 8BA. I can see what info is stamped into the gen housing tonight.

As for the regulator this is the one I bought
https://www.dennis-carpenter.com/tru...YaAjojEALw_wcB

 

That is generally a viable generic voltage regulator, but it may need to be adjusted as they don't necessarily come tuned for your specific generator. Instructions are in the service/shop manual. You should get one if you don't already have one!

 

Thanks for the info, I have both the F1 and F47 shop manual and have glanced at the regulator maintenance section. I'm guessing the shop who looked through the generator never actual adjusted the three regulator circuits like they said they did. Between my ohm meter and amp clamp I should hopefully be able to get it tuned correctly.

 

So I’m pretty much at a loss. Read through the shop manual and it describes a number of procedures with Ford specific diag tools. I tried adjusting all three circuits and couldn’t get it to read a charge.

 

What year is your truck? Does it have a junction block where many of the wires connect? If yes, spend some time tracing wires to be sure all is connected correctly.

I had this problem - a couple wires crossed, then straightened out and the battery charged perfectly.

 

Just a quick question on your Amp Clamp. Is it rated for DC? Many of them, the more consumer types you'll find at the Home Depots, Lowes, etc aren't. Sorry for the question but I was kind of curious.
Also as the engine is running are you seeing any voltage at all on your Armature and your Field terminal?
Thanks!

 

Just a quick question on your Amp Clamp. Is it rated for DC? Many of them, the more consumer types you'll find at the Home Depots, Lowes, etc aren't. Sorry for the question but I was kind of curious.
Also as the engine is running are you seeing any voltage at all on your Armature and your Field terminal? And if you measure for voltage between the Armature and the Battery terminal at the voltage regulator what do you get?
Thanks!
SORRY about the double post! I thought of another question and accidentally added it to a double post.

 

It's an AC/DC amp clamp I borrowed from work. I don't remember the brand, but I'll check tonight and report back. I have not measured voltage between the armature and battery terminals while it's running but I'll check that tonight too.

 

The truck was restored 5 years ago and it has never charged since then so this might be the issue too. I didn't wire it, but we bought a new harness and it's about as simple as it gets so I'm not sure where it could have gotten crossed up at.

 

Thanks Lando!
If it says AC/DC its probably good.
Something else I was thinking about. Last summer I was helping a friend out with his. After was got things straightened out and charging again I took a voltmeter and measured what voltage we had from Field to ground while it was running and charging. If I remember correctly we saw a little over 4 volts.
Another thing, inside or under your voltage regultor there should be 2 wire wound resistors connected to the Field terminal, one to ground, and the other connected to the Armature terminal. Are they both there and neither one of them burned up? If you disconnect all the wires from your regulator, you should see some resistance (see below) when measuring ohms across the Arm and Field terminals.

Sorry for all this stuff. Its just rattling around in my mind!
EDIT:
Correction;
You should see some continuity with an ohmmeter between the ARM and Field Regulator terminals. If you see an open, that is a problem.