35Terraplane generator regulator question

farmermike
farmermike Member
in HUDSON
Gentlemen,

My 35 Terraplane G special is not charging the battery. The idiot light does not light up when you turn the key to start the motor. 

I had the battery disconnected for quite some time when I had the transmission rebuilt and I never polarized the generator when I reconnected the battery and drove the car last summer (with no working idiot light).  I never gave flashing the generator a thought so I am not sure if that is the problem or not. Polarizing the gen. now does not help. 

The mechanical procedure manual (MPM) shows several different circuits, either with or without a regulator. According to the MPM my car seems to have a circuit breaker instead of a regulator judging by their drawing but I also have another device wired in that I cannot find anywhere in the either the MPM or my Motors Manual. It has some sort of adjustment off to the side. My car has a factory radio installed. The MPM lists using an  Auto-Lite #TC4304A  when radio equipped and a CBA-4002 if not.

I have some photos of the "regulator" and ???. I would appreciate any insight into what I have going on and what these are and where to source them. Please disregard the connections, they came with the car. Soldering connections are on the list. There is always a list isn't there?

Thanks,

Mike
 

Comments

  • Geoff
    Geoff Senior Contributor
    It's anybodies guess what is under that cover until you remove it and have a look. The wires to it are from the Armature and Field terminals, so it would appear to be some sort of manual charge control.   
    Geoff 
  • Park_W
    Park_W Senior Contributor
    edited March 2016

    Geoff, isn't that just a "cutoff relay" vs a regulator?  I don't see enough wires for a regulator.

    Mike, have you checked the voltage coming out of the generator?  Needs to be 7 or more.

  • farmermike
    farmermike Member
    update,

    I took the generator in to a local automotive electrical repair shop and had the generator bench tested. The tech said the generator is good. 

    I took Geoff's advice and removed the covers of the regulators and took some photos. Notice that the knurled knob is not an adjustment but houses a short fuse.

    I contacted Dave Kostansek yesterday to see if he might have either of these. While he could not help me locate them he was very helpful in explaining what they are. It appears that Hudson had two different styles of regulators that they used on the 35 Terraplane. A single regulator and two stage (mine) that uses a circuit breaker, with a fuse, in conjunction with a regulator. 

    Mike
  • Geoff
    Geoff Senior Contributor
    I'm sorry I have no experience with the two-stage regulator, but the adjustments are  covered in the  Workshop Manual, Section 6 page 9.   If you can't get it working, then it is not difficult to  change to a two-brush set-up with  later type  three-coil regulator, which is much better.   Or simpler even, to eliminate the regulator and go back to just the cut-out.  
    Good luck,
    Geoff 
  • farmermike
    farmermike Member
    Finally had some time to trouble shoot my regulator issue. The fused regulator seems to be working fine and the circuit breaker ( closest to the motor) seems to be my issue. The tell tail light wire attaches to the bottom of the breaker. If you jump across the contact the idiot light functions as it should. I cleaned all the contacts and even got rid of the crimped connections and replaced with soldered.

    Is there someone who repairs these things? I also have a regulator that is for a 37 terraplane but not sure if it will work. It would replace both the regulator and breaker but it has four tabs instead of the three tabs I am used to. It has an A tab (armature) , F tab ( field) , Bat (battery, and a T tab. What is the T tab for? Is that for the tell tail light?

    Thanks,

    Mike
  • Park_W
    Park_W Senior Contributor
    Yes, that's what it is.
  • farmermike
    farmermike Member
    Success, at least for the moment.

     I took the regulator and circuit breaker off of the car to replace both with the nos 37 regulator I bought on Ebay. Before I started to drill mounting holes in the firewall to mount the new regulator I decided to take another look at the circuit breaker using a magnifying glass and a strong light while I had it on the bench. What I was able to see from one angle was that while the contacts were closed as they should be, the small flat piece of metal that runs from one post over to the contact next to the white resistance wire was just barely not touching, just open enough to not make contact to run the tell tail light. I very carefully bent the flat piece to touch when the contact was closed and the tell tail is now working.

    I am resending a photo of the circuit breaker and you can see the contact next to the white resistance wire that was giving me such trouble. Not the contacts fault but the metal tab that was not quite right. I still have no idea why it quit working. I tried the key with the engine hot and cold, running or not, and for now everything works as it should. Hopefully I have put this gremlin behind me.

    As I started this stream I thought I should update folks on what I found in case something like this happens to them they can have a heads up on what might be the cause.

    Mike


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