9n Electrical Problem

[wrk]

I have a 9n--6 volt. I have thus far replaced the coil, condenser,points, plugs and wires, resistor, ammeter, voltage regulator, and generator over the past few months. The battery was replaced last fall.

The voltage regulator was the last item replaced. Before that, if the battery cable was removed the engine would die despite a new generator.

However, what I have now is after I ran the tractor after changing the voltage regulator, the next morning I came out and the battery was dead. I put the charger on over night and the next day it started right up. I ran it for sometime without problem, but never shut it off. Then the next day I came out and the battery was dead again. I charged over night and it started up and ran fine, still not turning it off. Then the next day, a dead battery.

Does this sound like I may have a short somewhere? If so where might I look? Or, does anyone have any ideas?

 

[GManBart]

Problems like that can be really annoying....I know! My 8N did something similar, and I finally got annoyed enough that I simply put a 12V conversion kit in it, and it's been fine since. It was well worth the $100....I used the battery out of my truck, and put a new battery in my truck (it was 7 years old). BTW, Amazon.com carries a really nice conversion kit, if you decide to go that route.

After charging overnight, and running for a while, did you think to try restarting immediately after shutting down? If it won't restart, that tells you that the generator wasn't charging, and you were running off the battery the whole time.


Just saw that you're a new member...welcome! :welcome:

 

[wrk]

Thanks.

I put in a new generator and voltage regulator last week and I've disconnected the battery cable while running and the engine still runs. Tomorrow I'll run it a while then stop the engine and try and start it again and see what happens.

 

[LD1]

You need to find out where the juice is going. You need a meter that will read DC amps. Most meters can measure small current draw inline. IE: Unhook a battery cable, and place meter leads on that cable and the post it came off of. You need to be down to under 100mA draw. Start unhooking things to see what is consuming the juice.

Are you positive things are wired correctly?? Positive ground??

 

[Qapla]

On some of those older model regulators you need to polarize them. This usually entails connecting the system up and removing the ground and then touching it back while the system is live but not running.

This will set the regulator to positive or negative ground, depending ob your system.

 

[wrk]

You need to find out where the juice is going. You need a meter that will read DC amps. Most meters can measure small current draw inline. IE: Unhook a battery cable, and place meter leads on that cable and the post it came off of. You need to be down to under 100mA draw. Start unhooking things to see what is consuming the juice.

Are you positive things are wired correctly?? Positive ground??

I'm properly hooked up to the battery. Yesterday I could run with the battery disconnected and when I was finished Ileft the battery disconnected so I'll see if I have juice this AM. Have to dig out my meter.

Thanks

 

[wrk]

Thanks. This is a new voltage regulator, so I should think I'd be OK...but...

 

[Soundguy]

tHAT'S PURE -BS-... REGUALTORS DO NOT GET POLARIZED. GENERATORS DO.


To the OP.. please quit pullingthe bat cable off.. it makes voltage spikes and unloads the gen/reg/cutout and is generally not nice to the system. Kinda like slapping a baby till it stops crying. might work.. but is not good.

Now.. what gen do you have.. most 9n would have a 1 wire gen and a cutout.. though you could have a gen with a reg, used as reg.. or a gen with a reg, only using the cutout portion.

In short.. if you did pull the bat cable off and it stayed running.. gen is polarized.. no need to keep beating that horse.

now.. 2 issues come to mind... either the cutout is stuck, or you have something. perhaps ignition, drawing power.

to test the cutout, at shutdown, slip the belt off the genny.. if the genny tries to spin.. the cutout is stuck.

another test you can do is get a test lamp.. pull chassis ground bat cable.. put a test lamp inline with it. it will light up if you have a draw.

now.. start disconnecting wires untillthe light goes out.. last one was the draw.

IE.. pull wire off coil, pull wire off gen armature.. etc.

I bet it will be ne of those 2...

last possibility is the battery is simply self discharging overnight.. after a good charge up let it set disconnected. if it is dead.. bad bat.

post back.

On some of those older model regulators you need to polarize them. This usually entails connecting the system up and removing the ground and then touching it back while the system is live but not running.

This will set the regulator to positive or negative ground, depending ob your system.

 

[wrk]

Thanks Soundguy.

I only pulled the cable while running once maybe twice to make sure the generator was powering the ignition system. The generator is a single wire replacement I got from Stephens Tractor a couple of weeks ago. The battery has been disconnected since last night. I'll be trying to see if it is working or not this evening. Then I'll see about the other checks you mentioned.

 

[wrk]

OK. I reattached the battery and it started up after sitting disconnected for 24hrs. Now I'll try and find a short.