Ok so, I'm gonna try the best I can to explain this whole situation. (Sorry in advance just in case you can't understand some stuff). I have a 61 f85 with the 215 v8. Car was running okay I had just got the car driving cause it needed a few things. And on my path to make everything nicer, I had found a new voltage regulator I'm the trunk so I put it on. And now with my understanding it has to polarized? Just learned about that today from a friend a work. Anyways, I started to get a problem with the battery not charging and my gen light came on. Eventually the car wouldn't start. So I assumed it was the generator. I took the generator to a local store and had it rebuilt and now I just made a big mess with everything and can't get the car changing after I put the new generator on. Was wondering what I could start with to try and get it charging again and running normal! I would like to polarize the car again cause I'm pretty sure I did it wrong anyways. So instructions to polarize the regulator and generator would be awesome! Also my generator has an (a) and a (v) on it of that helps. And also my battery seems pretty shot. That might make change something to. Just wondering where I should start! Thanks know you!!!

 

First, connect all the wires to the regulator and generator. Then take a short piece of wire and briefly short between the BAT and GEN terminals on the regulator. Look for a spark.

 

So one cable going to the positive terminal on the battery. And have it branch on to the two cables on the gen right?

 

Both of these terminal are on the regulator. Just use a 16 gauge wire to jumper the terminals. There are some videos on you tube I bet.

 

If you think the battery is pretty shot, change it. Regulators don't need polarized, generators do. The rebuilder should have polarized it for you when he rebuilt it. Polarize like post #2 instructs, but be sure to do it briefly as instructed. Post #4 says the terminals to be jumped are on the generator and this is wrong. The connections to be jumped are on the regulator. Post #3 is wrong. Generator should have connections labled A and F not A and V.

 

Thank you! So on the regulator, just short the bat and gen? And that's it? I took a screwdriver and did the same thing and it still doesn't seem like it's working. The battery when jumped was reading right around 12.6v and it didn't go up at all when I started the car and gave it some gas. Any other ideas I can try?

 

Polarize it when the car is not running. If the genny has been rebuilt and the battery is good, check the wiring. If that is good the regulator is bad. Maybe that is why it was in the trunk. Since you have a local rebuilder near you it may be a good idea to pay him a visit.

 

Sorry I corrected my post.


aa_gen.jpg

 

Ok so I don't know how or what happened, but the gen randomly started working today haha. Only thing I did was polarize it when it was running and it works now!!! Only thing is the battery is so dead it's not starting the car but the gen is putting out good voltage when under some rpm. (Around 14 volts when reving the motor) so I'm gonna put a new battery in it and hopefully be golden! And one more question.. do I have to re polarize it when I put a new battery in? And I'm pretty sure the problem the whole time was that I never polarized the new voltage regulator when I put it in. Thank you everyone for the help!!! Sorry to be dumb about old cars I know about new cars and am just trying to learn about old cars! So thanks again everyone for all the help! I really appreciate it!

 

Again, regulators do not need polarized, generators do. You will not need to repolarize after putting in a new battery unless you should somehow short something out when changing the battery. Of course it won't hurt to polarize it again. I don't see anything dumb. You are smart enough to ask. Nobody knows everything (except my wife).