Trigger

hottigr

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CAT Member
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841
When my tach started more or less working again after 35 years, I was gaining confidence that the Prince of Darkness had moved on to another vehicle. A couple of rides later, my car was no longer charging. I have the stock charging system with a generator. The generator checked out o.k. The regulator was o.k. the battery was o.k. At this point, I was reaching the limit of my electrical expertise, so I called the guy who had previously rebuilt my generator 12 years ago, only to find out he had a mobile business now. He checked out the system, came to the same conclusions I did, but then he jumped something, and the system started charging again. I turned off the engine, refired it, and it wasn't charging. He jumped the same thing again, and it started charging. His assessment? I had a wiring issue. I thought that was interesting, because I hadn't changed a thing regarding wiring. He focused on the ignition warning light, which was disconnected when I bought the car 35 years ago. Years ago, I saw the connectors under the dash and attempted to get that warning lamp back in the circuit and immediately got smoke! Now I know why the P.O. had not connected it! My mobile electric guy looked at the wiring diagram, my CAT dash diagram, and concluded that the ignition warning light needed to be connected to trigger the system to charge. The P.O. had not wired the ignition warning light properly, but the electric dude found the proper wires under the dash and connected them. No smoke. The light works as intended. The car charges when it's supposed to, which is anything off of idle. Some really good detective work. I asked him why my car had been charging all these years without the ignition warning lamp in the circuit and he said sometimes just RPM fluctuations can start the system charging. I don't know how long I would have looked before I would have considered this to be the issue, so I'm glad I called him. If this helps one other person, you're welcome!
 

hottigr

Gold forum user
CAT Member
Messages
841
Update...Had an intermittent issue with one of the generator brushes sticking. It would test ok, charge for a while and then stop charging again. Added another layer of complexity to the issue. All is good now.
 

Austin Healer

Gold forum user
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1,503
Very hard to get the "smoke" back inside the insulation! Of course, Tigers will require the negative ground version!



lucas smoke.jpg
 

hottigr

Gold forum user
CAT Member
Messages
841
Haha- yep! Me thinks the PO had tried to ground the ignition warning light instead of + in and + out.
 
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