Topic: Polarizing a Generator

[Chris]

My GEN light in the car is staying on and it's not the battery or the belts being loose. I had my generator rebuilt and never polarized it, so I think this is the root cause of my light staying on. I've read a number of approaches to polarizing a generator on other sites but I wanted feedback from someone who's done it on this site. I tried the technique with the voltage regulator but that did not keep the light off. I've seen a procedure that called for running a jumper wire from the + side of the battery to the G terminal on the generator (removing the terminal wires first) and just tapping the terminal to cause a spark and then stop.
Does this sound right? Anyone done this before and successfully got the GEN light to stay off?

Thanks.

[CharlesTurner]

Did you follow the procedure in the Ford shop manual?

[Hipo giddyup]

  I just got my rebuilt motor running this past spring and had to polarize the rebuilt generator as well. I followed the procedure of jumping the wire at the voltage regulator and have not had any issues. I can send you the procedure once I get home this evening just so you can double check and perhaps try it again. I have been told you have to perform this everytime the battery is disconnected.

[Chris]

I checked the shop manual for 64 Fords (with Mustang supplement) and the 65 shop manual but did not see a section on polarizing the generator. I was hoping that someone had done this at the generator. If you know the procedure, that would be great.

[jwc66k]

Try -
It took me about a minute to find it on Youtube via Yahoo search. This is how it's done at the regulator. There's a companion video on how to do this at the generator. Damn, it's been a long time since I had to do this.
Jeff - is this video worthy of entry in the FAQs?
Jim

[Chris]

I tried the regulator approach, did not work. I've seen the videos on the generator procedure as well (Google) but I was looking for feedback from the forum on procedures that have been used, did not want to start trying approaches on web videos without knowing if they were correct first. I guess there is no Ford-specified procedure.

[Chris]

So I tried the regulator approach agian. My voltage regulator has three terminals on the passenger side with the Field terminal in the center and the Battery terminal at the top. With my car running, I use a jumper wire and place one end on the battery terminal and then tap the Field terminal a couple of time producing a small spark. When I do this, my GEN light that has been on ends up going off. Now, when I turn the car off and then turn it back on, the GEN light comes back on and stays on. The polarizing method I used does not seem to be permanent.

Any ideas?

[Chris]

I found this procedure for polarizing a Ford generator on another mustang forum, will try it tomorrow and report back how it goes:

"The numbers you gave is for a Ford generator, it is built different than an autolite which is the first polarizing procedure you found. The polarizing procedure for your generator is to have the wire on the F term of the generator disconnected, and to run a wire from the pos term of the battery and touch the F term on the generator to get a spark. Glad you got it going. Good Luck."

[Chris]

I fixed the polarization of the generator, now my GEN light is staying off. Here's the polarization procedure for a FORD generator (they are not all the same) when polarizing at the generator (versus the voltage regulator):

Unhook the wires from the Field ("F") terminal on the generator. Now take a jumper wire and touch one end to the "+" side of the battery and then tap the Field terminal a couple of times to produce a spark. Now rehook/attach the Field wire to the F terminal on the generator. The GEN light should stay off after starting the car.

Chris

[J_Speegle]

I fixed the polarization of the generator, now my GEN light is staying off. Here's the polarization procedure for a FORD generator (they are not all the same) when polarizing at the generator (versus the voltage regulator):

Unhook the wires from the Field ("F") terminal on the generator. Now take a jumper wire and touch one end to the "+" side of the battery and then tap the Field terminal a couple of times to produce a spark. Now rehook/attach the Field wire to the F terminal on the generator. The GEN light should stay off after starting the car.

Thanks Chris for sharing the "fix"  Hopefully it will help members in the future. Its been a long time since I had to do the process (40's stuff last time I did it)  and I couldn't recall the process.

Thanks again