# High charging voltage on Bolens 1050 tractor



## red_neck (Apr 8, 2011)

I'm going nuts chasing this charging problem.

Charging voltage at the Battery measured 16.5 V using the original Delco Remy regulator which is obviously too high. I ordered a STENS 435-040 for Briggs & Stratton 295924 which crosses over to the 1118988 Delco. Voltage measured at the battery slowly rose from 13.0 V to 15.5 V after about a 5 minute engine warmup at mid RPM's. This is better but not the expected 14.5 V.

I took the generator, new STEN regulator and battery to an alternator/starter/generator repair shop and they confirmed the STEN regulator was running above 15 V and said the Generator was good. They recommended I get a new regulator and to change the battery.

So I ordered another STEN regulator from a different distributor and installed a new battery. Results are EXACTLY the same, charging starts out about 13 V and warms up to near 15.5V at low to mid RPM's.

It can't be a wiring problem since the repair shop confirmed the problem on their independent setup.

Now what? All I can think of is these STEN regulators are set high, but its strange how they take about 5 minutes before ramping up to 15.5 V. I hate to order a third regulator, this is getting crazy and not all distributors have the greatest return policy. I was toying with ordering from bolenspartsandsupplies since I have had good luck with them, but hate to have the same problem and not be able to return the regulator. For all I know the tractor has been running at 16.5 V for years, yet my batteries and ignition system have lasted a long time. The only reason I checked the voltage in the first place was the tractor stalled a couple times recently which was extremely unusual so I started probing around.

Just looking for ideas I might have missed, I'm getting tempted just to leave it as-is with the new STENS regulator.

*"If it ain't too broke, don't fix it"?*


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## FredM (Nov 18, 2015)

Mechanical voltage regulators can be adjusted at the field bobbin, if the output has been as you have stated, why change it if the old battery didn't boil!, generators don't have the amperage output of an alternator.

I have attached a PDF on how to adjust a regulator which you may have trouble understanding the lingo, but go to the bottom of the instruction sheet and read the voltages, I think you are worrying too much about output.

The regulator can be adjusted.



https://www.jacad.com/trtriumph.com/Regulator%20adjustment.pdf


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## red_neck (Apr 8, 2011)

Thanks for the PDF document. I found the instructions for my particular regulator as well, but they were not nearly as straight forward.
There was one interesting paragraph that caught my attention:

*"It is important that only a good quality MOVING COIL VOLTMETER (0‐20 volts) is used when checking the regulator. The pulsing nature of the voltage will prevent a digital voltmeter from settling on a single reading." *

My digital meter does settle to a single reading, but it would be interesting to test it with an analog meter.

I have no idea how long the old regulator was running at 16.5 V but that can't be good long term for the points or coil or the battery. Like I said, its been stalling/cutting out lately which is unusual for this machine so who knows if that was related to the excessive regulator voltage and 16.5 V is definitely way too high. The generator will output whatever current is necessary to apply 16.5 V to the battery, that's just ohm's law in action, so even the generator was being stressed. I don't have to tell you, these old coils and generators are not easy to find and if you do they are expensive.

I think I'll just keep running it with the STENS, its a lot better than the old regulator. From what I read in other posts, people just ended up sorting thru bins of regulators until they found one with good output, but these days you can't find them in bins so you have to mail order.


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