# Generator and voltage drop



## slackjaw (May 11, 2020)

HH120 and a Delco-Remy starter generator is causing me a "unique" charging problem.

My generator wasn't charging and one of the field coil terminals was worn so the cables weren't staying on tight. I took it apart, replaced the bearings and the field coil with the worn terminal. When I hook everything back together, my ammeter shows current going up to ~14amps, however, only getting about 12.8V at the battery. Same thing if I ground the field terminal.

Tracing the wires, the output of the voltage regulator goes to the ammeter, which goes back to the solenoid, where it attaches to the battery. If I remove the wire at the solenoid from connecting to the battery and attach it to the lights, I get current a nice 14.2 volts. If I measure that at the generator, I get 14.7 volts. If I ground the field, the generator happily goes up to ~20 volts. However, whenever I attach it back to the battery, it drops to around 12.8V.

Took it to a local alternator shop that's been around for ages. Was told it all tests ok with a load. Field toils tested good, checked the armature on a growler, no problems.

So back to my vehicle...

My two thoughts are voltage drop. I have a 14 gauge wire coming off the starter through the regulator through the ammeter, total about 11 feet. Though the original wiring was 14 gauge, so I'm suspicious that this setup could be a problem.

Other thing is my battery is a large fairly new Group 24. I tried another spare Group 24 I had laying around and same problem.

Is it possible the battery is so large it's dragging down the voltage in some way? Other ideas?

Separately, has anyone replaced a HH120 setup with an alternator flywheel? I'm getting tired of this...


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