Generator light on ?

fozworth · Jan 29, 2017

I haven't started my bus for a couple months and the battery was flat .I put some charge in my battery but not fully charged and started her up.Only thing is my generator light is now staying on ,I've not driven it but ran it for 5 mins.Im running a Dynamo not an alternator.Any idea why it would be doing this when it was fine before .

rlepecha · Jan 29, 2017

Generator probably wants polarizing if its been sat a while..

Method:
To polarize a generator, connect a jumper wire from the (DF) terminal on the generator to the generator frame. Remove the fan belt, then connect a wire from the positive terminal on the battery to the (D+) terminal on the generator. The generator shaft should start to spin.

Note: Don't run the generator this way for more than a few seconds to avoid overheating.

Copied from http://www.vw-resource.com/alternator_generator.html

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bac2ba6 · Jan 30, 2017

If the batterys been flat for a while it won't of done the cells inside any good batterys dont like going completely flat especial in this cold weather . It may be nothing to do with your problem but it may not be accepting the charge properly. When not in use it should be connected to a trickle charger or atleast charge your battery every 2 weeks or so.

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fozworth · Jan 30, 2017

I tried a couple tests . Firstly tried the re polarise the genny . But for some reason with the wires removed and then just the one wire going to earth and one going to the battery live it just makes the live wire smoke and nothing happens as far as the pulley spinning ?
Secondly I Ran a metre across the battery with engine off and it read 12.4v then started the engine and there was no increase in volts when I raised the revs from idle to 3000rpm .
So I think I'm going to invest in an alternator conversion and junk the ref and Dynamo .