> I'll try tightening the belt a little. Could be the same effect as
> the no gas in the gas tank so no reading on the gauge.
Not likely, IMO. Until the red light goes out, the generator spins very
freely, so even a very loose belt will spin it enough to turn out the light.
> I thought I had read,
> that the generators charge very little at idle????
It's true, they don't charge much at idle. If your engine idles very slow,
the light might even not go out until you rev the engine just a bit. But
1000 engine rpm is plenty to extinguish the light, and once it's out, it
usually stays out.
> This one so far does not move anywhere near positive or even move at all.
The warning light on the dash compares the generator output voltage to the
ignition circuit voltage. So, the light being on says the output voltage of
the generator is still far below battery voltage. (Barring some mistake in
the wiring.) There is no question of how much current it puts out at this
point, it's not even connected ! (A DC generator has to be disconnected
from the battery when the engine is not running, as otherwise the generator
will try to act like a motor. It's not strong enough to turn the engine,
but at the very least would run the battery down. Alternators, aka AC
generators, don't have this problem because they have big diodes to block
the current flow.)
> According to the manual, if
> I pull the two harness wires off the generator and connect them together,
> hook a lead to a volt meter and to one of the spade connectors on the
> generator and the other to ground I should get some kind of reading.
That's true, but it's kind of a PITA to get to the generator terminals on a
TR3A, especially with the engine hot. Personally, I would start by probing
at the control box. First check the voltage between D and E (engine
running), to be sure it's much less than battery voltage. Then check
between D and F. If you find voltage between D and F, but D-E is less than
12v, then the regulator is not working and you can address it first. It
might be that cleaning and adjustment is all it needs ... but most likely if
it's that bad, it will give more trouble in the future and really should be
replaced.
Then you can try the test you mentioned, but using the control box end of
the wires (D and F terminals). If it fails, then odds are very high the
generator is bad ... but you can try the test again right at the generator
to eliminate any chance that it's one of the wires.
Randall
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