Ranger 9 charging circuit issue....?.

I'd use Krylon's Crystal Clear - a clear Acrylic spray that I've used for a long time to both waterproof and insulate "stuff".

It comes both as a "thin" version and a "thick" version (often used by hobbiests for decoupage projects) and is available at paint, big box, and Wally-World stores.

It's also cheap!

Heat-shrink tubing/tape.

Plain old-fashioned Scotch 33 electrical tape can also work.

Back to the "thick" Krylon Crystal Clear again, perhaps only _on both sides_ of the paper.

If spraying/coating the stator, chuck it into a lathe and get it spinning at a moderate speed while applying the coating both to assure balance but, also, to throw off the excess. Let the coating dry while the stator rotates.

Then rewind the stator.

Hope this helps.

Rewinding the bad coils would be easy, except for finding the correct wire in small quantity. If you're going to try rewinding, let me know and I'll save you a lot of grief. What else does this power? Don't give up on just opening the short. Bake it in an oven and the coils may loosen up. Depends on what they used to seal it at the factory. Use your welding gloves and a wooden stick to push the windings away from the damage while it's hot. It's going to smell and stink so be ready for the static.

Here is a good test for finding out if the individual coils are shorted. Put a large, 100 to 150 watt light bulb in series with the windings. Power it up and put a hacksaw blade on the laminated end. It will buzz. If they buzz less or do not buzz at all, you have a shorted coil. Grainger's has the red insulating paint in spray cans. You can use any heavy paper to insulate the windings from the core.

Al

Did a quick search @ Grainger's. :

Don't cut the laminations! They have to be there to keep the magnetic field going in the proper direction, or the magic electrons can't be herded in the right direction to do work. If anything, I'd plan on removing the windings on the damaged wings and bashing the laminations back flat, possibly warm them up a bit with a Rosebud to make them compliant. But not past dull red, or you could mess up their magnetic properties.

But before that scrounge around for a replacement stator. Doesn't look THAT expensive, unless you have to buy brand new.

And if they quote a ridiculous price, you ask them whether they run a parts store or a Museum - Parts stores sell replacement parts to keep the world moving, museums put priceless things on a shelf behind glass solely to admire and study.

The voltage regulator might be the killer part of the deal, considering it's a Permanent Magnet rotor you can't just adapt an automotive regulator. Probably a brute force zener clamp regulator that sinks the excess to a resistor.

You have to transition to a fine-stranded motor lead wire before you leave the coils, then wrap and tie the connection point with lacing twine and varnish - the vibration will quickly kill solid lead wires if you try anything else. And the sheath is probably silicone covered fiberglass sleeve, readily available.

Fishpaper between the windings and the slot/core - standard stuff when winding motors, choose your thickness and sheet sizes, McMaster stocks it. And the electrical insulating spray varnishes are standard, McM has them too. The magnet wire itself is going to run you $25 to $50 by itself, unless you find it surplus.

But I wouldn't try rewinding one on a core that is physically damaged like yours is - go find one that failed electrically and the core is good, and you can use yours as an example of how to wind it and bring out the leads. Note that some windings will go CW and others go CCW, and 12 wraps is 12 not 11 or 13, you don't want to mess that up.

Not necessarily - there could be a Bean Counter out there going "We don't want to be sitting on this pile of parts for 50 years, and we don't want to scrap them, and we don't want pissed off customers that go buy a Miller - so price the damned things to move!"

Yeah - If it has a 120V output winding in the generator, get a small solid state battery charger sufficient to run the ignition and forget about that "lighting coil" alternator for now. If you find a good used coil and a regulator in your wanderings, then you split the unit and reinstall it.

If it had a front pulley on it I'd say hang a generic 12V 30A car alternator off the nose, wire it in with a "ALT" warning lamp and resistor for the exciter circuit, and be done with it. But it doesn't.

(Or does it? But don't sacrifice the pull starter to get one, unless they do it Old Kohler Style with a knotted loose rope in the sheave.)

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DIY is nice, but I suspect if you can find an electric motor shop (you can find anything, right?) they may be able to do the whole job faster, cheaper and with less hassle.

I believe its just the generator for charging the battery.

How can you save me grief? You wind coils or have another stator?

Gunner

"Obama, raises taxes and kills babies. Sarah Palin - raises babies and kills taxes." Pyotr Flipivich

The engine is an Onan 18 hp.....electric start twin cylinder.

I just looked (and added additional pictures to the picasa album online) and its an Onan P218 engine.....

One assumes that Onan used the stock stator etc to power the beasty.

Onan parts in my experience....cost ones first born and a t*****al.

on the other hand...I just checked Ebay...and there are a number of them there..including one with the coil pack, regulator, stator and ignition module.......

ebay # 320297996063

I wonder if the P220 parts are the same as the P218? They look the same, and it wouldnt be a bad thing to have spare electricals on hand, ne? Not to mention that voltage regulator....

Gunner

"Obama, raises taxes and kills babies. Sarah Palin - raises babies and kills taxes." Pyotr Flipivich

Check out ebay item no. 150293176299 - purports to be a P218 alternator stator.

Grant

I had the same problem with a Miller unit. had the same engine. If I remember right, the stator and regulator were not that expensive. I replaced the regulator anyway and the old one was still good. I don't know the cost of the rotor as mine was ok. Go to an Onan dealer to check the cost.

Tom

Bought a used stator on Ebay for a total cost of $31. Its in route. I figure I likely need a voltage regulator, no idea of how to test the current one, but figure since a wire burned completely off it..the solid state unit is likel to be toast.

Still looking for one.

This is the regulator

"Obama, raises taxes and kills babies. Sarah Palin - raises babies and kills taxes." Pyotr Flipivich

Harleys use a similar permanent magnet charging system . If the charge amps is around 19 or so , a Shovelhead regulator will work . Up to 32 amps (at 12v) can be handled by an early Evolution regulator . Both are a shunt-to-ground type regulator .

Ahh, We have a Winner! Gunner, if you get that far, compare the circuit diagrams and prices. As long as it isn't in a chromed case, they probably sell a lot more Harley regulators than Onan or Kohler which would drive down the price.

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I may still have a 19 amp reg hanging around . Upgraded my (RIP) '76 Shovelhead to a 32 amp system . Fershure still got a stator and rotor . Aftermarket will be cheaper than HD ...