Hi Everyone,

I have recently bought a new voltage regulator for the mini to get to the bottom of my charging problem.

Its the Lucas RB106/2.

The car is negative earth but I am not sure about the new regulator. I would assume it too is negative earth but dont want to risk frying it.

Does anyone know a way of polarising or checking the polarity of them?

Cheers
Matt

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This is a generator charged mini voltage reg.



The polarity is defined by the field windings in the generator itself, not the voltage regulator. As it turns out in this case, physics is on our side (is it the left or right hand rule??) and the regulator will work correctly no matter which direction the current flows through it. You can wire it in normally. It's handy because this way as polarity changes from -ve ground to +ve ground and back again only take about 30 seconds in a generator charging system.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

It's the generator that needs polarising, not the regulator, but you do it at the regulator box.
You only need to do this if you have changed the car from pos to neg earth or vice versa.
Takes about 5 secs...
ENGINE OFF.
1. Remove cover from regulator box.
2. take screwdriver, push down on cutout to close contacts.
3. after a couple of secs, use screwdriver to pull cutout open.

If changing polartity you should also swap the primary wires on the coil...

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Thanks,

Matt

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I was told another method which works as well but doesn't need any disassembly.

1. Turn motor off
2. Remove the large spade terminal from the generator
3. Reverse battery in boot
4. Strike large spade terminal across the terminal it connects onto on the generator (like you would strike a match. Should see sparks, this is good )
5. Reconnect spade.

This reverses the residual magnetism stored in the generator. It's this magnetism which starts the charge ball rolling when the engine begins to run.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

For those wondering my method does the same thing, 12V battery current flows to the generator when you push the cutout closed.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Can't be too many soldiering on these days with the generators...hats off to those who do...

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

All generators in my place. None of this fancy diode eating rubbish down here. (except for the 1275LS, it need an alternator to keep up with the AM radio and the rear window demister.)

Some of us like generators , sports850 has it's generator still of course and van is getting it's "freshened" generator refitted . They just look right in most roundies , alternators look too modern .

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Yeah I liked the generator in my first cooper. It didn't charge very well at low revs, it didn't like uprated H4 headlights very much either with...but at least dealing with a faulty generator only involves a pair of carbon brushes, and it looked nice and old skool under the bonnet.....

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

I've just converted back to generator

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