O.K., After my previous charging system problem questions I decided I need the factory manual to continue with figuring it out. I ordered it in the week before Thxgivn'. I finally arrived yesterday. It's the BEST $100 I've spent on my DCTD yet! I shoulda' done it sooner.

After reading through the Battery /Starting/ Charging System sections I've noticed that they always call it a GENERATOR, never an alternator. Can anyone confirm that the DCTD is equipped with a generator not an alternator?

The reason I ask is that to diagnose whether the generator or the voltage regulating circuitry in the 'brain box' is at fault, the manual specifies that a carbon pile battery load tester be used to do the tests. As I look around town for the equipment needed to do the diagnosis, I am being steered towards "capacitance" testing equipment. They are trying to tell me that these things will do the job. As I look into it a bit further I note that this type of equipment is aimed at ALTERNATORS, not gen's with a separate v-r. I welcome any informed discussion on this subject.

Thx
FF

 

Funny, my Haynes refers to it as an alternator. I wonder if it is just a hold over from the "olden" days when that was all that was available was generators. What you have is definately an alternator. I don't think there are any vehicles made with generators any more. You should be able to follow the diagnostics in your book and figure it out.
Tom

 

an alternator is in fact an AC generator

 

The accepted terminology has gone back to generator in automotive circles, don't ask me why. All alternators are generators.

The term generator , properly describes any machine capable of converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. Generator describes a machine that has a generating winding called an armature, that rotates in a fixed magnetic field and that supplies the current to the outside world via a commutator, a kind of rotating switch, and then through brushes to the output. The commutator converts, or "rectifies", the armature's alternating current to direct current. It may also be described as a dynamo.

The term alternator implies a machine that naturally produces a.c. current, but as described above, the generator does that also. The main feature of an alternator is that the heavy generating winding is fixed, and so now called a stator, while the magnetic field rotates.

 

Thx guys.
As my dear ol' mother always told to me: "Shut your mouth and open your eyes!" After reading your comments I went back into the manual and found that the generator delivers AC current to 3 +diodes and 3 -diodes. From the diodes rectified DC current is delivered to the vehicle's electrical system, all the signs of being an alternator.

I'll probably be back with more questions as this project progresses. I'm off to call a mfgr. of capacitance testing equipment to see if theirs will do the job.