AGGGGHHHH!
DO NOT DISCONNECT ANY CABLE WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING!
Every year I did a demonstration on the generator test bench for my students to show what can happen when you do that. It was real easy for the voltage to reach over 35 volts. That WILL destroy any computer on the vehicle, the generator's internal diodes and built-in voltage regulator, and any light bulbs that are turned on.
The thinking is that if you disconnect either cable and the engine stays running, the generator must be working but a lot of them will stop working due to the voltage regulator responding to the dips in the "ripple" voltage being produced. That will make a perfectly good generator appear to be bad so that test is not valid.
If a mechanic is caught pulling this stunt he will typically get one verbal warning. For the second offense he will be fired. It's that big a deal.
Some generators respond to the high points in the ripple. That momentary higher voltage goes right back to the field winding and creates a stronger magnetic field. That stronger electromagnet creates a higher output voltage which again creates a stronger electromagnet. It's a vicious circle and voltage can keep on rising until something gives out. The main thing that smoothes out that ripple so it doesn't affect the voltage regulator or the generator is the battery.
Three things are needed to generate the output current. They are a magnet, (electromagnet, in this case), a coil of wire, and most importantly, movement between them. That's why the belt needs to make it spin. One thing that can save you from doing damage by removing a battery cable is not raising engine speed. Generators are relatively inefficient at low engine speeds and their output voltage is less likely to rise to dangerous levels, ... As long as you don't raise engine speed.
In this case you likely damaged the instrument cluster which is a computer module. Consider yourself real lucky that's all that was affected. First be sure to check for a blown fuse inside the vehicle and under the hood. You can also check if any pointers on the gauges were hit with a voltage spike and went all the way around and got stuck on the wrong side of the stop pin. There's a couple of ways to fix that. If they are not, most likely the cluster will need to be replaced.
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Sunday, July 28th, 2013 AT 12:02 AM
