[John Mackie]

i have been reading the above posts about polarising generators. one thing you have to be aware is that there are TWO different ways to connect the field windings in a gene.
Autolite and Ford connect the winding between the terminal and ground.
Delco R . and Bosch connect the winding between the LIVE brush holder and the field terminal. Applieng power to the field terminal on a delco gene will cause the current flow through the field winding in the reverse direction to normal. it is ok to " flash " the field term. on a ford gene as this is the normal direction of current flow.
the way i was tought to test a gene was to "motorise " it. On a Delco. gene apply 6 volts to the output tern. and earth the field terminal as well as the case . on a Ford gene. connect 6 volts to both the armature and field terminals earthing the case. In both cases the polarity has to be the same as you want to use
The gene should rotate at about 600 rpm and draw about 6 amps. Gently load up the gene with a small pice of wood . the gene should not show any signs of jerking and the amps will increase to about 15 . watch out for excessive current or heating. the gene is also polarised to the way the batery was hooked up.
I hope this solves some of the mysterys,

John.