Chorehorse question.

[Jordan Baker]

Hi everyone


Currently working on restoring a chorehorse generator I recently picked up. Does anyone know what the proper colour was on the small round charging plate? I've seen examples with the plate being red and others being black. This is the plate mounded beneath the charging rate knob.

I'll post pictures of my restoration efforts later tonight.

[Bruce MacMillan]

Mine was red, made by Outboard Marine & Manufacturing.

[Jordan Baker]

Thanks Bruce.

On futher inspection I found traces of red inside some of the small letters.

I also found a nice C Broad Arrow stamped into the generator housing. It was under a few layers of paint.

As for the restoration I stripped the unit down into individual pieces and sub assemblies. Ran most of them through the sandblasting cabinet and then used a rattle can of green to paint it. I do need to replace the spark plug cable. But that will come another day.

[Jordan Baker]

Things are coming together. Thankfully no bits were left over.

[Jordan Baker]

The nice little stamped C.

[Robert Bergeron]

Nice job Jordan.

You know they start with the batteries you want to charge don't you ?

Easy to start as eating icecream.

Just touch that contact button and away it goes.

Then you adjust the carburator and it can go on till the fuel tank is empty.

What a nice , sturdy and usefull piece of kit !

Cheers.

Robert

[Barry Churcher]

Jordan, Jordan, Jordan, you're killing me. I wanted to show Bob, Mister Fussy, that works for me, what a wonderful job you are doing on the chore horse. He pointed out that I had owned the chore horse for years and never did anything to it while you have owned it a week and have done a nice job restoring it. That is until he spotted that blue Marrette connector. Please help me out here Jordan and replace that so I don't have to listen to him anymore.
Barry

[Jordan Baker]

Robert. Yeah I've been told about the battery start with the push button. I simply ran out of time yesterday afternoon due to having to go to work in the evening.


Barry, please let your mister fussy know he's got a point. It's only been a short week for me working on this piece. However tomorrow night I gain an extra hour......who knows what I'll accomplish with that free time......maybe just maybe I can swap out the offending blue marrette for something more vintage. I think I have some porcelain ones kicking around. . And by "swap" I mean to say replace what I found in place by a previous owner. Not wanting to point fingers but *cough* Barry Churcher *cough* it was yours previously.

Although I'm still trying to figure out what the modern toggle switch is for. It has been wired into the electrical contraption that sits below the amp meter.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Jordan, any idea what the colour was on the square face where the ammeter gauge and side panels are? One of mine that is peeling post-war paint to show brown underneath would indicate these parts were grey, similar to a 19 set face.

[BCA]

Both the WW2 CHI-395 and the post-war conversion PU-5008 have silver-coloured control panels (front and sides) as well as silver-coloured rope pullies. I think aluminum spray paint is close. Perhaps someone has figured out the circuit changes that were done to convert the 15 volt WW2 units to the 30 volt post-war units. ............ Brian

[Jordan Baker]

I did find a few flakes of silver paint. I will be going back and repainting those parts tomorrow.

Thanks for the clarification Brian.

[BCA]

I have always been surprised at the minimal attention to restoring these nifty little generators. I think their time has come.

[Grant Bowker]

Thank you for raising the question Brian, that's something I've always wondered about too. You would think it might be a relatively simple change in the construction (but maybe not easy to reverse the change after the fact).

Originally Posted by BCA

Perhaps someone has figured out the circuit changes that were done to convert the 15 volt WW2 units to the 30 volt post-war units. ............ Brian

[Mike Kelly]

I had a problem with my chorehorse, trying to start it . After looking at everything I discovered there is a suppression resistor in the ignition lead to the spark plug , the resistor is hidden under the shielded covering of the ignition lead . That resistor was faulty .

The other type of chorehorse found over here , which looks similar to the Canadian version, is the US made one, it also generates 240 AC as well as the 14V DC , I guess it was made for Lend-Lease .

[charlie fitton]

I looked at both the 12V and 24V manuals, and they use the same schematic drawing for both. So - not a lot of hints there. I was hoping to see a simple change like parallel connected fields switched to series.

RPM didn't change by much, so that leaves the number of windings in the fields themselves. Not an easy switch.

On the other hand, by turning the generator output amperage down, you could put a bit of a charge into a single 12V battery in it's stand alone mode. I think modern batteries capable of 8000 watts of output can handle 300 watts in...

standing by to be corrected...

[Jordan Baker]

Went back and have begun repainting the control box. I also refinished the output control tag. There wasn't much depth left to the plate so scrapping the red paint off wouldn't work. I used white glue painted onto the letters as a paint mask. Once painted I simply scratched and peeled off the glue. Worked alright.

One thing with my generator was that there was an additional toggle switch wired in. On further inspection it has been added to replace the push button starter switch. Hopefully the cutout relay is still good.

[Jordan Baker]

Lastly are some detail pictures of some other chorehorse's. All were upgraded to the postwar electrical configuration. I was hoping to find one in the pile that was still orginal to compare the wiring.

The last two pictures are of a simple guard for the airbreather tube. My generator had the two cast mounts on the fuel tank and bolts but no guard. Whereas others I have seen dont even have a mount for the guard. Im guessing its just one of the many small production changes.

[Robin Craig]

In Canadian service, what vehicles would have carried these little gems in the postwar period and was there any usage outside battery charging?

thanks

[charlie fitton]

Constantly strapped to the fenders of CP 3/4 tons, and once - much later ( early 80s?) Saw the ground unit of a hel sqn using 3 in parallel to power up the ground radios..

[chris vickery]

Typically used in CMP Wire-5 radio trucks

[David Dunlop]

Pre war, these units were a very common item on prairie farms, providing DC power to farm buildings for many years before the electrical grids were pushed out to the rural areas. These farm generators were identical to the wartime unit, with the exception of not being equipped with the guard assemblies covering the upper workings. There was no provision to mount the guard on them. Wind powered roof top generators were another popular option on the farms and one still can spot the odd one sitting on an abandoned farm building in some of the more infrequently visited areas.

The big advantage the chore horse had was the farmer could set up a DC lighting system in each of his out buildings and just move the chore horse from one to the next and hook it up as needed.


David

[Lynn Eades]

The Armoured O.P. Carrier MkIIIw., an Artillery spotter with radio gear, carried one on its left rear corner.

I could do with one for my carrier.

[chris vickery]

I am the proud owner of the two which were listed about a month ago in the Auctions section. Look like quite decent units and the price was right. Should be no issue to have them up and running....

[charlie fitton]

We have an auctions section?

[chris vickery]

Under Buy, Sell and Trade.
Auctions and classified ads heads up...

[guy labbe]

here some pictures from my chore horse generator , a local find here in Belgium

[BCA]

Hello Guy,
Nice Chore Horse: what is the model number? I can't read it in your photo. Perhaps CH1395-5?? The spark plug wire has been changed to a thin wire. ....... Brian

[Ron Pier]

Brian, what can you tell me about mine? It has model number CH1 395-5 but has a different control knob from the others shown. Ron

[BCA]

Ron: Maybe the knob is a replacement. In addition there is a long rectangular data plate riveted on the top of the generator to the rear of the control box. What does this plate say? Never seen such a plate.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Lovely work Jordan. Makes me want to spend some time on the restoration of mine.

Here is a question; Brian commented on the pulley and gauge panel, but does anyone know more about the base colour of the sets? Did they follow the same base colours (and dates) as vehicles....Khaki green G3-early war, SCC2 born mid war, SCC15 from 1944 onwards? I think all I have seen are green....non in SSC2?

Alex