Chorehorse question.

[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 K]

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.