I know! I know, this sounds like a really stupid question to ask, noobie stuff. But hear me out.

I'm trying to diagnose my charging system which seems to only work half of the time until the engine gets up to temp. I want to be sure I'm polarizing the system right.

The problem I have is all the conflicting information everywhere online. I'd trust you guys more then anyone because we all work with the same type cars. There's all these different electrical systems out there I'm reading about so you never know who's right. Here it is:

On a 55 Ford, 6v POSITIVE ground system do you:

- Touch Armature wire to the Bat terminal on the control box

- Disconnect Field terminal and touch it to the Bat terminal.

Also, can you do this with all the terminals connected and just use a jumper wire? Or do you need to have the Arm/Field wire disconnected? Someone somewhere said it'd burn out the regulator if the wires were all connected when you did this.