[Spridgets] Electrical Saga part 3 of 3

[lotuspilot at frontier.com]

Dave,
 
Interesting read - all parts of it.  I enjoyed it thoroughly. 
However, all through the read, I kept wondering why you didn't simply toss the
generator and install one of the five or six that are undoubtedly sitting on
the shelf way in the back of your garage?
 
Mike
________________________________
From: dwoerpel <dwoerpel at wi.net>
To: MGs
<mgs at autox.team.net>; Spridgets at autox.team.net 
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2012
3:25 PM
Subject: [Spridgets] Electrical Saga part 3 of 3

PART 3

After having
the generator checked at the two shops again and declared 
working, I ran
tests on the car and was getting very low readings, like 
2.1 v @ 1800
rpms.Worked in the shop but not on the car.

I called, my now good friend Rick
Ewald, who sat down in a grocery store 
with a cup of coffee for an hour (many
thanks to your wife for being 
patient!) and we ran a bunch of tests over the
phone.No success but(!) 
Rick, even though I had the generator apart several
times I dismantled 
it again.No, the through-bolts were not grounding out the
field. But...

Remember what started all this?Because the cutout stayed
closed, that 
allowed battery voltage to the generator which then tried to be
a motor 
but couldn't turn because the fan belt prevented the pulley from
turning 
so it got hot and threw solder and MELTED the harness.

I thought I'd
look inside the generator one last time.Looking carefully 
at the end plate I
noticed the nylon insulation around the "D" terminal 
was melted and I could
wiggle the terminal which caused the brush cage 
to wiggle.It was very close
to grounding fully to the case. Wow, didn't 
think of that.Another tidbit to
file away in the memory bank (read: 
computer; my personal memory bank can no
longer be trusted...A.D.D. can 
be...Oh, look! A Toad...a problem.).

I took
the end plate to Jeff Johnson at Alstar Company Inc. in Hales 
Corners, WI
(414.427.7991) who made some new insulators (I could have 
done it but was
leaving for a week).It looks original and cranked out 
19.2v on startup @1800
rpms.Light is out, comes on when at idle, 
flickers as revs increase and goes
out around 1200-1400 rpms. Standing 
voltage and running voltage under load
all check out at ~12.4v.Next is a 
test drive but that will have to wait until
I return from Alaska (No 
Barney, I'm not driving it to Alaska!).

So many
thanks to all who helped:Barney Gaylord, Rick Ewald, Don Zubrod, 
Dave
Spearing, Jeff Johnson, John (at Maxim Rebuilders in Burlington WI
262.763.9441) and everyone else whose ear I gnawed on getting scraps of 
info.
Hope you never run into this problem!Fingers crossed.  "One never knows 
the
depth of the well by the length of the handle on the pump"...my 
Father always
said this.


/Safety Fast!/


Dave W
59 :{)
59 MGA 1500
Burlington WI
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