[Tigers] voltage regulator- Don's suggestions

[Larry Mayfield]

Well, today I took one of the Voltage Stabilizers apart. No not the one in
the car but one from an old Alpine.  Folks, the design and implementation
are NOT rocket science, lol. The internals look as described in the shop
manual. But everything is on a miniscule scale. The post where the input
power is applied is the attachment for a u shaped piece that goes around a
binding post for the wire coil inside. The input post is like one leg of the
letter U. The other leg has the absolutely dinky points.  And that leg is
wrapped with wire that makes a hair look large by comparison (artistic
license taken here, but it is very small).   The U shaped piece is very very
thin.  After looking at it and fiddling with it, I still do not see exactly
how it works. I suspect that the heater wire is non functional though. I'll
measure tomorrow. 

 

Now, as I keep mentioning, I am no sparky. Electrical stuff makes me want to
scream loudly. But I see that there are lots of voltage regulators on ebay
and I have in the past purchased and used some of them. Most are PWM motor
supplies but can be dial in to deliver a regulated voltage.  Mast are dirt
cheap coming from you know where. Seems to me that one of these would also
work if it is just 10 volts out put that is needed. Heck there might even be
an Arduino board that would do the trick also.  What about a 10 volt dc-dc
power supply?  

 

Thoughts? 

 

mayf

 

From: Don Antilla [mailto:fast427 at sbcglobal.net] 
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2016 9:30 AM
To: drmayf at mayfco.com
Subject: voltage regulator- Don's suggestions

 

Hi Mayf:

 Gary suggested I send you my thoughts.

Regards,

Don Antilla

 

 

On 9/22/16, 12:02 PM, "Don Antilla" <fast427 at sbcglobal.net
<mailto:fast427 at sbcglobal.net> > wrote:

 

Gary:

These are simple devices as you most probably know.

The theory is that the duty cycle of the contacts  open/closed is preset 

so an average of around 7-10 volts (forgot which, but not important to this
part of the troubleshooting) is achieved over a longer sample period.

Since the original Ford gauges react slowly by design on order to not have 

a jittery pointer, they are intentionally designed as thermal gauges that 

heat up slightly as a function of the average 12/0/12/0/12. volt 

open/closed points.

Since there is no significant energy that needs to be dissipated when the 

instruments are powered by the open/closed bimetal strip, there is no 

benefit to add any capacitor to the circuit. The points open/closing do 

not even bother the old fashioned radios in almost all cases.

 

I've been reading the posts and I should add that one of the more common 

causes of it not working is failure to properly GROUND the case of the 

mini regulator./ You must ground it because the incoming 12 volts that 

heats up the bimetal strip depends on the case of the regulator being 

grounded in order to heat up the bimetal strip and cause it to open and 

close.

 

If no ground, then the full 100% duty cycle voltage is sent to the gauges 

resulting in improper readings.

 

If I were to check one of these regulators, I'd check for continuity from 

the tab on the case to the INPUT 12 volt terminal; you should see the 

resistance of the heating coil inside the regulator.

Then, with no power to the regulator, I'd look for continuity of the 12 

volt Input terminal to the Output terminal

Don Antilla

203 264-8301 Home

203 592-8427 Cell

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 9/22/16, 11:01 AM, "Tigers on behalf of Gary Winblad via Tigers" 

<tigers-bounces at autox.team.net <mailto:tigers-bounces at autox.team.net>  on
behalf of tigers at autox.team.net <mailto:tigers at autox.team.net> > wrote:

 

I've never had one fail so I don't know.

If you are sure yours is bad, take it apart and let us all know, I am 

curious too.

The current is low, I would guess the heating wire might have opened up 

and

could possibly be re connected.

Gary

 

 

On 9/21/2016 9:32 PM, Larry Mayfield via Tigers wrote:

 

You know I have been thinking about that little sucker.  Just what is 

in it to go bad? The points? Or. Why does it fail. Would a capacitor 

in the circuit help in the output to prevent flyback voltages (there 

is an inductor in the loop a lot like points and ignition coil)?  Not 

a sparky, but curious.

 

Whadda I know.

 

mayf

 Don Antilla

203 264-8301 Home

203 592-8427 Cell

 

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