Electrical Problem

[Stewart Loy]

Saturday Update:

Our old pal Charlie Fitton came over today for a playday with his electrical test stuff and an old manual. We poked and prodded away at the T-16 electrical system and found some ills, none considered life threatening.

The feed from the generator changed colour somehow in the wiring bundle from the engine to the dashboard, hiding the wrong wire going to the voltage regulator. A missing tiny nut on the back of the ammeter gave intermittent use, and a poor ground to the gas tank gave a misread from that sender.

Dirty points inside the voltage regulator were cleaned and I think that we have a good system now. The battery is fully charged at nearly 14 volts, so we don't know if there is enough of a drain to cause the system to charge more than the trickle it now provides ( although it does put out 50 amps when the Field wire is grounded ). I reinstall headlamps tomorrow to get the machine to fighting order.

As a bonus, Charlie got my chorehorse generator going so it starts without 401 pulls on the starter rope - just a push of the button sparks it to life.

We rewarded Charlie with tea and pie, and he scampered off to do good elsewhere.

Many thanks to all of the folks that offered up advice - I appreciate the help.

See everybody at CC4.


Stewart