I had a friend who used to put a wreath on the front of his car and it had a bunch of Christmas lights that he rewired to work on 12V. He had an accident one year when it fell off and he ran over it.
For some reason thinking about it still makes me laugh, perhaps because I asked him what would happen if it fell off, and he claimed it couldn't.
For some reason thinking about it still makes me laugh, perhaps because I asked him what would happen if it fell off, and he claimed it couldn't.
my car stereo is being held in my ford by hopes and dreams.
The din mount space for it has no metal bracketing for it to grab onto so a dual din combination is just sitting in there with the aid of gravity and a slight tilt towards the back.
Only the factory head unit is capable of gripping onto the front plastic fascia and allowing any sort of mounting to go on.
But at least I have what I need, a 100% analog am/fm car radio cassette deck (Fujitsu Ten) and my analog single din plastic bracket with an alps pot and two stereo RCA cables going in and out of it.
The rca/alps pot will control volume coming from an AV switch located in the glove compartment, the AV switch is then connected to up-to 4x inputs, a bluetooth module and DAC, the audio coming from the Fujitsu Ten with a speaker to RCA stepdown transformer and whatever I want to add to it later on, all I need to do is add additional cables going into the glove compartment.
Then a single set of stereo RCA cables come out of the glove compartment and go to the rear of the car where I will mount two Pioneer amplifiers, one 2ch Class AB for the front speakers and one Pioneer 1,000w Monoblock for the sub.
So everything passes through that single alps pot with a gorgeous brushed aluminium rose gold volume control, just what you want in a car.
Then once the audio is done being amplified at the rear of the car it comes back up to the front for the speakers in the doors through an ISO DIN connector. Figured this was easiest for the midranges rather than running new cable to the speakers in the doors manually. There isnt much power there, only 60 watts rms at most, so its not like I need heavy duty wire.
The din mount space for it has no metal bracketing for it to grab onto so a dual din combination is just sitting in there with the aid of gravity and a slight tilt towards the back.
Only the factory head unit is capable of gripping onto the front plastic fascia and allowing any sort of mounting to go on.
But at least I have what I need, a 100% analog am/fm car radio cassette deck (Fujitsu Ten) and my analog single din plastic bracket with an alps pot and two stereo RCA cables going in and out of it.
The rca/alps pot will control volume coming from an AV switch located in the glove compartment, the AV switch is then connected to up-to 4x inputs, a bluetooth module and DAC, the audio coming from the Fujitsu Ten with a speaker to RCA stepdown transformer and whatever I want to add to it later on, all I need to do is add additional cables going into the glove compartment.
Then a single set of stereo RCA cables come out of the glove compartment and go to the rear of the car where I will mount two Pioneer amplifiers, one 2ch Class AB for the front speakers and one Pioneer 1,000w Monoblock for the sub.
So everything passes through that single alps pot with a gorgeous brushed aluminium rose gold volume control, just what you want in a car.
Then once the audio is done being amplified at the rear of the car it comes back up to the front for the speakers in the doors through an ISO DIN connector. Figured this was easiest for the midranges rather than running new cable to the speakers in the doors manually. There isnt much power there, only 60 watts rms at most, so its not like I need heavy duty wire.
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Yes dipping the lights is changing from high beam to low beam. Maybe it is an Aussie/British term
Tony.
They are called 'dipped beam' in the UK because very early cars (RR Silver Ghost for example) had a mechanical device which literally dipped the headlights to avoid blinding oncoming traffic.
The last car I know of which used a mechanical dipper rather than different lights/bulbs was the '50s 2CV. A curiosity like the old Beetle 'powering' the
the window wash with the pressure of the spare wheel and running a hose into the dashboard to the switch/valve but less dangerous.
In German dipped beam is called 'Abblendlicht' which roughly means 'non-blinding light'. I kinda like it because the very term makes you think of other road users.
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finally some test data on engine oil brands and their performance: MOTOR OIL ENGINEERING TEST DATA | 540 RAT - Tech Facts, NOT Myths
I would have like to have seen how my oil faired (ELF excellium) but he hasn't tested it.
Just before Christmas I was out for a drive on a hot day (around 36deg c ) hadn't got very far and the car started to splutter a bit, and stalled at idle. After a short while I smelt the smell of burning bakelite. I headed home and after a little poking around thought that my Alternator may have fried.
I charged the battery and went to an autoelec. He said it was charging but something was wrong, there was a voltage drop from alternator to battery and even the voltage at the alternator was low (around 13V). As the burning smell had stopped and it was charging he said provided it stayed that way it would be ok for me to drive, as the chances he could fix it before new year were low.
After Christmas I decided to take a look at what was causing the voltage drop.
I took off all of the battery connections and cleaned them with a wire brush, also took off at the alternator end and did the same. Put it back together and I was getting 13.3V at the battery with no load. Which is better than I was getting before (about 12.8V)
However there was still a drop of around 0.5V unloaded from Alternator to the battery and around 0.9V when fully loaded (everything electrical turned on).
I realised that the size of the wire on the alternator didn't match the size on the battery, and figured they alternator wire must have been running to the starter motor. So off came the inlet manifold to get to the starter (not a small job).
The alternator cable was unfortunately crimped into the main starter cable on the same eye connector, not with it's own eye. So I went to Jaycar, got some 8ga wire and some heavy duty eye connectors and made up a short (probably about 300mm) auxilary cable from the alternator to the starter motor.
What a difference!
Now at idle (unloaded) I'm getting 13.9V at the battery and 0.01V drop from alternator to battery.
Fully loaded I'm getting around 12.9V at the battery and about 0.15V drop alternator to battery. That is a substantial improvement!
Attached are picks of my fancy new alternator cable. Do you think the OFC wire will improve my stock sound system
Tony.
Just before Christmas I was out for a drive on a hot day (around 36deg c ) hadn't got very far and the car started to splutter a bit, and stalled at idle. After a short while I smelt the smell of burning bakelite. I headed home and after a little poking around thought that my Alternator may have fried.
I charged the battery and went to an autoelec. He said it was charging but something was wrong, there was a voltage drop from alternator to battery and even the voltage at the alternator was low (around 13V). As the burning smell had stopped and it was charging he said provided it stayed that way it would be ok for me to drive, as the chances he could fix it before new year were low.
After Christmas I decided to take a look at what was causing the voltage drop.
I took off all of the battery connections and cleaned them with a wire brush, also took off at the alternator end and did the same. Put it back together and I was getting 13.3V at the battery with no load. Which is better than I was getting before (about 12.8V)
However there was still a drop of around 0.5V unloaded from Alternator to the battery and around 0.9V when fully loaded (everything electrical turned on).
I realised that the size of the wire on the alternator didn't match the size on the battery, and figured they alternator wire must have been running to the starter motor. So off came the inlet manifold to get to the starter (not a small job).
The alternator cable was unfortunately crimped into the main starter cable on the same eye connector, not with it's own eye. So I went to Jaycar, got some 8ga wire and some heavy duty eye connectors and made up a short (probably about 300mm) auxilary cable from the alternator to the starter motor.
What a difference!
Now at idle (unloaded) I'm getting 13.9V at the battery and 0.01V drop from alternator to battery.
Fully loaded I'm getting around 12.9V at the battery and about 0.15V drop alternator to battery. That is a substantial improvement!
Attached are picks of my fancy new alternator cable. Do you think the OFC wire will improve my stock sound system
Tony.
Attachments
Thanks for that.. Interesting blog.. Shame that the oil brands tested are mostly North American, though of course highly understandable. And, a little surprising to see the total lac of SI units used! Again, I guess no surprise....
13.9v is still too low, you should be able to easily get 14.4v at 2,000 rpm or if you blip the throttle, so yeah sounds like your alternator is gone. Especially if you drive around with the rear window demister on and your car conks out. Its the voltage regulator pack that is gone. Best idea is to simply replace the entire alternator, not worth it replacing just one component.
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Also check the earth strap from engine to chassis, treat it to the same strip/wirebrush routine.
It's the usual source of all sorts of unhappiness in auto electrical systems - all the current passes through it (starter load on start; and all charging return on opposite sense the rest of the time) - since the alternator uses the engine block for 0v return, this little strap is in series with all measurement at the battery, yet it's often a pitiful little cheap thing usu. mounted low-down where road salt and everything else attacks, too.
The go-to, everytime charging voltage appears low: simply use a DVM to measure Vdc between the engine block (say, a convenient unplated bolt) and similar on the body nearby; aim for <0.1v under all loads.
HTH.
It's the usual source of all sorts of unhappiness in auto electrical systems - all the current passes through it (starter load on start; and all charging return on opposite sense the rest of the time) - since the alternator uses the engine block for 0v return, this little strap is in series with all measurement at the battery, yet it's often a pitiful little cheap thing usu. mounted low-down where road salt and everything else attacks, too.
The go-to, everytime charging voltage appears low: simply use a DVM to measure Vdc between the engine block (say, a convenient unplated bolt) and similar on the body nearby; aim for <0.1v under all loads.
HTH.
I agree to ensure each and every connection is solid before buying anything.
I have noticed that one of the diodes will often go bad. It definitely should be up over 14 volts and steady.
On many newer cars the brushes can be easily accessed and inspected, might be worth a look.
The the battery can be topped off(electrolyte), and charged up entirely for hours before evaluating things.
I have noticed that one of the diodes will often go bad. It definitely should be up over 14 volts and steady.
On many newer cars the brushes can be easily accessed and inspected, might be worth a look.
The the battery can be topped off(electrolyte), and charged up entirely for hours before evaluating things.
I did clean up the earth straps at the battery but I didn't check the Engine block and body connection points. There was some slight resistance (around 0.1 or 0.2 ohms) that I could detect between block and body before I cleaned up the battery connection, but I didn't think to measure voltage drop from block to battery or block to body!
I'll have a look at that this weekend, as all alternator voltage measurements were done with negative lead connected to the battery terminal. I could have another 0.5V drop on the earth side!
Tony.
I'll have a look at that this weekend, as all alternator voltage measurements were done with negative lead connected to the battery terminal. I could have another 0.5V drop on the earth side!
Tony.
On the oil testing, this guy has done lots of tests of many types of oil YouTube
If you click on any of his test video's there are links to google spreadsheets with all of the results. You really only need to watch one of (a type) of test video to see how he does it, they are pretty much all the same. Skip to the end to see the wear, or the "cleanliness"
Tony.
If you click on any of his test video's there are links to google spreadsheets with all of the results. You really only need to watch one of (a type) of test video to see how he does it, they are pretty much all the same. Skip to the end to see the wear, or the "cleanliness"
Tony.
I've wondered if you couldn't submerse the firewall battery cable bolt mount point in epoxy so it doesn't corrode. Where the battery cable bolts onto the firewall you could either solder it there with a high powered soldering iron (250 watts) or cover it in epoxy with a brush so it no longer corrodes.
You would only do this on a car with a new 35mmSQ battery cable and a car that you want to keep long term. No point in doing it on a car you don't want to keep or aren't going to take care of.
I suppose spraying it thoroughly with a epoxy paint used on rusted fences would do just as good. Such as the White Knight Rust Guard brand of paints: Search - Our range | Bunnings Warehouse
You would only do this on a car with a new 35mmSQ battery cable and a car that you want to keep long term. No point in doing it on a car you don't want to keep or aren't going to take care of.
I suppose spraying it thoroughly with a epoxy paint used on rusted fences would do just as good. Such as the White Knight Rust Guard brand of paints: Search - Our range | Bunnings Warehouse
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I had a 1999 Ford Mustang (3.8 L V6) with a weird problem. It would start and run fine, but occasionally, most often on a hot day, it would drop 2 or 4 cylinders. When it dropped 2 the car was still drivable, but balky and slow. When it dropped 4 it would only continue running badly in neutral at half throttle where it managed about 1500 RPM. You could throw the car in neutral while driving, turn the ignition off, then restart and the problem would be gone for a day, week or several months. Then at the most inopportune moment, it would happen again.
It happened near home one day, so I managed to get it home, open the hood and determine that the dead cylinders still had spark, so it had to be a fuel injection problem. No fault codes appeared. There was also a rather odd faint burnt smell (like a fried transformer) under the hood sometimes when the shutdown happened, sometimes by itself. I had also noticed that the shutdown had happened when I had the factory Ford Mach 460 (peak watts) stereo cranked at least twice, but I had it cranked a lot with no issues, so I didn't catch the correlation.
I had pretty much given up on finding it when I happened upon an article in Hot Rod Magazine about a sick Corvette with similar issues, and the GM tech guy had recommended changing the battery when there were weird ECU gremlins.
I decided to investigate. My car only made 12.5 volts with the engine at 3000 RPM and nothing turned on. Lights, AC and stereo cranked made the voltage drop and the alternator get hot......that's where the fried smell was coming from. The battery was the original 5 year old Ford battery, so off to Walmart I go. I had the car for 4 more years without a problem. In 7 years of ownership the battery, tires, and engine oil was the only things I ever changed in that car. The guy I sold it to fixed a leaky thermostat gasket in 2 years of ownership.
Cold saps the cranking capacity but doesn't damage the battery as long as it doesn't freeze. Heat slowly kills the battery.