Series 3 Voltage stabilizer

[The Mad Hat Man]

Does anyone know what the output voltage should be on this item?

 

[clivees]

Nope but have a look at this
http://www.landrover.ee/est/files/manuals/cars/sIII/SIII_ROM_Part_7.pdf
found here
LAND ROVER MANUALS DOWNLOAD

Lots of good descriptions on how it all works
but if you are still having problems drop pat a pm and ask him to have a look at Tufty

 

[CharlesY]

Hey, It's your car and you can set the voltage to whatever you choose!

Generally a DC dynamo system is set at a level that will keep the battery charged, without it gassing too much - and needing topped up often.

The problem with dynamos is they don't make a lot of electricity unless they are spinning fast, and their output falls off rapidly when they slow down.

So, the makers use pulleys that keep the dynamo going at a speed that will on average suit most users a lot of the time, and they set the regulator like that too. This average setting might not suit YOU.

In the 1960s and 70s when were we were doping a lot of rallying, we set our dynamos to about NINTEEN volts, which made the headlights good and bright, and gave good sparks. It also burned out lots of bulbs and dynamo brushes (I still have some spares).

But the point is, the choice is YOURS to set the voltage to any level that suits YOU.

CharlesY

 

[slob]

monsignor le charles ah think he meant the voltage stabilizer behind the dash and not the charging reg.

 

[The Mad Hat Man]

CharlesY - Bollixs!

I am talking about the Voltage Stabiliser - the ickle box attached to the rear of the speedo that regulates a fixed voltage to the instruments. coz otherwise they dont read rite.

and mines got an alternator type fingy.

 

[CharlesY]

Ah, well, in that case you should have said you were referring to the voltage STABILISER, not the regulator.


It STABILISES the voltage for the gauges.

It REGULATES damn all.

CharlesY

 

[slob]

daft !! are you gonna hit him or shall i?

 

[The Mad Hat Man]

maybe he cant read

 

[slob]

maybe he just dunt got a long winded explanation fer the stabilizer and used the nearest he had

 

[The Mad Hat Man]

i only wanted a value I wud imagine it to be about 10volts, but wud like to be certain.

 

[slob]

ad take a stab at 12volts give or take a poke in the eye. ah would have thought any thing between 12 and 13ish would be ok so long as it wur steady

 

[The Mad Hat Man]

it has to be lower than the lowest battery voltage - else it wont work proper. just my gauges dont read accurately, and i fink it might be that - but unless i know what it shd be - i cant check to see if its duff.

I just check wot it is reading and (without engine running) - there is no discernible diff between input and output, but it is also bouncing between 11.3 and 11.9 volts - so i still aint any the wiser.

 

[slob]

My personal most hated Lucas item is the combined light/horn switch. It keeps falling apart in my Series Three, because all the light wires, which are too flimsy to start with, run through a plastic whatsit held together by rivets. This heats up easily, so the rivets become loose and your indicator lever falls out just when you are changing lanes in thick traffic. Takeo tells me that he has been through 267 of these in 22 years, I believe it. Our club president Alain tells me that in his early Discovery it is exactly the same, they obviously never saw a reason to improve that in 30 years.

Another nuisance is the voltage stabilizer in the instrument panel:

Undocumented in the workshop manual, this thing reduces the voltage of your instruments to something around 9 Volts. It is a bi-metal contact heated by a heater wire. It produces an intermittent on/off pulse rather that a steady output. The fact that the fuel and temperature gauges are of the hot wire type means that they are slow to react and so the pulses are not detectable.

The instruments’ hot wire technology also has another side-effect: that means if you have a hole in your bulkhead behind the instrument panel, cold air, dependent on speed and wind direction, will influence the reading of your engine temperature and fuel gauges. Very precise! While you could have understood that other solutions were not available in the early sixties, I’m sure that when my 1982 Series Three was manufactured, hot-wire technology was outdated even in East Germany. Trabbi owners will agree that their temperature gauge was not wind dependent.

 

[The Mad Hat Man]

thanks slob - that is why my multimeter was bouncing about. booga - still dunno if its dodgy or not and local stealer wants £20 fur one - special delivery .

I can see me having to design one around a 7809 regulator. wotcha reckon - 1a max for the meters - cant see it being more than that - maybe i need to measure the current too

 

[CharlesY]

My mistake! Mis-read the first post.

Slob is right in that the stabiliser is always set way under battery voltage.

I think the usual setting is TEN volts for a Lucas dashboard stabiliser. I just checked that - ten volts it is, plus or minus not a lot.

It is critical as the instruments work by senders making votage changes. These stabilisers handle very small currents, and are desperately sensitive to bad earthing. First step every time is to take them off, clean around where they mount, stick them back and hope for the best. There is a silly wee stud thing at the back sealed with varnish stuff. You could try adjusting it but I never once succeeded when I tried it.

A while back someone was marketing solid state stabilisers to replace the Prince of Darkness ones, but I don't think they do any more.

CharlesY

 

[slob]

early lectronics! they either works fer ever or cause silly faults that is hard to find .

ah wonder if they have differents ones fer tropical and artic climates?

 

[slob]

My mistake! Mis-read the first post.

Slob is right in that the stabiliser is always set way under battery voltage.

I think the usual setting is TEN volts for a Lucas dashboard stabiliser. I just checked that - ten volts it is, plus or minus not a lot.

It is critical as the instruments work by senders making votage changes. These stabilisers handle very small currents, and are desperately sensitive to bad earthing. First step every time is to take them off, clean around where they mount, stick them back and hope for the best. There is a silly wee stud thing at the back sealed with varnish stuff. You could try adjusting it but I never once succeeded when I tried it.

A while back someone was marketing solid state stabilisers to replace the Prince of Darkness ones, but I don't think they do any more.

CharlesY

ffs heidi!!! go fer a cuppa will you!!
it wur daft wot sed it wur below batt volts not I!!

but its nice to know you had a chapter on voltage stabilizers ah thought fer a minute you had lost it

 

[The Mad Hat Man]

yu got any idea on the current drain? a simple 7809 would do it then (max 1A

 

[The Mad Hat Man]

ere slob - kite went fur 62 notes - yu mist out there

 

[slob]

fook ah forgot about it