<VV> flickering lights
Frank DuVal
corvairduval at cox.net
Sat Sep 3 22:57:28 EDT 2011
Instead of guessing, put a voltmeter across the battery at idle and see
what the voltage fluctuation is. A Spyder is supposed to idle at 900
rpm, so the generator is just starting to work. Flickering, if just
around 12.6 volts, can be normal. Generators do NOT charge at idle, a
typical idle of 600 rpm, they discharge the battery. So, the points in
the regulator switch back and forth trying to do its job. Thus the
flickering.
Disconnecting a wire to the generator eliminates the flickering, because
now the generator is not working, therefore the regulator cannot
"chatter" and the lights cannot flicker.
Do check the brushes, but I don't think the problem is there. Worn
brushes typically bounce at high speed, not idle.
Have you noticed the flickering before? Is the idle different?
You may be chasing a non-problem. The voltmeter will give answers. If
the voltage goes above 13 when you raise the speed above idle, all is well.
Frank DuVal
On 9/3/2011 8:48 PM, Markpowhatan at aol.com wrote:
> Last night I arrived home after dark in my 63 Spyder, and was opening the
> garage door and noticed my headlights were slightly flickering. The tail
> lights were too, and most noticeably the dome light was as well. I jiggled
> all the wire connections in the engine compartment as well as under the
> dash that I could get to, but the lights kept up a slightly "stroboscopic"
> flicker that went away slowly as I raised engine rpms. I checked the voltage
> regulator and found that the field contacts were closed, but if I pulled
> them closed tighter with my fingers, the flicker would stop. I cleaned the
> contacts with no change. I then changed the regulator, with no
> improvement. Then I tried disconnecting a wire to the generator to disable it, then
> started the engine, and my lights were then steady. Any guess folks if i
> have a generator problem, or a pair of defective regulators? Since the
> lights are steady without the generator, I would think the wiring is OK. Am I
> right? Thanks again for all the help in the past. Mark Francis 63
> Spyder Powhatan, Va.
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