Does this work directly off the alternator, or via a 12v cigar lighter socket?
The requirement is for something cheap and simple which does not involve any extra wiring in the car.
I realise the output from a 12v socket will not have the same characteristics as a direct feed from the alternator via a charge controller.
Cheers
Dave R
The only difference will be due to wiring and fuse resistance in the feed to to the 12v socket.
There aren't many of us left. ;-)
I think there were several such solutions as these things evolved.
Car and motorbikes ... and why I keep my kitcar based on a 1978 Ford Escort and whilst I don't think any of my bikes are quite old enough to have points, none of them have CAN busses and the like. ;-)
It's funny, we had the 2L GL Sierra Estate for 23 years in the end and in all that time the only things that failed were a window winder wheel runner (broke in the icy weather), a brake caliper seized slightly and the cambelt broke (safe engine and I had replaced in within the hour).
Oh, the clutch cable snapped but I carried a spare (like you did in those days) and I changed it at the side of the road using no more than my Leatherman PST II. ;-)
Not quite so easy to change a concentric hydraulic slave cylinder and unlike the Rover 218SD or the Meriva, on the Sierra I never had any issues with the aircon, central locking, immobiliser, the ECU or electric windows because it didn't have them (and somehow we used it everywhere for everything) and to have a new key cut cost £5. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
But then there were the new plugs, plug leads, points, rotor arm, dizzy cap etc at regular intervals - and checking the ignition timing too. Then antifreeze each winter and replacing a few hoses too. To say nothing about
5000 mile oil changes. And then the new engine at perhaps 50,000 miles...
and wondering why the timing light showed the sparks scattered all over abo ut 1/4 of the flywheel.
NT
Memories of my first car, a VW Beetle, come flooding back. I picked this up at trade. It had been imported from South Africa, and was a bit behind the European model changes. IIRC the greasing interval was 1500 miles. It was OK as a first car, but not after driving anything else. Motorway trips in a cross wind were very interesting, as the steering, even with new king pins, was incredibly soggy.
A fun job was changing the spark plugs - on the 1500 engine you needed a plug spanner that would take the tommy bar at 45 degrees.
Then there was the heater designed so that, if it was going to stick, it would do so fully on.
My only success was once getting an exhaust fitted free - they took all day and had to change a stud.
Chris
Erm, I bought the Sierra off the company when it was about 10 years old and 30k miles and I'm pretty sure it hadn't had much of that done over that time and I know little of that was done over the 13 years /
70k mikes I had it after that. Outside of reasonably regular oil, oil filter, air filter and checking the brakes, no more was done to that than any other car of today (well, mine anyway). ;-)I thought it had electronic ignition? Ok, it still had a dizzy and a sensor in that fed to ignition module but nothing that changed much over time (and if it still had a mechanical / vacuum advance / retard they didn't go wrong that often (even if they weren't that accurate)). ;-)
Not on that company car there wasn't. ;-)
I can't remember a hose ever going but if any did they were cheap and easy to do and there weren't that many.
Ah, ok, that was probably done.
Mine had done 100k when I broke it myself (with the thought of putting the engine and gearbox in the kitcar) and it was running well the day I did it.
Cheers, T i m
The heater on my Messerschmitt KR200 is a jacket wrapped round the exhaust manifold-downpipe. Heat up time was nearly instant, as would be death if there was an exhaust leak. ;-(
Cheers, T i m
Sounds fun. Safety was never a feature of microcars though.
NT
It is / was (I still have it but haven't driven it in years).
A mate and I both had one (well, he had two) and they were 'just transport' for us at the time. So they were serviced, for what there was of it (changed the gearbox oil (it was a 2/), checked the brakes, did the plug and points as soon as we noticed any drop in 'performance' but that was about it) and both sported plenty of primer and signs of 'work in progress'.
But, we were young, they were quite agile / nippy compared with conventional cars and so we would generally have fun in them. [1]
Once, the mate was in the back and we were doing a rat-run in what I'll call a 'spirited fashion' and I commented on how good it was to have a passenger that knew what he was doing. At that he thought it would be 'fun' to sit on the wrong side on the next corner and we found ourselves up on two wheels.
On that, he lean his spare 'Schmitt' to his mate who had it a week and rolled it (no harm to him from the rolling, only from my mate). ;-(
So, when we went to the 'International Messerschmitt Rally' in Northants, he and I came joint first (out of 50 or so) in the driving agility event because we both drove like that every day. ;-)
Had there been a prize for the 'scruffiest cars at the show' we would have one that too. ;-)
No, you are right there, as I found out once when in some slowish moving traffic, the car in front stopped really quickly (for no obvious reason [2]) and I couldn't stop in time (6" drum brakes all round). There was no real damage to him (metal 'bumpers' in those days') but I had a bumper depth crease across the nose of my Schmitt that just fouled my toes as I used the pedals!
But I went all over the place in it, including on holiday with my girlfriend at the time and even towing a lightweight trailer I'd made for it and at the time, considered it safer than being on my motorbike.
Cheers, T i m
[1] Even with the drivers seat out, it was nearly impossible to have any 'back seat' fun in it, as my girlfriend and I found out. [2] After he had checked his car for damage and found none he smiled and confirmed why we had both lost concentration for a second ... 'That was a *very* short skirt wasn't it ...'(The irony of that story was a few weeks later, a woman in a car drove into the back of me (again, in slow moving traffic, no real damage to either vehicle) and she confessed she was distracted by 'looking in the gas showroom window'. ).
My Enfield 8000 'Moke' plugin EV has 4 x 6V semi-traction 200AH batteries under the bonnet and the same under the rear passenger seat (no lid or cover) and contained within the soft top 'cabin'.
Maybe they though the soft top was sufficiently vented as it was (and it was). ;-)
Cheers, T i m
David brought next idea :
It would provide a more rapid and consistent charge for a second battery. If you tow the caravan and have the 12S socket or the fully wired 15(?) pin socket, then you should have a voltage controlled relay already system wired up in boot.
I have and tapped off that with a none reversable plug and socket, to allow a battery to be charged in the boot in emergencies.
The problem with using lighter sockets is they are current limited, there will be lots of voltage dropped in the wiring and the connections are just not reliable at the plug and socket.
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