The Morris battery. Again.

[tony sayer]

No and Nope;!...

[Cynic]

I used to like the post office telephones test lamp built with two carbon filament lamps in series across 50 volt battery and earth with the test probe connected to the centre point. Once handled for a while to gain familiarity they were really useful testing/fault diagnosis tools.

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

You have to wonder who these people are that think children must not be hit. Because I know of nobody who was hit as a child who thinks it affected them in any way.

[Bill Wright]

And the bulb wouldn't be lit so the whole thing would seem to be turned off.

Bill

[T i m]

And that's the thing, sometimes the simplest tools can be really efficient / effective. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

[tony sayer]

No but only if it was done under the right circumstances and not as a form of abuse.

Further to the school punishment above one thing you didn't do was complain to your parents that you had been wacked at school as you'd only get a reinforcement of what the school did from your old dad!...

[The Other Mike]

I knew about the engine orientation issue but I never knew any photos existed.

Only ever experienced carb icing on one journey long ago on the middle lane of the M1 on a very humid July day (not on a Mini) It scared the crap out of me. Gradual loss of power over half a minute and then zero power and a lucky coast with the clutch depressed to the hard shoulder.

No amount of cranking would make it start. 10 mins later the problem went away only for it to happen again a few miles up the road when the ice in the carb was obvious. The cause? Failure of the piping from the hotbox on the manifold to the air filter inlet tract / mixer flapper so only air at ambient got to the carb rather than something a little bit warmer. Good for more power but only with very dry air.

[Bob Eager]

Look for "The Mini Story" by Laurence Pomeroy. Fascinating.

We would never have had the Mini if a British battleship had got through near Turkey in 1914...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've never experienced carb icing - but vapour lock on a hot day is far more common. Carb Rover V-8s were notorious for it.

[Andy Burns]

I thought it was more of an issue for planes (and bikes?) than cars ...

[Mark]

yes I had a GPZ900r in 1984 which was susceptible to carb icing on a very very cold day they brought out a fix with heated inlet manifold

-

[The Other Mike]

Thanks, hopefully I've now got one slighly battered 54 year old copy reserved for me.

I presume the story behind that might be revealed in the book

[happysplash2005]

irrelevant perhaps but:

We had a Morris 1000 in the 1960s. I remember that the dynamo was not quite able to charge the battery if all the electrical loads were on (heater fan, lights, and windscreen wipers).

[Bob Eager]

I first read it back when it came out - library book. I boight my own copy a few years ago.

Right at the start.

Let me know what you think.

[Graeme]

In message , [e-mail] writes

The dynamo should be able to cope, if in good condition.

Regarding mine, the problem has disappeared, but that is probably only temporary. Several short and longer journeys, battery connected at all times, and battery always fully charged.

The battery is probably on the way out, as said by Huge and others, and I'll get one when this one finally dies. In the meantime, the starting handle works, if required :-)

[Bill Wright]

It's a close call if you add it all up. There's the ignition and occasional brake lights and indicators remember. I reckon you could touch 22A at times.

Bill

[tony sayer]

IIRC it was because they could rotate much faster overall. At low engine revs the dynamo wasn't putting out that much power and it IIRC again couldn't stand being rotated too fast whereas the simpler mechanical alternator could which was capable of giving a higher output with low engine revs such as waiting in traffic..

Yes!

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Because they were designed to do so.

Larger dynamos were also fitted to larger cars, etc.

[Bill Wright]

Alternators spun more freely than dynamos.

Bill

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Because an alternator doesn't have a high current commutator/brushes, it can be spun much faster. Giving a higher output at lower engine speeds, with suitable drive gearing. But then petrol engines also have a wider rev range than once was common.

If you really wanted to use a dynamo these days you could add a fluid drive to limit the maximum RPM. If you cared that much.

But basically all common alternators had a higher maximum output than the dynamos that proceeded them. Probably because increased demand from vehicle electrics arrived at about the same time.