Technical generator problem

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Technical generator problem

Jake,

are you getting the impression that he is not going to help you? Perhaps you could include a link to this thread when you send him your next email? Vendors always like free advertising.............

Joe R

Joe,

As I said, to this point they have been helpful with everything, no probems. Im waiting a response for my mail.
My opinion is that this kind of product should not be possible to leave from storage to a customer. Everyone does not understand mechanical stuff and this one bolted to a car is not long lasting. To me this causes just unnecessary postage fee and waiting.
Bad luck and hope everything goes well :).
 
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It is time for you to ask them to refund your money. No matter how nice or fair they may be, their supplier is bad.
Get the money refunded and purchase a rebuilt unit from another source.
If they do not want to refund your money and you paid with a credit card, you can call your credit card company and get them to get your money back.
John
 
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It is time for you to ask them to refund your money. No matter how nice or fair they may be, their supplier is bad.
Get the money refunded and purchase a rebuilt unit from another source.
If they do not want to refund your money and you paid with a credit card, you can call your credit card company and get them to get your money back.
John

Have to agree - a bit of tough love in necessary from time to time. Just ask my kids :eek:

Chris
 
Got an email yesterday. Their were sorry about the situation and forwarded my email and video to their supplier because the techican was on vacation.
Promised to contact me as soon as they know how to proceed.
Yep, I think Ill send the generator back and ask for money refund, I believe this is not o problem(hope so).
I know that these is the suppliers problem who rebuild the parts, but before shipping out someone should take a look at the parts abit.
Luckily it still quite cold here, today morning -22C so no hurry to get on the road with my 500 :D.
 
My god! My suggestion about Axel Gerstl, buy somewhere else! This is my opinion.

I agreed on the phone with a customer service guy that I will send the faulty generator back and they will refund my money. And this was ok to them, no problems.

Put the parcel on postage and as soon as they received it I got an email that" we have already shipped you a new one".
Maybe they dont inform each other or what. I now have paid 50€ for postage bills and they do not comment anything when I ask about who pays this.

Now I have paid them x mount of money about the generator and I don't have one, maybe there is one coming.
Nice.
 
Hi

I have now drived with my old generator a few days. The light went off quite normally and the battery was charged.
Today the light stayed on and I decided to take reading. No charging for battery and no volts directly from the generator.
I stripped the generator and both brushes were broken and maybe 3-4 mm left? I have drived maybe 150km with the car+some idling and carb tuning on garage.
What can cause that the brushes have worned so quickly?

Check the pics. The brush wires looked like burned(red arrow). Should the brush wires be off the end plate, now they were in contact with the place were the brushes is mounted(green arrow)? Are the springs fitted correctly?
 

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There should be no discernible wear after 150km except the bushes should become shaped to the curvature of the armature contact. Were the bushes new 150km ago? Are the bearings in good condition - play in the armature may cause premature wear.
 
Jep. New bearings no play. And new brushes. Cant understand. Why are the copper brush wires burned at the brush end? Do I have some break somewhere or whats the problem. What would you suggest to do, new wiring maybe?

If someone who understand, does the copper wire not be in contact with the metal were the brush "moves"`? Just wondering because this is the place were the wire is burned and maybe caused heat or something?
 
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Jake,

I've heard of brushes wearing very quickly and your problem could be just that if you've used brushes made of very soft carbon compound.

Your tensioning springs are OK.

It is also not unusual to see a bit of sparking between the brushes and the commutator as they settle in.

One of the brushes will be earthed and the other connects to the generator output. In either case it doesn't matter if the bare wire touches the brush carrier because the brushes themselves are electrically conductive. Have a look at the brush carrier on the active side and you'll see that the whole thing is separated from the housing by an insulator.

I found this on another site -

Brush wear comes from two basic causes: mechanical friction and electrical wear. Mechanical friction is caused by the rubbing of the brushes on the commutator or slip ring. Electrical wear is caused by the arcing and sparking of the brush as it moves over the commutator. Mechanical friction increases with brush pressure; electrical wear decreases with brush pressure.
For any given brush installation, there is an optimum amount of brush pressure. If the pressure is decreased below this amount, the total wear increases because the electrical wear increases. If the pressure is increased above the optimum amount, the total wear again increases because mechanical friction increases.
Always make sure that the brush pressure is set to the manufacturer's recommended level. If wear is still excessive, you should investigate the type and size of brush being used. Remember, current density (amperes per sq in. of brush) must be correct for the application. Proper current density is required to make certain that a lubricating, conductive film forms on the commutator or slip ring. This film is composed of moisture, copper, and carbon. Insufficient current density inhibits the formation of this film and can result in excessive brush wear.
Also, very low humidity environments do not provide enough moisture for the formation of the lubricating film. If excessive brush wear is a problem in such an environment, you may have to humidify the area where the machine is operating.

Hope this helps,

Chris

PS: I've attached a photo of my generator brushes.
 

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Thanks Chris, good pics!

Here is the one i found on my local shop. They said its marelli :).

But the wires why are they melted/burned? My theory, could the spring tension be to high-->lot of friction-->heat to wires? The brushes tolerates heat i quess but the wires not so much. And the wires were melted at the place were they were in contact with the metal(were the brush seats)? Too far thinking? :D
Because when I first mounted the springs I mounted them wrong(they had no tension to push the brush) and I turned them abit? :D
 
The picture :)
 

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Some update info. The brush wires were not burned as I said previously. I checked in good light today and they are just abit worn.
So, the brushes have worn quickly, but the reason is not clear. On italian forum, people say that the communator should be very smooth(how to get it smooth)?
Now the gaps in the communator are about 0.8-1mm which are in Haynes values.
 
Soft carbon +/- strong springs would be my guess.

My local autoelectrician claims to have seen soft compound brushes last as little as 10 hours of driving (~ one week).

Chris

Ok. Good to know. But where have you guys bought your brushes? My previous ones(which worned quickly) was from holland, ricambi.

I think those ones which Chris posted are better ones, look at the wiring. It seems abit stronger and this type of brush I have when I renewed the brushes first time!
 
BTW my parents are in italy, Marche. My dad found every mans paradise. Its a huge store where you can found almost everything for the 500. I cant remember the word but its a car trasher place, what are they called? Got a second hand dynamo and 26imb 10 for 100€. Both works :)

Got the car running. The mechanical regulator gives 16.5v from battery at high rews so there is some problem. I have one spare, got to try that one. Now I fitted the electronical one and it works. 14.7v at high rews. Lets see how the brushes lasts :)
 
Could be the high voltage 16v+ was the problem. Maybe the electronic voltage regulator will fix this brush problem. 16.5v can damage the battery. 14.7v is perfect.
John
 
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I cleaned the communator well and got a advice that it should be finished with 1200 sandpaper. Now its smooth as a baby with new brushes and an electronic regulator. Charging forks and stop at 14.7V at rews...
As far everythings working fine!
I also replaced the springs but personally I dont believe that these were the problem.
 
Hello all,
Been reading up on this forum for a year or so to keep my wife's 69 Cinquecento running. Wanted to thank everyone for sharing their knowledge, been a great help.
I wanted to add a question to this detailed troubleshooting guide:
How do I keep the sanded/bare metal parts of the dynamo and metal shroud rust free? Thought about using dielectric grease, but it tends to dry up in hot areas pretty quickly. I'm thinking Deoxit, grease, etc... Any suggestions?
Thanks ahead.
 
Where about in the 'Marche' region do your parents live Jake? I have friends who live just outside Senegalia (and he has a 500D, which is how we met). In England we would call it a 'car breaker yard'. Unfortunately a change in the law (all to do with health and safety), can't have anybody using their own brain when visiting these site and being careful, so you are not allowed to go round the site, take off what you need and then take it to the boss for its value to be ascertained. When I was a young kid, my dad ran old cars (Lagonda, Lanchester etc.) and that was how he found the parts required to keep the old beasts running. Good old days.
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