I know this has been discussed but I wanted to get the skinny on this. I
drive with my low beams on. I have a 1960 BT7 with a dynamo. It has served
me well for 5 years using old (filament?) head lamps. During the down
season I converted to negative ground, changed to halogen headlights and
added 2 SLT Lucas driving lamps (via relay). I ran the Alpine 500 (900
actual miles including getting to the start point and back) mostly with the
halogen headlights on. I do this out of paranoia that I might be "invisible"
to SUVs, minivans, big rigs. Anyway I tested the new spot lamps on the 200
mile drive home for about 15 min total, all seems ok with this installation.
After three days rest in the garage the battery was too flat to start the
car. I disconnected the wires from the dynamo; put a jumper wire between
the two dynamo terminals and read 10 volts on this wire at idle. Should be
15 volts so I pulled the dynamo and replaced the brushes which were worn to
about 8/16 inch. (7/8 inch min means replace according to my manual). I
hope this prolongs the life of the dynamo and will provide enough charging
until I can convert to an alternator.
What tests can I perform to insure the dynamo is charging? What about the
regulator, can I adjust that to maximize charging? This brings up my second
question. What are my conversion options? Many make this conversion kit
but who has the best value and reliability for the money and which
alternator? I want to be able to buy a pretty common off the shelf
alternator and eliminate the external voltage regulator.
I am out to measure the voltage on the dynamo to see if the brushes helped
bring up that voltage.
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