Well, Herb
first thing you need to do (assuming your electrical system is OK) is to
determine the total load you'll be generating. Grab your workshop manual
and add the wattages of every component you could run at the same time eg:
all side and tail lights, brake lights, high beam, dash lamps, wiper motor,
heater fan etc etc. Add ten percent to allow for slow running, dirty
connections and such and divide by the voltage (12 for Sprites). The
answer is the amount of Amps you need to generate. A standard Bugeye
dynamo is rated (per the book) at 19 Amps at 13.5 volts so theoretically
you have 256 watts capacity provided your system is working properly. From
imperfect memory this adds up to about 170 watts so add 100 watts for
spotlamps and you can just about get away with it. A good sparky (it will
repay you to sleuth out a really good one) should be able to reset your
regulator to 14.5V which gives a nominal 275 watts capacity. It's close
but if you don't have your lights on flat out all the time you'll be OK.
When I started rallying my Bug I was faced with the same dilemna. The regs
I run under don't allow alternator conversions so I had to think laterally.
I found an old bloke who rebuilt a spare tacho drive generator for me. He
added an extra pole (from two to three? four to five? I can't remember)
and rewound the armature as if it were from an angle grinder. Angle
grinders generate lots of heat and spin at 18000rpm so effectively for my
use the genny was bulletproofed. The output has been raised to 29 Amps
which is enough for 55/100W headlights and 55W driving lights and that's
plenty for the navigation style events I do. I also fitted (as the works
did) an RB 340 control box from an old Rover which can better tolerate
higher amperages and a voltmeter which tells me when something should be
turned off. A side benefit of a generator is that it will recharge a flat
battery whereas an alternator won't. I should add that in twenty years of
BBC (bloody British cars) the only Lucas failures I've had are one Morris
regulator and one generator bearing but that was on a Ford so what do you
expect? I also had a custom cloth bound wiring loom built (including
reversing and map light circuits, extra fuse box etc) and there is a fellow
here who can supply pre-focus halogen bulbs. I'll hunt out his address.
If you need any more info please revert
Peter Westcott
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From: Herb_Goede@amsinc.com
To: spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: dynos/generators and lights
Date: Friday, 19 March 1999 7:34
List,
I'm anticipating installation of some period style Lucas driving lights on
my '59. Is this going to cause a problem for my generator? Does it have
enough umph to run these lights? (I do not have a stereo, air
conditioning, winch, or any other abnormal electricity eating devices.)
Herb
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