Tag: maintenance
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Re-wiring the battery locker
Given the voltage drop at the water pump, the next wiring upgrade was to take the battery locker to wiring locker wire up to 16mm sq. This was completed today, and while it’s made things a bit better at the water pump, the voltage drop is still 2 volts. Along the way, the main battery…
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12mm socket safe and sound
The 12mm socket that fell off my driver the other day and vanished down the side of the engine has been found safe and sound, and returned to the storage case. Message ends.
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Fixing the squeak
The new alternator has been squeaking at low revs, and by the alternator, I mean the alternator belt. I had initially shimmed the top mounting bracket with a penny washer that I drilled out with a 10mm bit to make it fit. This is the configuration I was using when I first heard the squeak.…
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Sparks fly, broken alternator
A suggestion from Dad was to take the wiring off the back of the alternator, clean the contacts, and reconnect them. Grime/corrosion there might be a reason for the voltage drop I’m seeing at the battery side of the circuit when the alternator is charging the batteries. I duly turned the engine starter battery switch…
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Battery investigations
I’ve been suspicious for a while about how hard my batteries for house are losing voltage over a ~ 12 hour day. I know the fridge compressor comes on periodically at 3 amps to keep the coolant moving around, but that doesn’t add up to taking a battery from fully charged to near fully discharged…
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Finding the right cable size for the water pump
Given the voltage drop at the pump, yesterday evening’s project was to wire the pump with 8 AWG (10mm sq) for the positive feed, and a bit of 2 AWG (35mm sq) for the negative feed. Unsurprisingly, the pump worked very happily, and the clamp ammeter gave me glimpse of ~10 – 11 amps of…