sj-bradley

I think you mean the "cathode" I still remember when valves were the norm in TV sets and the engineer coming round to fix the "rental" that my dad had at the time! Simon.

Yes thanks. I hope I understood the pricing scheme though Simon.

Finally got round to getting the ticket. I hope it gets though that billeto okay? Thanks, Simon.

Sorry, couldn't make this one as away on holidays with grandkids. Now we need another holiday ... Simon.

Sorry, we couldn't make this one as both down with flu like symptoms and still trying to get over them. Simon.

Just found the cause of your problem Terry ... Glad to hear you are on the mend - albeit slowly. Take care though. Simon.

Are you testing using the "diode" setting on your meter? If so, that could be reading the 0.75 volt drop that is normal for a diode. A diode acts like an open circuit when the wrong way round in your circuit and a short circuit when the right way round. If you place a low watt lamp and diode in a series circuit from your battery, most of the battery voltage will appear across the lamp with a small 0.7 volt drop across the diode. Hope that helps? (It's late and I should be in bed !) Simon.

A true Li-Ion battery is quite small, very light and costs many hundreds of pounds, so it's unlikely to be that. I saw some on sale at one of the car shows which surprised how light they really are. (except in cost ... ) Simon.

Terry, you are really lucky and we're glad that you are still here after looking at those pictures. I hope your polishing didn't include the tyres ... Get well soon and my thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery. Simon and Christine.

Sorry, we could not make this one. Hope to see you next year ... Simon.

Ha ! Thanks for the thought but I more likely need more space so may be selling mine off. I may make a smaller one though ... Thanks, Simon.

Many thanks to all the warm comments. Look forward to this weekend at the E.o.s bash. Simon and Christine.

Hello, Myself (Simon) and Christine + Sooty (Dog) should be there too with some archery gear but would need a few straw bales as backstops. Thanks, Simon.

If it's still under warranty, that would be your best option. I might have been able to help you find the faulty part though. It would be interesting to know if the dealer repairs it or just sends out a replacement board - probably the latter I think as no-one seems to "repair" things now. Simon.

To all those folks to whom I mentioned the loss of my mobile phone. Well, it finally turned up again ... Safe and sound on the bedside shelf where I'd left it ! Simon.

Finally got round to sending in my form. Thanks, Simon.

D'oh - missed this one because I forgot the 1st was a wednesday too. Never mind. Will see you all for the July meet. Simon.

You could try adding a smoothing capacitor across the power input to this magic box to see if that helps smooth out the ripples in the supply line. Something like 1000 microfarad 50 volt electrolytic type. Very cheap to try out to see if this helps. Note though that these are polarised and the negative side MUST go to the chassis and the other to the positive supply. Get it the wrong way round and it will overheat and burst spilling out hot steam and electrolyte (Or just explode ...) The idea is that the high frequency ripples will be diverted through this and not through your magic box. Simon.

Simon and Christine, but will turn up on the Saturday morning as will not be able to get there on Friday night. Thanks, Simon

How did you measure the resistance of the lamp? Sounds like you did this when cold. This will lead to a false reading as it will be much lower than when the lamp is working and lit. That would make it a 5 Watt lamp which is too much for an indicator on the dash board and would be as big as a sidelight. What is the wattage rating or can you measure the current through the lamp when attached to the battery? For 1 1.5 Watt lamp on 13.8 volts (typical battery) You would expect approx 108 mAmps (milli amps) or 0.1 amps. Hope this helps Simon.

As above. The field is designed to run at full voltage and the commutator is the one you put the varying voltage onto. If you reverse polarity on both windings, the motor will run in the same direction as before. Only reverse one of the windings (either is fine). Simon.

Yes, that will work, and if you want to get the LED to light as well, you need the following info. 39 ohms * 033 amps = 12.87 volts across the resistor and power dissipated = 12.87 * 0.33 = 4.24 Watts, so a 5 watt resistor is cutting it fine and will get quite hot. Since it will not be running constantly though, that should be fine. You will also get 12.87 volts so you could wire the indicator in parallel with the resistor provided that the indicator has a series resistor built in (as it's in the dash, that's almost certainly the case). This will give a little extra current to the alternator and should work as expected. The resistor is equivalent to wiring a filament lamp in parallel except it should last longer than a lamp would. Hope that helps? Simon.

Trowell services at 10:30 ? Yes, we hope to be there too. Thanks, Simon.

Those things I have seen are triac based. If you search for bigclivedotcom on youtube, you'll see he has done a complete breakdown on how this thing works. Worth watching. Simon.

So 512 Gig memory sticks are finally here - but WHAT a price. ... As for the 1.4 floppies - I still remember using a program that could squeeze a whole 2 Meg out of them 2M30 it was called. (Of course, it wasn't always reliable, but you DID get some more storage when it worked. That extra 600 k, Wow, things were flying along ... Simon.