Dynamators Gear Wear & Reliability

[andrew34ruby]

Andrew wrote  "For a bigger electrical output the gears will have bigger forces on them, whatever the voltage, whatever the gears you use."

Steve wrote   "Andrew, thanks for coming up with another good reason to stick to 6v."

No Steve. The load on the gears is not affected by 12v or 6v. 

It is the electrical power consumed by lights etc that loads the gears. 

Power is in watts, and watts is volts x amps. 

To give the same brightness of light a 6v bulb will be lower resistance and allow more amps to flow. Less volts with more amps gives the same brightness and the same load on the gears.

If you want less load on the gears then whether 6v or 12v makes no difference. Changing to LED lights reduces the amps and reduces the load.

[Bruce Nicholls]

To put the gear wear question into some sort of perspective, the main engine in my boat (a 12 litre Volvo turbo diesel) drives a 100 amp 24v 3 phase alternator from the gear driven camshaft. It has so far done 12,000 hours running with this set up and is showing no sign of giving up yet.
The Austin gears appear good quality and I would have thought a dynamo producing a constant 5 to 10 amps would probably overall give more load than would most running with an alternator producing next to no amps.

[Bob Culver]

Hi Bruce

But is the boat drive ia skew or cross gear, with modest load capacity?

[Bruce Nicholls]

Hi Bob
I give you the drive is parallel not at 90 degrees, but the loading in our set up is big. I still think the Dynamator load is probably smaller than a dynamo most of the time unless you are running big something like an electric heater continuously.

[jonblob33]

Mine destroyed the timing gears in 50 miles. Replaced timing gears & found dynamo gears had play. Removed 10 thou off dynamo housing. All ok now. Dynamater shaft appears slightly out of centre.

[Hedd_Jones]

not that it matters a jot to me. But it is interesting to know the distain of the VSCC of the dynamotor.

Not something I had realised

[mk1-mark]

Good point re VSCC!

Thanks for the heads up.

So it's spend twice as much on a dynamo & regulator box then.

M

[Steve kay]

Andrew wrote  "For a bigger electrical output the gears will have bigger forces on them, whatever the voltage, whatever the gears you use."

Steve wrote   "Andrew, thanks for coming up with another good reason to stick to 6v."

No Steve. The load on the gears is not affected by 12v or 6v. 

It is the electrical power consumed by lights etc that loads the gears. 

Power is in watts, and watts is volts x amps. 

To give the same brightness of light a 6v bulb will be lower resistance and allow more amps to flow. Less volts with more amps gives the same brightness and the same load on the gears.

If you want less load on the gears then whether 6v or 12v makes no difference. Changing to LED lights reduces the amps and reduces the load.

Apologies if that comment made little sense, it was intended to underline that LED s required little power and thus allowed 6v to illuminate one's progress all night.  Useful for the bold boys, and girls, setting off on the Measham on Saturday night. I expect to be popular amongst certain forumists who will shake hands in Ludlow on Sunday morning, pretty confidently at being lanterne rouge in the Clee Hills results. But then I have only two cylinders and few cc.

[Chris Garner]

Speaking of the VSCC Measham, there are five Sevens entered, a '33 Type 65, '32 Tourer, '30 Chummy, '29 Chummy and a '36 Special.

I shall be navigating in a '33 Triumph Gloria Special...or perhaps just sitting alongside the driver trying to!!!

[Steve kay]

Fewer Sevens on the Clee Hills, David Read and Nigel Glover, and Noel Hughes if he's in the Ulster and doesn't also have  a splendidly shameless 50's trialing Seven with a Reliant engine, all will be revealed on Sunday. There is however quite a turn  out of Sevenists in other machinery, messrs Houlgate and Dobinson, not to mention Roger Goldthorpe whose detailed descrition of his preparations have been recoded on this site. No sign of Andy Fox. This might mean he has a note from his missus saying he is required for tulip planting, or that swathed in many layers of thermals we will see him marshalling. Well some of us in class zero might see him marshalling at the start of a section, if he's at the top of a hill I doubt that we'll trouble him.