invacar LightBulbFun's Invacar & general ramble thread, index on page 1, survivors lists on Pages 24/134 & AdgeCutler's Invacar Mk12 Restoration from Page 186 onwards, still harping on...

[Mrs6C]

 

  On 20/03/2023 at 18:40, LightBulbFun said:

Unknown but hopefully still surviving Model 70! so very curious she has those photos!

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Why not ask her? She is still active as an artist and is based in London. Contact page on her website below:

https://www.nancywillis.co.uk/contact

[LightBulbFun]

  On 08/10/2019 at 14:48, bunglebus said:

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  On 09/10/2019 at 13:14, barrett said:

If my library was more organised I could tell you who built that car and what it's made of. iirc he did not have the use of his legs and it's a sort of home-made Greek invacar with hand controls. Wheels are obviously Mini but I can't remember what powers it. I did spend an hour last night looking for the answer but I got distracted, soz

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  On 09/10/2019 at 20:41, barrett said:

Here you go. Apparently it has a Mercedes diesel engine and no floor, with rope hammock seats as the guy's legs just dangled underneath....

This was his first attempt at making a car:

Based on a triporter-style three wheeled delivery motorcycle, with a windscreen repurposed from a light aircraft canopy...

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https://www.facebook.com/groups/390556894371121/posts/5950553268371428/

amazingly it looks this homebuilt greek carriage still survives!

or at least I hope it does and thats not a picture of it being taken to the weigh bridge! @Will on Syros save it to exhibit it alongside the Enfield as 2 extremes of greek built motoring!  

the facebook post at least contains some neat comments about the chap who built it and what its made up of!

[brummiejon]

Got my hands on the correct Bulgin plug for the Argsons battery charger…. Will be standing well back whist plugging it into the mains… I imagine that it’s been at least 40 years since it was last plugged in…. Will the selenium rectifier go pop and smell like rotten eggs? ….. wish us luck 

 

 

 

[brummiejon]

  On 22/03/2023 at 14:53, brummiejon said:

Got my hands on the correct Bulgin plug for the Argsons battery charger…. Will be standing well back whist plugging it into the mains… I imagine that it’s been at least 40 years since it was last plugged in…. Will the selenium rectifier go pop and smell like rotten eggs? ….. wish us luck 

 

 

 

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That was an anticlimax… I connected a multimeter to the output plug, plugged in the mains lead… turned the switch to the low position, then medium and high…. Nothing, no bang, no smoke, no output…. All fuses still intact…. I have absolutely no idea how to even start troubleshooting, electronics is not my thing at all…. So I may have to live with a non working onboard charger which is a bit of a shame…..

[bobdisk]

 First trace the mains input to the transformer,  then see you have an output from the transformer. You can replace the selenium rectifiers with modern silicon diodes,  have to work out the rating based on current.  Looks from the pic it is a bridge rectifier, so you will need 4 diodes. If there are any capacitors, they are bound to be dried out, and no good.

[LightBulbFun]

  On 23/03/2023 at 12:59, brummiejon said:

That was an anticlimax… I connected a multimeter to the output plug, plugged in the mains lead… turned the switch to the low position, then medium and high…. Nothing, no bang, no smoke, no output…. All fuses still intact…. I have absolutely no idea how to even start troubleshooting, electronics is not my thing at all…. So I may have to live with a non working onboard charger which is a bit of a shame…..

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shame I cant teleport! (still waiting to get my blue box thats bigger on the inside then it seems from the outside back from @red5 )

id love to have a bash at figuring it out  

I have long since been messing with all things electrical through the lightbulb Hobby, I did this when I was 12 LOL 

put all the ballasts I had at the time in parallel to try and drive a 1000W mercury lamp I had gotten for Christmas, only managed 600W sadly LOL (note the 4.77A reading on the multimeter, 7.5A is what I was gunning for!)

so electronics dont scare me much (or as much as they should LOL)

[brummiejon]

  On 23/03/2023 at 13:52, LightBulbFun said:

shame I cant teleport! (still waiting to get my blue box thats bigger on the inside then it seems from the outside back from @red5 )

id love to have a bash at figuring it out  

I have long since been messing with all things electrical through the lightbulb Hobby, I did this when I was 12 LOL 

put all the ballasts I had at the time in parallel to try and drive a 1000W mercury lamp I had gotten for Christmas, only managed 600W sadly LOL (note the 4.77A reading on the multimeter, 7.5A is what I was gunning for!)

so electronics dont scare me much (or as much as they should LOL)

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I’m going to try and remove the whole unit, it will be much easier to test on a bench and more importantly, it will be transportable

[egg]

  On 23/03/2023 at 17:27, brummiejon said:

I’m going to try and remove the whole unit, it will be much easier to test on a bench and more importantly, it will be transportable

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I might be barking completely up the wrong tree, but wonder if Dave Patrick an auto electrician in Sittingbourne would have a look at it if you wanted help, a decent bloke with a lot of experience.

[bobdisk]

  On 22/03/2023 at 14:53, brummiejon said:

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Might be a stupid question, what pins are what? Looking at this pic close up, it looks like the pin on the right, nearest the rotary switch is the longest, therefore is earth.  The pin opposite the keyway is not always earth, I have found.

[brummiejon]

  On 23/03/2023 at 18:23, bobdisk said:

Might be a stupid question, what pins are what? Looking at this pic close up, it looks like the pin on the right, nearest the rotary switch is the longest, therefore is earth.  The pin opposite the keyway is not always earth, I have found.

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It is marked on the plug….  And the earth pin is slightly larger diameter. I will double check tho thanks

[somewhatfoolish]

  On 22/03/2023 at 14:53, brummiejon said:

Got my hands on the correct Bulgin plug for the Argsons battery charger…. Will be standing well back whist plugging it into the mains… I imagine that it’s been at least 40 years since it was last plugged in…. Will the selenium rectifier go pop and smell like rotten eggs? ….. wish us luck 

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Quite likely as they deteriorate and were never very robust anyway; they smell much worse than rotten eggs when they go though. Silicon rectifiers are much more efficient and more reliable.

[LightBulbFun]

  On 22/03/2023 at 14:53, brummiejon said:

Got my hands on the correct Bulgin plug for the Argsons battery charger…. Will be standing well back whist plugging it into the mains… I imagine that it’s been at least 40 years since it was last plugged in…. Will the selenium rectifier go pop and smell like rotten eggs? ….. wish us luck 

 

 

 

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one other thing to check for is if there a mains voltage tapping selector, if that been removed or gone missing then it will obviously disconnect things

I noticed XPD805's charger is able to be tapped for Mains voltages from 200V-250V (because these are from the days before local voltages where fully standardised!)

so I have to wonder if Flo has a similar voltage selector somewhere! (as an aside its interesting to note how XPD's charger is much more enclosed, do wonder if Flo's had a similar casing or this is just one of the differences between an Argson and an Argson Deluxe, or difference in earlier vs later machines?)

 

and of course if there is one make sure its suitably selected to 240V~ (or whatever your mains voltage typically reads out to)

[AdgeCutler]

As I was informed by Dez that today was a special day in the history of invalid carriages I decided to take Brian out for a run. We have had an issue with ignition loss after having travelled around 25-30 miles, there will be a pop, sputter and then complete loss of power. I put this down to either a dying coil or plug. I sourced some new old stock plugs and fitted one today and we hit 400 miles since rebuild. Sadly we ended up having to pull off of the road with the same issue despite the new plug, next to fit the new coil I have had sat on the shelf for the past few months, hopefully then we can achieve some more extended runs.

Good luck to Brummie and Flo, hopefully you’ll crack it soon.

[brummiejon]

  On 24/03/2023 at 18:29, LightBulbFun said:

one other thing to check for is if there a mains voltage tapping selector, if that been removed or gone missing then it will obviously disconnect things

I noticed XPD805's charger is able to be tapped for Mains voltages from 200V-250V (because these are from the days before local voltages where fully standardised!)

so I have to wonder if Flo has a similar voltage selector somewhere! (as an aside its interesting to note how XPD's charger is much more enclosed, do wonder if Flo's had a similar casing or this is just one of the differences between an Argson and an Argson Deluxe, or difference in earlier vs later machines?)

 

and of course if there is one make sure its suitably selected to 240V~ (or whatever your mains voltage typically reads out to)

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Yes, Flo does have a similar system hidden under a cover (see photo)…. All is set up for 240v…. I have managed to separate the charger from Flo and now it’s on the bench for a good looking over with a multimeter and I shall be cleaning all contacts… It has obviously been rewired at some point since it was built due to the pvc wiring which would not have been used originally

I have no idea why one photo has been uploaded upside down… tried all sorts but it still loads upside down

 

[egg]

[brummiejon]

  On 24/03/2023 at 20:44, egg said:

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Thanks, I don’t know why it’s doing it and I appreciate the correction

[egg]

  On 24/03/2023 at 20:47, brummiejon said:

Thanks, I don’t know why it’s doing it and I appreciate the correction

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in that situation I tend to turn the image around and resize it just slightly and then save, generally seems to work.

[brummiejon]

  On 24/03/2023 at 20:47, brummiejon said:

Thanks, I don’t know why it’s doing it and I appreciate the correction

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On closer examination…. Maybe the jumpers are not in the correct position..

[LightBulbFun]

  On 24/03/2023 at 20:57, brummiejon said:

On closer examination…. Maybe the jumpers are not in the correct position..

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if I am reading the chart right, they are set for 220V-230V operation, so should still be OK for testing, (ie wont be the reason its non functional) but its probably not a bad idea to set them to 240V 

as a side note I like the little lock out on the major voltage range toggle switch to to stop someone accidentally bumping it to 100V-125V range and frying everything LOL

[brummiejon]

  On 24/03/2023 at 21:02, LightBulbFun said:

if I am reading the chart right, they are set for 220V-230V operation, so should still be OK for testing, (ie wont be the reason its non functional) but its probably not a bad idea to set them to 240V 

as a side note I like the little lock out on the major voltage range rocker switch to to stop someone accidentally bumping it to 100V-125V range and frying everything LOL

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Yes, I loved the crude but effectiveness of that… such basic engineering 

[brummiejon]

Separated the front panel to the rest of the battery charger this morning…. Tow issues immediately obvious… one of the tabs of the AC  fuse holder broken off and another cable come away from a tab on the voltage selector board…. Found a NOS correct fuse holder on eBay for £3.95 and time to get my soldering kit out…

[red5]

[red5]

 

 

 

 

Feel free to jump to conclusion..

[LightBulbFun]

  On 25/03/2023 at 19:44, red5 said:

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so how she looking under there Doc?  Awesome to see a fresh picture of REV!

  On 25/03/2023 at 19:46, red5 said:

 

 

 

 

Feel free to jump to conclusion..

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"Dont worry its not piss!" 

(to quote and slightly take out of context @RobT from funnily enough when we all went to the Hammond microcar collection which directly lead me to getting REV  )

awesome to see some fresh brake fluid in there, its always been one of those things I have wanted to sort/get sorted on REV since I first got her so, tis very awesome to see!

because her old fluid was doing a passable impression of maple syrup!

 

[High Jetter]

  On 25/03/2023 at 19:46, red5 said:

 

 

 

 

Feel free to jump to conclusion..

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Brakes sorted, hopefully?

[RoverFolkUs]

  On 25/03/2023 at 23:47, High Jetter said:

Brakes sorted, hopefully?

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Nah, special reservoir installed for a dip of your choice for an Autoshite chip run

[High Jetter]

You can dip your chips in DOT4 if you like! 

[RoverFolkUs]

  On 26/03/2023 at 00:19, High Jetter said:

You can dip your chips in DOT4 if you like! 

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Been there, done that ☹️

Nothing* better than a bit of DOT4 dripping on your lunch!

[High Jetter]

H2SO4 adds a certain something*

[red5]

  On 26/03/2023 at 00:20, RoverFolkUs said:

Been there, done that ☹️

Nothing* better than a bit of DOT4 dripping on your lunch!

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,75/90 or EP90