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Saladin Electrical Question


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Hello, I would appreciate a bit of guidance here. The weather finally warmed up so I thought it was time to try out the accumulator charger I had scrounged. That went well but the batteries were too low after a winter to do much more than roll the engine a few turns. When I turned the battery disconnect (Parts Manual says it is a Distribution Box No2 Mk1) off, the 2 red hydraulic warning lights stayed on. After a while I realized everything was still live and even though the disconnect seemed to be moving and felt correct, it was not disengaging.

 

Is this a common problem? The exploded view in the manual does not show me much about how to attack it. I would guess it needs to come out to a bench top and be opened up. But I thought it worthwhile to ask here for some help, if you please.

 

Thank you for your time .

 

Regards,

 

Bob

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Bob, Try disconecting the battery leads to Kill any electrical circuit.

Then remove the handle top cover over the Electrical Disconect box.

You MAY well find that the twin contact plates have become corroded together.

It's a simple matter to clean them & this SHOULD eleveate your problem!

If it doesnt, well......you will have to follow your electrical wiring diagram & look elsewhere!

But it is USUALLY this switch that causes this problem.

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Hello,

 

I have already disconnected the batteries for the moment. The odd part is the disconnect feels like it is engaging and disengaging when it should. I would have thought the plates corroding together would not allow the handle to turn. I will be able to have a look this weekend. Can you explain a bit more about what you mean by "handle top cover"?

 

Thank You for the help

 

Regards,

 

Bob

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Hello,

 

I have already disconnected the batteries for the moment. The odd part is the disconnect feels like it is engaging and disengaging when it should. I would have thought the plates corroding together would not allow the handle to turn. I will be able to have a look this weekend. Can you explain a bit more about what you mean by "handle top cover"?

 

Thank You for the help

 

Regards,

 

Bob

 

Bob, I meant the cover that the handle is mounted on. IE: The whole box cover!

If a plate inside the box had sheared off it's mount on either the base or the end of the handle. You WOULD get a complete circuit ALL of the time. I have had this happen to me. It APPEARS to be working manualy, BUT, inside the control box it is STILL conected!

Chris makes a good point with regards to new boxes on Ebay. If your restoring, this would be a better prospect. Time saved in stripping cleaning & reassembling would be saved. & add to that, it would probably outlast you! :-D

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Hello Again, Here is the thin update on what I found inside the Distribution Box. Apparently the main contacts have positive mechanical engagement when the handle is rotated to the ON position. But when it is turned OFF the switch relies on spring pressure to disengage them. The shaft and small keyway seen inside the bushing, have roughly 3/8” travel and comes flush with the end of the bushing when ON. When it is switched OFF it retracts about 1/8” with the spring pressure, but can be pushed another ¼”. May be a broken spring but feels more like old dried lube of some sort.

 

My 2 new questions are……..what is the copper colored coating on all of the nuts and studs? It is hard and looks like armature enamel or Glyptol. To get the box the rest of the way out and apart I will have to break those connections and would like to know what purpose the coating serves and if it needs to be replaced? Secondly, does any one know if these contacts are intended to snap quickly into and out of position to avoid arcing? Or do they rely on all other loads being shut off at the time of engagement?

 

To Chris and Mike, yes I did buy the new box on e-bay as you suggested. But I still feel the need to understand what has happened with this one.

 

Thanks Again for the help.

 

Regards,

 

Bob

 

 

 

Distribution Box Inside.jpg

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Bob. as you say, it could well be dried out lube or crud/corrosion, with build up of time.

Only a strip out of the offending parts will reveal what has happened!

I cannot state for sure, But I THINK the Red colouring is a varnish of some sort. You see it a lot inside Ex Mil Electrical equipment. ;)

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what is the copper colored coating on all of the nuts and studs?

 

I think you will find it is Lacquer, shellac H1(a)8010-99-942-7563

Has good electrical insulating properties

 

BTW Lovely to see all those clean electrical contacts looking so good in your picture. I used to have a Hornet & that used the same switch panel unfortunately some nitwit had run it without the radio batteries connected & the battery leads shorted out melting the switch contacts rather a contrast to your nice picture.

Edited by fv1609
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I think you will find it is Lacquer, shellac H1(a)8010-99-942-7563

Has good electrical insulating properties QUOTE]

 

Hello Clive,

 

Thanks for weighing in here. I do need to remove and disassemble the box to sort out what is happening and repair it. It was suggested to me it may have some wicking properties and be present as a sort of thread lock against vibration loosening the connections.

 

Does the lacquer need to be replaced after I am done?

 

Thank for the advice.

 

Regards,

 

Bob

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Bob I think the purpose was two-fold.

 

Yes to provide a lock, but an external one, without compromising electrical conductivity which you would get coating the thread with anything. Particularly important with such high currents being carried.

 

Secondly to form a seal against the ingress of moisture. So I would have thought it would be worth dabbing on something yacht varnish maybe?

 

The picture conjures up such a nostalgic aroma of old electrical items lightly tinged with fresh ozone. Hmm

Edited by fv1609
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Secondly to form a seal against the ingress of moisture. So I would have thought it would be worth dabbing on something yacht varnish maybe?

 

I have never expected this thread would be a hot topic, but I thought I would offer an update anyway.

 

The offending problem was grease that had gone sticky. At a glance it looked like disassembly would be straight forward, but as it turns out it was quite a puzzle. Many parts had to be loosened and rotated or moved to allow another parts to be accessed and then back to the earlier parts. A couple of photos are attached to show the main switch and the final product. If you look closely enough you can also see come all important black tape on a copper strap that is edgewise, where it runs precariously close to another of a differing polarity.

 

Clive, I am not prosperous enough to need yacht varnish, although I did have some spar varnish for my canoe paddles but chose not to use it. I would not want you to be too disappointed in me so I finally found some red electrical insulating liquid that seals and dries hard.

 

At the moment the box is in my freezer to make sure the grease I used will work in the middle of winter.

 

Thanks to everyone for the help.

 

Regards,

 

Bob

 

 

DSC03326.jpg

DSC03331.jpg

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I have never expected this thread would be a hot topic, but I thought I would offer an update anyway.

 

Bob not at all, I'm sure many of us enjoy peering into items like this & watching practical solutions emerge. Holds more interest for me than guns & flags.

 

I can appreciate the beauty of seeing nice & clean electrical contacts. Its amazing just how easily an ohm or so can creep in, most unwelcome where amps are meant to flow.

 

I was following through a thread on another forum with a distributor fault & although everything seemed to read alright with an ohmmeter, once 4 amps wanted to flow through a couple of ohms there wasn't much coming out! Well a drop of 8 volts!

 

PS Is it a military grade grease? If you know the classification I can check out its temperature range.

Edited by fv1609
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I can appreciate the beauty of seeing nice & clean electrical contacts. Its amazing just how easily an ohm or so can creep in, most unwelcome where amps are meant to flow.

 

PS Is it a military grade grease? If you know the classification I can check out its temperature range.

 

I did lightly dust the contacts with some ultrafine Scotchbrite before it went back together.

 

Sadly, no, it was not military grease. In fact it was 40 year old centerpoint lube that my Father used for everything that required grease. Made for stationary centers on a lathe it seems to work well in almost every environment. My deep freeze measured -18 F and when I tried the disconnect, it was a bit sluggish, but worked with it's own spring pressure. It is unlikely I will be putting many miles on the Saladin in those temps.

 

Now it is time to move on to badly leaking wheel cylinder seals and a weeping fluid coupling.

 

Regards,

 

Bob

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