SilvA4Q

Wellcraft290 – here’s the website if you want to see any of the pictures of what the write-up contains, Clock Repair.

Indycam - you'll love this story. So I went by the speedometer and electrical repair shop today and was confronted with a completely belligerent human being. Before even looking at the clock and listening to my description of problems and what I want he says nothing is wrong with the solder points and that the capacitor(s) are blown. So I asked for him to explain what a blown capacitor would do to the clock and he responded with "the effects of a blown capacitor are too difficult for you understand". Neat huh? So I proceeded to ask him how he would get to the front side of the circuit board, and he said to pull the front bezel by "breaking the seal". At that point I realized I was at the wrong place and needed to find another alternative, after work Ill head to another shop. Wish me luck!!!

Have you heard of issues with capacitors blowing and affecting the lights or charging system circuit?

Indycam

There are zero capacitors on the board .

That guy you met today , I think I use to work with him .

You could go to a store and buy an iron and a tube of solder .
Remelting the old solder and adding a little more is well within your ability .
There is nothing tricky about it , none of the parts will come apart .
You just heat up the old solder until its good and melted .

SilvA4Q

Zero capacitors? Wow, Im definitely glad that I left that shop then. He was such a nice person.....sarcasm! What are those tube-like objects on the board?

I think I am going to take matters into my own hands like you suggest, looks as though I'll be learning how to solder quickly. I had the battery load tested, and it turns out its just fine so that's scratched from the list of possible issues. I'll have the clock finished hopefully tomorrow to test it, what should I do to see if the re-soldering made a difference?

Indycam

If they have color bands on them , they are resistors .

Good , you can do !

Do not rush , solder together two wires first .
When you see how to solder together two wires you will be ready .

Do you have a digital camera ?

SilvA4Q

They do have color bands so I guess they are resistors. Can those go bad also? Any need to look into those being a possible problem area?

I do have a digital camera, should I post pictures of the end product of the soldering?

Indycam

Do not worry about the resistors .

SilvA4Q

so its all done. after lots of practice runs I felt confident enough to do the soldering my own, not that bad of a job if you ask me. I did already solder the three joints on the back and forgot to take a picture of the front but I was following the picture in the DIY to make sure mine looks the same. Should I take a picture of the back? Also, one of the backlight light bulbs is burnt out, is it possible to find a replacement bulb or can it be replaced with another bulb that is a less in power? The burnt out bulb is 1.2w and the extra bulb on the clock is .9w, bad idea?

Now that its all soldered, whats the next step? Just install it and test the volts across the battery when running and see if the alternator is starting to work correctly?

Indycam

If you have done the soldering and have good bulbs everyplace you need good bulbs , its time to connect the wires to the back of the clock , don't push the clock all the way back in , leave it out a way so that if you want to pull it out you can .

The clock has many extra bulbs , not all of them are in spots where the light will ever be used . If you can move the dead bulb to a spot where a good bulb is not needed ...

SilvA4Q

Well with the repaired clock back in there is still no charge going to the battery. On startup the lights come on just as before and nothing staying on past a second after ignition. But shortly afte starting the battery light gradually lights up.

What's the best way to test the alternator for output? And is there a way to see if the voltage regulator is bad? I'm starting to think the alternator has gone or on it's way out. The battery is constantly going down in volts when the car is running (but much slower since repairing the clock, odd?).

Indycam

So now we can test the alternator .
hook up your dvm to the battery ,
what does it read for voltage ?
Start up the motor and at 900ish rpms
what does it read for voltage ?
At 2000 rpms ,
what does it read for voltage ?

What does the dvm read when the light is on ?

SilvA4Q

Prior to starting the battery is around 12.8. With the car running at idle it's 12.13 and declining slowly. With the engine being revved it just drops faster, no increase at all.

The battery light starts off dim and gradually gets brighter. Well actually it dims and goes away momentarily when the engine is revved but there is no increase in voltage across the battery. And after revving the battery light is brighter then before.

Indycam

If the clock is good , then the alternator is not .
Could be a replacement of the voltage regulator will bring it back to life
or it is the alternator itself .
How do you feel about pulling out the alternator ?
Mounted on the back of the alternator is the voltage regulator .
You can replace just the voltage regulator
or you can replace the whole alternator .

SilvA4Q

What exactly does the regulator do? Tells the alternator when to send charge to the battery?

I'm actually not too put off by the thought of replacing the alternator. Can the regulator be replaced without pulling the alternator? Also, what about when the battery's negative cable was disconnected with the car running (I know, it was a bad idea when I did it). Wouldn't the car have died when the battery power was disconnected?

Indycam

It senses the state of charge of the batter and regulates the amperage put out by the alternator , low voltage = higher amps , higher volts = lower amps .

The voltage regulator is on the backside of the alternator , the side you can't get to until you remove the alternator for the motor , the far side from the fan .

Did the car die without the battery ?
You , I think , said it did not .

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ion-29442.html

SilvA4Q

Ok, so with a completely failed regulator there would be zero charge running to the battery? Thus imitating a failed alternator. I think the best route to go would be to replace the regulator and see if that solves the problem. If it doesn't then the only place left to look is the alternator itself.

Thanks for the link but all I gathered was that it was a bad decision to disconnect the load (battery) from the alternator because of the potential of frying diodes. Still though, if the alternator was broken and the battery was disconnected wouldn't the car die? Would I be able to rule out the alternator being completely shot? I didn't see that covered in the link.