sentinel

Please be aware that the cheaper LED units generally use LED's rejected by the mainstream manufactureres ;which is why they are so cheap why they have a higher failure rate. Additionally with the 220 / 240v units the control circuitry of some el cheapo types generate totally unacceptable levels of radio frequency Interference. Regards.

Try Diperk - 0800 0730 424

Valve seat regression?

Just a quick clarification, if I may. Not all shunting locos work very hard, some sites were regarded as a home for poorly locos. Some literally started up, drew the train forward a couple of wagon lengths through the dock for unloading then were shut down again (the battery problems this caused are another matter...). Then in half an hour or an hour the process was repeated, the loco spent longer building up air than actualy moving the train. Then you had to combat the issue with air-motor start loco's in refineries, where once started to move the morning train under the gantry they would often be left to idle all day untill it was time to send the train out again in the evening; it was an uphill battle trying to convince drivers they would re-start if shut down (after you had sorted out years of poor maintenance you had inherited). Oil changes were normally at 200 hours for main engines and where they were fitted at a 100 hours for the little donkey engines used to drive some retro-fit train air brake compressors. These were often 4 pot Perkins to start with and later some transmogrified into three cylinder Kubotas, (thats when we found out the flywheels and starter motors were different between the 24v and 12v ones - after we tried to convert a 12v one to 24v - ooops) both started to show gellatification (is that a real word?) if you tried to run them at 200 hours betwen oil changes - regardless of the oil used, even the gold plated stuff! In the end we started to move towards hydrostatic drive to remove the hassle of the donkey's. Hour counting did vary a bit, Rolls and English Electric had mechanical counters that in effect counted engine revolutions, other had electronic counters wired to the ETR (Engine To Run - an inverse "stop" solenoid if you like which is energised to open up the pumps fuel supply). Regards.

Just to throw the proverbial stone in the pond, or canal. I spent a number of years maintaining and repairing shunting locomotives using Rolls, Cummins, Cat, Paxman, English Electric and the like engines as prime movers. Some of these had easy lives and almost annual oil changes, some were receiving oil changes monthly and were mauling well over a thousand tons around with glowing manifolds and a cone of flame on the top of the exhaust. Some of the engines were fairly new, some were over half a century old. In all cases we were using "cheap" un-branded oils, the sort some would not put in their beloved boat engine, and yet these loco power units continued to clock up the running hours year in year out. Heavy use, light use, main engine, donkey engine. We used to take periodic oil samples and have them analysed to check for signs of excessive wear with no with no issues other than at high hours when the expected wear problems resulting from sheer age started to appear, or the odd catastophic failure occured. We carried out a comparative test across similar power units, with a premium oil and with an "el cheapo" that met the appropriate spec; there was no noticable difference over a couple of years. So we continued to buy in the cheapest oil we could - as long as it met the spec, although at times that was difficult, what exactly is "motor lorry engine oil"? If I had not been convinced that this was the right way to go I would have fought the policy, because I would have had to sort out the consequences. Now maybe a canal boat is something special, to the owner it doubtless is, but please consider that if you think your canal boat engine is expensive to overhaul should you get the lubrication wrong then try a Rolls CV12 or an English Electric 6KT. Interestingly I have seen none of the people who fear excessive wear mention oil sampling. Perhaps at the end of the day its a personal choice and one in which you will never please all of the people and will never get agreement. He who is noted for making challenging statements having lit the blue touch paper now retires to a safe distance! However on a serious parting note, I hope this is of some help to somebody. Regards.

Having just caught up with this thread that would be my first thought. If in doubt try to rig up a "proper" (i.e. non electrical) oil pressure gauge to prove disprove whether or not it is actually a variation in oil pressure or just an instrumentation problem. Regards Ian

The 2 bobbin RB106 regulators will inherently overcharge as they were set up that way when manufactured (my mother used to work on them) to ensure that the battery was as well charged as possible. This is why you must never use a sealed battery in conjunctionwith a dynamo. The 3 bobbin RB340 regulators were better in this respect. Personally I still have car which has travelled over a quarter of a million miles with its original RB106 so they are not that inherently unreliable! Cheers Ian

Paul; I dont feel that there is a need to run any form of LED lighting off a DC-DC converter as the light output (to the human eye) of an LED or LED cluster is fairly constant over the likely range of supply voltage (and hence current throught the LED's) that you are likely to encounter. Whilst switch-mode DC-DC converters are fairly efficient these days such a scheme just adds complexity, cost and does introduce losses. Well thats my thoughts anyway! Actually incandescent lighting would have been another matter given the dramatic effect voltage has on lamp life, but this is generally ignored on a cost/benefit basis and the fact that "x" hours at over-voltage is sort of offset by "y" hours undervoltage - maybe. Regards Ian

There is quite a bit out on the web about mods to computer PSU's, its worth a good trawl around; unfortunately I am work and my notes are at home. Generally - and thats a key phrase - you can load the 12v o/p up to in the 10A or so region at least, sometimes a lot more. I have been running an elderly Pye Vanguard off one for some time and they take the best part of 10A on transmit. I think the maximum ratings are if you are loading all the outputs at once and what the switcher circuit can handle, the individual output circuits are usually capable of far more for long periods without distress, or as I say have been when I have tied this. Usual caveats..... Ian

http://www.leadedpetrol.co.uk/list.htm

This "demo" with oil addatives is often done on an unloaded small stationary engine and these engines tend to run on ball bearing mains. Out of interest in this matter Briggs and Stratton did an oil addative test themselves, but additionally they dropped the oil from an engine which had not "benefitted" from an addative. The end results was slightly less wear in the engine without the addative but they were still servicable with slight bore scuffing and minor marks in the big ends. Ducks to avoid incomming writ from Snake Oil pedlers....

Which is interesting as Prestolite and Leece Neville are actually the same company. Ian

The lamp you show has a B15d cap (Bayonet cap, 15mm, double contact base....) By the way bulbs grow in gardens, lamps fit in light fittings, or luminaires... Ian

Agreed. A "Z" section belt, as shown, (the Z part of XPZ) is too small for those pulleys. the crankshaft pulley looks as if it sized for an "A" section, standard automotive belt. For further sectional and length details go to the Gates Power Transmission website, you will have to generate a user i/d etc then go to "industrial power transmission" then "catalogues in pdf" and then "heavy duty belts". This will give you dimensions of all available belts "Z" thought to "E" section As an aside and probably at a tangent, I have disliked "Z" sections ever since coming across them on Roll's C8T engines fitted to a few Hunslet loco's, they had 4 of them fitted to drive the coolant pump and alternator instead of 2 or 3 A section belts and they were always trouble.... I fitted banded belts in the end out of frustration.