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Historical engine - which engine gauges and why?


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35 minutes ago, Laurie.Booth said:

My Austin 7 had a manual choke and on the steering wheel a lever to advance and retard the ignition.

Try explaining that to kids today. 

:)

austin-7_9939.jpg

 

I bet UNA didn't require such driver intervention! 

5 hours ago, cuthound said:

Ford Angla/Prefect 100E had this feature. Not Ford's greatest contribution to road safety, the faster you went the slower the wipers went.

My lotus elan used to have vacuum operated pop-up headlamps. Tear around in it with the pedal to the metal too long and the headlights would gradually rise up :)

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5 hours ago, X Alan W said:

"Cor" that"s a recipe for oily tasting water, & having to drain the fuel filter down at frequent intervals  Extra things to fail at awkward times & out of the way places :D

Ho Ho!

We never drink the water from the boat's tank so I can't comment on its flavour.

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1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I bet UNA didn't require such driver intervention! 

My lotus elan used to have vacuum operated pop-up headlamps. Tear around in it with the pedal to the metal too long and the headlights would gradually rise up :)

No UNA was a lovely girl

 

lauriecolour.jpg

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14 hours ago, koukouvagia said:

Now if you had a Kelvin all you'd need would be 

A sense of touch (the cylinders should be "as hot as a man's hand can bear");

Keen eyesight (there is no oil pressure you just have to make sure the reservoirs are full and the dipstick is at the correct mark before starting out);

Good hearing (keep listening for the splashing sound to show that the Rae water pump is working);

A sense of smell (to detect anything overheating).

 

 

 

 

 

And engine speed in rpm can be determined by counting the bangs (or pairs of bangs) in 12 seconds and multiplying by 10. 

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On our Gardner

 

  • oil temp gauge
  • cooling water temp gauge
  • sightglass for cooling water on header tank
  • oil pressure gauge for engine in engine room and roof
  • oil pressure gauge for gearbox
  • fuel level indicator on daytank
  • plus a load of gauges re batteries (battery/charging monitor), generator fuses lights, galvanic isolator etc

 

 

Edited by mark99
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Many thanks for the feedback Mark - I also wondered about oil temperature gauge but apparently it would only scare me as it takes hours for it to reach temperature... The gearbox oil pressure gauge is interesting, one that had escaped me - are you also running a PRM hydraulic box?

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15 minutes ago, dpaws said:

Many thanks for the feedback Mark - I also wondered about oil temperature gauge but apparently it would only scare me as it takes hours for it to reach temperature... The gearbox oil pressure gauge is interesting, one that had escaped me - are you also running a PRM hydraulic box?

Yes PRM, quite an easy addition. To be honest I probably never ever look at it. I had a spare gauge so added it for bling. (PRM are bullet proof).

 

20140330_104841_zpsc9f5e99b.jpg

 

 

Edited by mark99
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8 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

And engine speed in rpm can be determined by counting the bangs (or pairs of bangs) in 12 seconds and multiplying by 10. 

"Nah" you just count the smoke rings& the revs are so "laid back" youv'e got time to take your shoes off when the count gets to 10 :lol:

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1 hour ago, mark99 said:

Yes PRM, quite an easy addition. To be honest I probably never ever look at it. I had a spare gauge so added it for bling. (PRM are bullet proof).

 

20140330_104841_zpsc9f5e99b.jpg

 

 

The electrical panel looks out of place in your engine room.  Couldn't you find any old brass knife switches to use instead of mcb's?

A rotary motor/alternator set could replace the inverter.

Alternatively hide the lot behind a scumbled door. :P

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3 minutes ago, cuthound said:

The electrical panel looks out of place in your engine room.  Couldn't you find any old brass knife switches to use instead of mcb's?

Funny you should mention knife switches - I asked the question only last week, electrical man said no... the miserable s@d!

Mine also wanted to put a box of RCD's on my switch panel - they will now be hidden in the wardrobe! I guess electrical guys just don't get aesthetics... 

steam punk knife switch.jpg

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2 minutes ago, dpaws said:

Funny you should mention knife switches - I asked the question only last week, electrical man said no... the miserable s@d!

Mine also wanted to put a box of RCD's on my switch panel - they will now be hidden in the wardrobe! I guess electrical guys just don't get aesthetics... 

steam punk knife switch.jpg

Exactly, 

I was thinking of something like this in Mark99's engine room. 

 

natural-slate-control-panel.jpg

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22 minutes ago, dpaws said:

Now that is a switch panel!!! Steam punky gorgeous!!! :D 

Yes, when I first started work in the early 70's, there were still a couple of buildings I worked in with switchboards like these to control motor generator sets (ac motor driving a dc generator) used to charge batteries. All connected together withe PILC cable. (My much loved autocorrect SUGGESTED PILCHARDS, bless :D).

They used mahoosive resistive regulators,  made by Brown-Boveri if I recall correctly.

Definately of the "more volts Egor" design.

BBC-snelregelaar-300x300.jpg

Edited by cuthound
To change an autocorrect induced "beverage" back to wot I rote "Boveri"
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42 minutes ago, cuthound said:

Yes, when I first started work in the early 70's, there were still a couple of buildings I worked in with switchboards like these to control motor generator sets (ac motor driving a dc generator) used to charge batteries. All connected together withe PILC cable. (My much loved autocorrect SUGGESTED PILCHARDS, bless :D).

They used mahoosive resistive regulators,  made by Brown-Boveri if I recall correctly.

Definately of the "more volts Egor" design.

BBC-snelregelaar-300x300.jpg

Oh please just stop.... I'm drooling!!! Beautiful ;) Yes, I've got one of those ruddy auto-correct things too - it's murder when you use two languages daily, everything gets confuffled!!

Edited by dpaws
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14 minutes ago, cuthound said:

Yes, when I first started work in the early 70's, there were still a couple of buildings I worked in with switchboards like these to control motor generator sets (ac motor driving a dc generator) used to charge batteries. All connected together withe PILC cable. (My much loved autocorrect SUGGESTED PILCHARDS, bless :D).

They used mahoosive resistive regulators,  made by Brown-Boveri if I recall correctly.

Definately of the "more volts Egor" design.

BBC-snelregelaar-300x300.jpg

Still got one of those moving coil voltage  regulators on an ex GPO generator- great to see it working when  a load comes on and those arms move across the segments. Generator is 88kVa powered by  a straight 8 Dorman diesel running at 1000rpm.

 

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5 minutes ago, billh said:

Still got one of those moving coil voltage  regulators on an ex GPO generator- great to see it working when  a load comes on and those arms move across the segments. Generator is 88kVa powered by  a straight 8 Dorman diesel running at 1000rpm.

 

Great, I think the last one I saw was in 1977.

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55 minutes ago, cuthound said:

Exactly, 

I was thinking of something like this in Mark99's engine room. 

 

natural-slate-control-panel.jpg

Truly wonderful but not really appropriate in a narrowboat and possible BSS issues if used on 240 volts  :D

.............Dave

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1 hour ago, dpaws said:

Funny you should mention knife switches - I asked the question only last week, electrical man said no... the miserable s@d!

Mine also wanted to put a box of RCD's on my switch panel - they will now be hidden in the wardrobe! I guess electrical guys just don't get aesthetics... 

steam punk knife switch.jpg

I just love "Frankenstein" switches.

:)

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