Thread for arguing about "Transformers"

This brought about more reliability as the mechanical contacts had limited life due to metal erosion and needed regular cleaning and setting of the gap to give the correct dwell angle for engine to perform at its peak performance
Not to mention the almost Heath Robinson arrangement of springs to try and do engine-speed related timing.
 
So, when people come here and talk about their "transformers", should we delve into the "are they transformers or electronic transformers?" issue? Maybe, if it matters (e.g. with dimming capabilities, minimum loads, powering a different lamp type to the one they're designed for etc).

Should we go down the "No, they are not transformers and they are not 'electronic transformers' because they don't exist, they are switch mode power supplies" route? No, never.


Indeed when someone comes on here because they are having some issues with their LV power supply or lighting, which they ended up buying incorrectly, simply because what was running happily on a old conventional transformer may not run accordingly using an electronics transformer (SMPS) every manufacturer tries to produce a product that they wouldn't like it to fail within the first 12 months of warranty period otherwise they could suffer heavy losses and go out of business, so most would incorporate safety features to make them reliable and abuse proof, meaning they would incorporate short circuit protection, over heat protection, over current protection, so this can only be done with Electronics, and so where a conventional wound transformer can tolerate some abuse without shutting down, it can handle briefly over voltages and currents, without any mechanism shutting it down apart from a primary or secondary fuse protection or may be self resetting thermal fuse, some may not even have self resetting and so once they go beyond safe temperature the thermal fuse which is not easily replaceable can render that transformer useless, but it would still work for a while and not shut down immediately an overload occurs.

However in a SMPS, they are designed to shut down immediately, even at a very brief overloading, so they tend to not perform well when subjected to brief over loadings, that is why most threads on here are about LED lights or halogen lights are no longer working properly, or they start flickering or whatever. This is why some people on here are insistent that they need to know if the power supply they are using is a conventional transformer or an Electronic transformer (SMPS)

Also the fact that switching frequency of SMPS giving out 12v DC at say 5 amps and if one then tries to run an LED lighting that runs on a 12v DC, that light's own SMPS built in circuit may start interfering with the 12v Power supply (SMPS) where the lights may start to flicker. Where the two switching frequencies starts to clash with one another as they are wired together, and may not have strong RF Filtering both ways.
 
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Not to mention the almost Heath Robinson arrangement of springs to try and do engine-speed related timing.
Oh do you mean the centrifugal ignition advance ? and along with vacuum capsule to provide immediate advance on full wide open throttle.
 
Indeed.

I'm in the process of working through the stages to see if an engine that hasn't run for 30 years will, and I recently remembered that the spring on that has gone awol. We'll see. I don't need it to properly work, just cough into some sort of life, as that will probably make the car easier to sell.
 
what car is that? or what make is it?
I remember those springs were of certain tension, two in each distributor, one used to be weak and another a stronger spring to create a specific advance curve. Think of it, we have come a long way to present technology, even though it seems we have made many advances in technology during this century! Now all that is done by an ECU.
 
This is why some people on here are insistent that they need to know if the power supply they are using is a conventional transformer or an Electronic transformer (SMPS)
Yup - as I said, if the distinction is relevant, then bring it up.

But as "wirewound vs electronic", not as "it's not a transformer it's a switch mode power supply and there is no such thing as an electronic transformer and anybody who says there is has no idea what they're talking about".
 
Wow! classic car now, and most probably uses Lucas Dustributor, for all practical purposes, the ignition advance wouldn't make discernible difference, nor would the vacuum advance, for the purpose of firing it up, so all you need to do is check all spark plugs are clean, all HT leads are good, rotor in good shape along with contacts, check condenser, as a weak condenser (used be called a condenser now known as a Capacitor) can stop a car from starting, I think they are 0.1uf or may be 0.2uF 200Volts or more, so even if you can't get one, hook one up of your own temporarily, make sure you carbs are clean and all jets clear of any obstruction, it probably uses an SU carb or a Stromberg, or you know better, I used to tinker around Hillmans and Vauxhall Viva and Victor! (You could also check compression levels with all 4 plugs removed and throttle wide open on cranking speed) It should start with no problems.
 
SU would have been the original carb - mine's got a

40dcoe2-weber-carbs-reconditioned_360_3ee5a89ff5c956a7ce460e2a855b6fe2.jpg


Engine cranks fine - compression is good on three, but one's down.

Good spark from the coil - I want to clean and gap the plugs.


Starting will be enough - the engine can't be actually used, as with the current head it needs leaded petrol, which is a bit hard to come by....
 
That is a Weber carb. Most likely you have twin Webers for yours MG as nearly all sports cars were high performance, or originally fitted with twin SUs, weak compression in one of the cylinders could be due to a sticky valve, or a rocker, or may need gap in tappets set right, after all it has sat there for years, I would also warm it up and drain old engine oil and refill with new oil and filter. Unleaded petrol wouldn't kill instantly, I have had my Hunter GTE running on unleaded for years before I sold it back in yr. 2003, just when the leaded petrol started becoming hard to get, mine was a 1975 model with twin Zenith Strombergs. For a while you could get some additive for it but I had a guy who was really keen in me selling mine, he offered a good price and I thought might as well as the fuel is getting hard to get hold off, but i did run it lots of times on unleaded without any problems par some pinking, and I retarded static ignition timing by a few degrees from the distributor knurled knob, that sorted it out, and also stopped pushing it too much, I then bought a Humber Scepter, again with twin zeniths, I wanted to restore that car and left it in a mate's farm, he promised to keep an eye on it, but one day I rang him and asked him if I can come over to have a look at my car, he said yes pop over, when I got there, I had a job finding my car as it was covered in weeds and other growth which had found its way into the car from slight gaps through someone not shutting the doors fully, it was covered in fern and algae and what not, I was devastated, I really ticked off my mate off for not even ringing me to say I need to come down and deal with undergrowth in his disused farm. I couldn't visit him on a regular bases as he was based in Exeter. It was a real nice car inside, it had walnut teak dashboard with illuminated switches, that i had not seen in any Rootes cars before. had greenish dash/speedo light that made it look terrific at night! It was very smooth and quiet, automatic, and drove and felt like a mini Jaguar. I was so horrified that I just left his farm and phoned him up to scrap the car, I wish I had stripped some of its parts that could have been useful to many Rootes enthusiasts.

BTW, here is a useful link on unleaded petrol effect on older cars:
https://www.theaa.com/driving-advice/fuels-environment/lrp
 
Yes we can, so what car do you own? I bet it has a transformer in it somewhere, unless it was a diesel powered!
 
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