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Show ELEGTRi C SYSTEM of mmm Starting and Lighting Units on Cars of Today Are Mechanically Perfect. INSPECT WIRES OFTEN Usual Battery and Generator Genera-tor Troubles "Arise From Excessive Wear. Trouble in the starting and liftliting system is something that fills the soul of the average car owner with dread. Yet a careful look at the wiring diagram dia-gram of his ear will serve to unravel most difficulties, especially if he understands un-derstands a few basic principles, which we purpose explaining in this story. The electric starting and lighting system sys-tem of the car usually consists of a generator and starting motor, cither separate or included in a single unit, a storage battery, which is charged by the generator and then feeds its current cur-rent to the starting motor and to the lamps. Then there is a cutout, which, connects and disconnect the generator to or from the battery at slow engme speeds, and there is also a device to ' regulate the charging rate, to n-torm to the service usuallv demanded of the car These, with the -various wires, switches, lamps, etc., complete the sys- t0To befin with, there is mounted on the dash of the modern car a meter of some tvpe, to register the charge and discharge of the battery, so that the driver can tell how the starting and lighting system is functioning. AVheu the starting pedal is depressed, the meter begins to register discharge, because the battery is being drawn upon for current to turn the starting motor over. Sometimes the meter gets out of order. When the motor is not running and when the lights are not burning the hand of the meter should register zero. If it does not so register" regis-ter" the hand is bent, or the magnet ot the instrument may be weak or the return spring niav not be strong enough. If the error is more than a ' triflin" one. the meter should be in spected internallv. Vibration and excessive ex-cessive voltage" sometimes cause de-mucemcnt de-mucemcnt in these meters, and in this case the ear owner had better take the instrument to the service station. Usual Troubles. It is not often that mechanical troubles trou-bles afflict the starting and lighting svstem. Wear in the bearings ot the generator and starting motor is the commonest mechanical ill. Sometimes there is trouble in the linkage or in the gearing and iu the mechanical governor. gov-ernor. With these troubles the car owner can cope just as easily as those in other parts of the mechanism. Electrical troubles, obviously, are among the commonest that occur in this svstem. an.! thev are mostly caused by open circuits or shorts. In the former ii. :li l, -flnTT- nf current case mere vvm "c :-- at all, while in the latter the flow will be in the wrong direction, whereby the actual work of the system is slighted, as when one uncovered wire touches another on a different circuit. It is necessarv to inspect the entire wiring system at frequent intervals, because be-cause open circuits and shorts are like-lv like-lv to occur at any time. The chafing through of the insulation of a wire is enough to prevent the current from flowing to the place where it is needed. Constant vigilance is the price of starting start-ing and lighting efficiency. Then are two methods of running the wires from the battery to the lamps, etc, known respectively as single sin-gle and double wiring. In the double svstem two wires are used, one to carry the current to its place where it is needed and another to bring it hack to the battery. Jn the single wire system sys-tem one wire carries the current out, while the return is accomplished through the metal of the car's fr.'ine. If the wire of a single wire system is stripped of its insulation and touches the metal of the car, a short-circuit is established, and the part served by that wire will not operate at all if it is a lamp it will not burn. In the two-wire system a short-circuit does not form so easily, as two wires must ' be out of buMiiess to cause it. The terminals are a source of great trouble in this system. One poor terminal ter-minal connection, may put the whole svstem out of order, or it. may simply prevent oue of the units working prop-rrlv. prop-rrlv. lu case of trouble inspect ttV-sc parts. What to Expect. 7f the starting motor does not turn the engine over snappily and if the lighls do not burn with di' radiance, 1 C. A. QUIGLEY Distributor of the Standard 8 and Chandler passenger cars and Garford trucks. the trouble is probably caused by the battery. If the lamps do not burn properly, but. the starter seems to be working all right, obviously the lighting light-ing end of the system should be inspected. in-spected. The best way to attack the matter is to begin at one end of the line and work right down to the other. Start at the bulbs and work back to the battery, examining on the way. Sometimes the trouble will be found right in the' bulbs, which have burned out or have suffered broken filaments, through excessive vibration, though this will seldom happen to two bulbs at. once. The connectors that lead to the lamps may be loose or the contact points may be corroded. Next examine the wiring, back to the switch. See that all wires are fully insulated. In a one-wire system, see that, that wire is fastened to the metal to which it is attached. at-tached. In eases where a junction bos is used, there may be a short in this box, or the connection here may be loose or dirty. If there are fuses in the line, a fuse may have blown out or the fuse connection may be poor or corroded. If after installing a new fuse that blows out, the trouble is in the system. The fuse is intended to protect the system in general from the' effects of c.-essfve current supplv. Some systems employ circuit breakers instead of fuses. Sw-itehes are another seat df trouble, trou-ble, through dirt, looseness, poor adjustment, ad-justment, etc. Every switch should be 1 inspected in case of trouble. Most starting and lighting systems todav include in-clude a cutout, which" disconnects" the battery from the generator circuit when tne engine is running slowly, usuallv at ten miles per hour, car speed. The" ordinary or-dinary form is electro-magneticallv operated op-erated and the magnetic points must be kept clean. The cutout terminals, if they become dirty or loose, will cause trouble. " If the cutout does not operate properly, undercharging mav result with battery ills in consequence. ' Finally, it is best to use a wiring diagram of the car in hunting for trouble, trou-ble, so that each circuit niav be carefully care-fully followed from end to end. If the owner has not a diagram, one will be supplied by the car manufacturer or the nearest service station. |