• FORD VAN POINTERS.
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By R. T. Nicholson (Author of "The Book of the Ford ").
IN THE LAST set of Pointers, the end of the second page, on which my Editor expects me to conclude my remarks, came before I bad got halfway through all that I wanted to say about batteries, and the attention that is due to them.
I dealt then with the electrolyte, the need for keeping a regular watch upon its quantity and quality, or rather, strength, and showed how to make up for any evaporation of the water in the electrolyte by adding distilled water until the electrolyte came up to the level of the top of the plates.
199.—Replacing Lost Electrolyte..
In making up any loss of electrolyte, as when any happens to-be spilt, it is not sufficient merely to add water. The" lost electrolyte must be replaced with a mixture of water and acid of specific gravity 1.250. This means that 10 parts of sulphuric acid (by weight) must be mixed with 18 parts of water (also by weight). It is best to get the chemist to make up the electrolyte to this specific gravity. You will then run no risks by handling the acid yourself. (When mixed to this extent with .water, it is almost harmless. In the undiluted state. as I have said, sulphuric acid is harmful to clothes, flesh, and almost anything _ it falls on.)
200.—Making the Electrolyte.
If, however, you want to make up the electrolyte for yourself, the following is the way to setiabout it :—Take a clean glass vessel, and empty into it the 18 parts of distilled water. Then very slowly drop in the sulphuric acid. It must go in drop by drop. If you let it in too quickly; it will give out great heat,. and very likely overflow your vessel, or crack it; at all events. On no account pour the water into the undiluted acid, but drip the acid slowly into the water. As you let the acid drip, stir the mixture well with a clean wood " paddle," or with a. strip of glass. Let the liquid cool right down (the mixing in of the acid will have warmed it.), and then test the specific gravity in the way described in a previous Pointer. It should be 1.250. If too high, add water drop by drop (which may be done when the acid is thus diluted), stirring in, till the specific gravity, as shown by your hydrometer, is at that point. On the other hand, if too low, similarly add acid—very slowly.
Caution !
Except to make good loss by spilling, never on any account add anything but pure distilled water to the electrolyte. If-there is too much acid in it, the battery will be ruined. I—give you this caution because you may fall into the very natural mistake of supposing that the specific gravity of the
electrolyte i s only a matter of t-h e proportion of acid to water in it.: and when you find, one fine day, that the hydlometer shows that the electrolyte h a s too-low a specific gravity, you will argue that you can_ easily make that right by adding a little acid. It true that you can bring up the specific gravity by the addition of acid to the electrolyte, hut it is also true that this is not the way to do it, because the specific gravity of the electrolyte is dependent. partly upon the .proportion of acid to water, but also largely upon the point to which it is charged.In other words, the better a battery is charged, the higher will the specific gravity be. It is -only seeking trouble to revive a weak, or an exhausted, battery by pourmg acid into it If the battery has been properly filled with electrolyte of the right strength, the way to revive it when it is weak is to run Current into it, -either from the, generator or from a dynamo at a charging station. Fig. 125.—Taking electrolyte from the battery with the hydrometer for
testing.
201.—Keep the Battery Well Charged.
I have already charged you to see that the battery is kept well charged. You must run the engine long enough, and often enough; to keep the specific gravity of :the electrolyte up from 1.270 to 1.300. The hydrometer will show you when it is up to that point. One sign that the charging is bringing the battery up to proper 'conditionis the gassing, or bubbling, of the electrolyte. Do not let that alarm you—as it might ; that is exactly whatought to happen when the battery-has all the current it needs. But do not be afraid of over-charging from the generator. Any surplus electricity will simply (so to speak) overflow, It will do no harm, because if will run away to " earth."
202.—" Next to Godliness."
And do keep everything about the battery as clean as a new pin. Keep the Metal parts of the terminals free from corrosion. You can make them clean and bright by use of a weak solution of ammonia in water. (But do not let any get into the battery.) You call keep them so by smearing the metal with vaseline.
Look over all the battery connections once a week. They are apt to shake loosewith vibration. Keep all the connections tight—not pincers-tight, ■hut finger-tight. Never use any tool on electrical connections; they are generally rather fragile, though strong enouglafor finger treatment. You can do bad damage with tools.
See that the bolts and clips that hold the battery down are kept well up to their work. If they get loose, the battery will shake • about and strain the terminal connections, and that may cause grave trouble. •
203.—Fire!
Never bring a naked light near the battery. It is ma-de of very inflammable material.
204.—When You Cannot Run the Van.
If you cannot run the van—or the engine—to keep the battery charged, you can safely leave the battery without attention4f or, say, six weeks—perhaps seven —always providing that at the beginning of the period of idleness the battery was fully charged and that the electrolyte was up to the right level and of the right specific gravity. Even for a few weeks' rest, however, it is best to disconnect the battery wires, —those directly attached to the battery—so as to leave no chance of leakage. If you have to keep the van—or the engine--at rest for more than six or seven weeks on end, you had best send the battery to a charging station, with instructions that it shall. be properly looked after while you -are not requiring it.
A battery that is left without attention for any period longer than six or seven weeks (or even for as long as six or seven weeks, if it was not up to "concert pitch" at the beginning of that period) will almost certainly perish badly from sulphating. I need not tell you what that means, except to say that sulphating means ruination to the battery. You must run the engine enough to keep the battery in condition, or, failing that, you must get, the battery charged every six or seven weeks at a charging station.
205.—Batteries Cost Money.
The standard battery used on the new model Ford is an Exide, 3 XO 13 1. It is a tip-top battery, and costs. £8 2s. If, then, you spoil it by neglect, you are simply "chucking away "a small pot of money. Don't do it! Treat it properly and tenderly, and it will give you good service for many a long year. Neglected, it will only give you bad service for a few short months. The readiness of a battery to show the results of neglect is surprising.
206.—Drain on the Battery.
The battery, when fully charged, has lots of power stored away in it. Do not be afraid that it is not up to its job. The trouble with all batteries does not lie in use, but in abuse—which means use in an unfit state.
Nevertheless, remember that any use of the battery 'for supplying current means some drain on it—that the biggest drain (by far the biggest drain) comes • when you switch on the battery to run the power starter ; the next biggest drain comes when you switch on your lights; and-the least drain when you use your battery for ignition purposes, as a substitute for your magneto, This last drain is very slight indeed.) 'Do not drain the battery in all three ways, at the sam,e time unless you know that it is right up to its Job; and never make a bigger drain on the battery than is necessary for the purpose in hand.
Start herias easily as possible, seeing previously -that everything coneerned with carbaration and ignition is properly set.
Do not run your bright lights unnecessarily ; for example, when you are keeping the van at rest for awhile. Use your dim lights in such circumstances, and save the current.
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Preferably use your magneto for regular ignition— not your battery. On a very cold day, however; when the engine is cold, too, you are likely to get an easier start if-you switch onayour battery before you bring your 'power starter into actioia. (In. this ,case, retard your ignition lever to the full, or you may get a bad back-fire, and-such aback-fire may quite well strain or smash up your starting motor.) When you have got the engine firing regularly on battery current, switch over briskly to "mag."
207.—One Minor Point.
In the latest Ford Manual, issued by the company, there is a plan of the wiring of the new model. (This wiring looks fearfully complicated in the plan, though it is far more simple than it looks.) In that plan, a " fuse " is shown. That may confuse you, because there is now no such fuse on the Ford. It was originally put into circuit with the idea of providing a safety valve (so to speak) if the cut-out failed to act. In practice, it has been found that the cut-out never does fail to act. The fuse has, therefore!. been given up.
208.—Starting With Light Switch On.
It is much harder to start the engine when the electric light switch is on, because some of the lowtension current from the magneto is then side-tracked through the lamps. Some engines will not start at all when the electric light switch is on. (By the way, if you find that the engine is hard to start—or impossible to start—when warm, with the light switch on, you may take that as a pretty good sign that your magnets are none too strong.)
209.—Dim Lights.
if your electric light suddenly dims hut continues to glow miserably—like a dying match—suspect broken electric light wire somewhere, or a bad switch .connection—probably the former. Of course, if there were'no switch connection, or if the wire was broken right through, so that there was no circuit, you would get no light at all ; but if most of the strands are broken, or if there is a slight switch contact, your current will flow badly, so that you will still get light, though a, poor one.
210.—Tyre Valve Bodies.
In a recent Pointer, I objected to the absurd length of some tyre valve bodies—meaning that part of the valve that you push through the hole in the felloe of the wheel, and on to which you screw the cap and hood, or cover. I said that those bodies were often made absurdly long—so long as to hamper removal of the tube when removal became necessary.
And I have nothing to withdraw : I still maintain that many tyre valves are made with absurdly long bodies. It is only fair to say, however, that decently short valve bodies are made by some manufacturers —bodies of such length as to render extraction easy. For instance, Messrs. A. Schrader's Son. call my attention to the fact that they have, in designing their valves, made a special point of cutting .the valve body according to. the diameter of the tube: in other words, they make it of such length, for a tube of a certain size, that the body can easily be pushed well inside the wheel for extraction purposes, so that there is no struggle needed to pull the tube out of the cover.
, As Schrader's valves are now standard on a great many Ford size tyres (30 ins. by 3 ins. and 30 ins. by 3J: ins.) there can be no difficulty, so far as those tyres are concerned. In any event, 'however, you,will find it to your advantage, when buying a new tube, to see that the length of the valve body does not exceed the diameter of the tube. If you do not verify this point, you will have a struggle—possibly a, struggle to the death, so far as the tube is concerned—every time you try to get that tube out of the cover for repairs, or otherwise.