Late SIII Coil behind grille mystery

Hello,

Again, I'm helping my friend with his SIII. He's found what looks like a
small ignition coil between the front grille & the radiator. It looks
original and has three fat leads leading to / from it. All are at least
mainly brown in colour. No info in any of the books we have - possibly
because it is a fairly late model.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what this part is and what it does?

Cheers.

Phil

Phil Miles wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Again, I'm helping my friend with his SIII. He's found what looks like a
> small ignition coil between the front grille & the radiator. It looks
> original and has three fat leads leading to / from it. All are at least
> mainly brown in colour. No info in any of the books we have - possibly
> because it is a fairly late model.
>
> Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what this part is and what it does?
>
> Cheers.
>
> Phil

Split charge diode - for charging two batteries.

The can contains two diodes connected together at the alternator (A)
terminal. The battery (B1, B2) terminals are connected to the two
isolated batteries, one of which is usually the normal vehicle system.

"Phil Miles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hello,
>
> Again, I'm helping my friend with his SIII. He's found what looks like a
> small ignition coil between the front grille & the radiator. It looks
> original and has three fat leads leading to / from it. All are at least
> mainly brown in colour. No info in any of the books we have - possibly
> because it is a fairly late model.
>
> Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what this part is and what it
> does?
>

Sounds like a Lucas "Blocking Diode" from a split charge system, the
alternator would feed the centre terminal and the other two feed out to 2
separate batteries. A good system for isolating a winch battery from the
vehicle electrics, the only real downsides being the limitation of a 60A
alternator (the diode's power handling capability) and the voltage drop
across the diodes (typically 0.8 to 1.4 volts) causing the batteries to only
charge to the lower voltage and hence not a full charge. This was a
situation that could be worked around though, by modifying the alternator to
become "battery sensed" instead of "machine sensed", so that the alternator
would sense the battery voltage direct ( instead of its own internal volts)
and run at a slightly higher internal voltage to compensate for the drop
across the diodes. This would cause the ignition light to be seen glowing
very dimly at night, due to the voltage difference across it (0.8 to 1.4
volts), easily cured by the addition of a diode in the ignition light
connection at the alternator.
Assuming it is indeed a blocking diode, new it would have cost in the region
of £45 about 6 or 7 years ago. I'm led to believe that the only user of them
in any quantity was the AA.
Badger.

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 15:48:55 GMT, "Phil Miles"
<[email protected]> made me spill my meths
when he wrote:

>Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what this part is and what it does?

Anti Rambler device, it's connected to the ignition leads and zaps
them as they touch the grill. Oh, actually only worked on the metal
SIIa grills


--

Wayne Davies, Harrogate 07989 556213

Just another point of view...
www.4x4prejudice.org

In article <[email protected]>, Badger wrote:
>
> Assuming it is indeed a blocking diode, new it would have cost in the region
> of £45 about 6 or 7 years ago. I'm led to believe that the only user of them
> in any quantity was the AA.
> Badger.
>

Interesting...

My 110 is Ex AA and came fitted with an 8274. It only has a single battery
though.

I wonder why they never fitted dual batteries? It does have a hand throttle
fitted in the passenger footwell though, they must have just upped the engine
speed while winching. Most likely it wasn't used that often too.


--
simon at sbarr dot demon dot co dot uk
Simon Barr.
'97 110 300Tdi.

Thanks,

That seems to have cleared that one up!

Phil

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 15:48:55 GMT, "Phil Miles"
> <[email protected]> made me spill my meths
> when he wrote:
>
>>Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what this part is and what it
>>does?
>
> Anti Rambler device, it's connected to the ignition leads and zaps
> them as they touch the grill. Oh, actually only worked on the metal
> SIIa grills
>
>
> --
>
> Wayne Davies, Harrogate 07989 556213
>
> Just another point of view...
> www.4x4prejudice.org

On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 21:30:22 GMT, "Phil Miles"
<[email protected]> made me spill my meths
when he wrote:

>> Anti Rambler device, it's connected to the ignition leads and zaps
>> them as they touch the grill.

>Thanks,
>That seems to have cleared that one up!

You got just the one then?



--

Wayne Davies, Harrogate 07989 556213

Just another point of view...
www.4x4prejudice.org

>>Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what this part is and what it does?
>
>
> Anti Rambler device, it's connected to the ignition leads and zaps
> them as they touch the grill. Oh, actually only worked on the metal
> SIIa grills

It reminded me of this ....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/23/newsid_2518000/2518671.stm

.... which even features a Land Rover!

There will be others....

Phil
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 21:30:22 GMT, "Phil Miles"
> <[email protected]> made me spill my meths
> when he wrote:
>
>>> Anti Rambler device, it's connected to the ignition leads and zaps
>>> them as they touch the grill.
>
>>Thanks,
>>That seems to have cleared that one up!
>
> You got just the one then?
>
>
>
> --
>
> Wayne Davies, Harrogate 07989 556213
>
> Just another point of view...
> www.4x4prejudice.org