Amazon: New (to me) 1963 Volvo 122

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Burdekin

Brookhouse sell the original style relays. https://classicvolvoparts.co.uk/sear...&Submit=Search

That is helpful, the same relay at £30. The old style one would look the part if fitted in Maud’s engine bay. A 1980s Volvo 240 would probably be better, but might look a bit odd (although I could hide it away under the motor car).

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

... particularly if I used a LED bulb with a large impedance.

Why not use a bi-colour LED? Green for OD available and yellow for active?

https://www.spiratronics.com/tri-col...en-13119-p.asp

That's a 5mm version, 8mm and 10mm versions are also available :

https://www.spiratronics.com/tri-col...en-13127-p.asp

https://www.spiratronics.com/tri-col...en-13129-p.asp

Connect the cathode to earth via a 560 Ohm resistor, connect the green anode to terminal 56a as per the tell-tale in the first diagram and connect the red anode to your second position. It is possible to get momentary pushbuttons with LEDs built in, not sure if you can get them with a bi-colour LED already fitted but it should be easy enough to dismantle the switch and retrofit a bi-colour making the whole thing just need one hole to fit the switch and tell-tale with the extra function of the green and yellow outputs.
If you find the 560 Ohm resistor is too dim, you could change if for a 470 Ohm resistor.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Why not use a bi-colour LED? Green for OD available and yellow for active?

https://www.spiratronics.com/tri-col...en-13119-p.asp

That's a 5mm version, 8mm and 10mm versions are also available :

https://www.spiratronics.com/tri-col...en-13127-p.asp

https://www.spiratronics.com/tri-col...en-13129-p.asp

Connect the cathode to earth via a 560 Ohm resistor, connect the green anode to terminal 56a as per the tell-tale in the first diagram and connect the red anode to your second position. It is possible to get momentary pushbuttons with LEDs built in, not sure if you can get them with a bi-colour LED already fitted but it should be easy enough to dismantle the switch and retrofit a bi-colour making the whole thing just need one hole to fit the switch and tell-tale with the extra function of the green and yellow outputs.
If you find the 560 Ohm resistor is too dim, you could change if for a 470 Ohm resistor.

What a brilliant idea Dave - that would be a really neat solution at almost no cost, and the outcome would make me really happy.

Just to be really clever I could fit a small rheostat in the earth return to use as a dimmer switch - perhaps mount the whole thing on a little panel (painted Volvo 46 red) under the dash (more or less where the ex-HRW switch is now, but a little bigger).

This forum is so useful - people come up with such good ideas.

Alan

PS. I should think one of these little trimpots would do, it will be taking almost no current:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115368122...Bk9SR6SF-qzpYA

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

What a brilliant idea Dave - that would be a really neat solution at almost no cost, and the outcome would make me really happy.

Just to be really clever I could fit a small rheostat in the earth return to use as a dimmer switch - perhaps mount the whole thing on a little panel (painted Volvo 46 red) under the dash (more or less where the ex-HRW switch is now, but a little bigger).

This forum is so useful - people come up with such good ideas.

Alan

PS. I should think one of these little trimpots would do, it will be taking almost no current:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115368122...Bk9SR6SF-qzpYA

The LED would never light with that potentiometer Alan - a 5k resistor would develop something like 100V across it at 20mA which is far in excess of the cars voltage and way above the 2.0-2.2V for the LEDs. Even at 4mA (usually the minimum turn-on current for LEDs) a 5k will still drop 20V.

Using a 470 Ohm resistor as the main current limiting resistor you could add a 2.7k potentiometer in series as a dimmer to drop the current to 4mA for night time use if you really needed to but the LED would be nearly off on the minimum setting.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

The LED would never light with that potentiometer Alan - a 5k resistor would develop something like 100V across it at 20mA which is far in excess of the cars voltage and way above the 2.0-2.2V for the LEDs. Even at 4mA (usually the minimum turn-on current for LEDs) a 5k will still drop 20V.

Using a 470 Ohm resistor as the main current limiting resistor you could add a 2.7k potentiometer in series as a dimmer to drop the current to 4mA for night time use if you really needed to but the LED would be nearly off on the minimum setting.

Have another look at the eBay ad Dave - it is a compendium of trimpots from 500 Ohm to one mega ohm. One of the lower values would be perfectly good in the earth return. The advantage of getting a whole box (of 100 with 10 different values) like this is I could experiment until I got it right.

It looks like a pretty good value kit to me - I may buy one anyway for the electronics components box.

:-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Have another look at the eBay ad Dave - it is a compendium of trimpots from 500 Ohm to one mega ohm. One of the lower values would be perfectly good in the earth return. The advantage of getting a whole box (of 100 with 10 different values) like this is I could experiment until I got it right.

It looks like a pretty good value kit to me - I may buy one anyway for the electronics components box.

:-)

Ah, you're right Alan, i read it as 5000 Ohm, mainly because they didn't put a space between the value and unit!

Even so, you'll still need a current limiting resistor of ~470 Ohms between the LED and potentiometer so when the pot is on zero Ohms, it doesn't feed the LED with 12-14V with no current limit.
They are however preset pots so adjusting while driving won't be practical one of these with a 2k value in series with the 470 resistor would work though :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283066568348

Then find a suitable knob for it that suited the interior of GAM and job done.

[Othen]

Bob and I spent the morn with the Amazon section at Sywell airfield (only about 15 miles distant). What a nice bunch of people they are, and what a lovely display of Amazons:



... and a bonus we saw these two Spitfires:



Many thanks to Peter for running the event - we will certainly attend next year.

:-)

[Othen]

I found this really nice line drawing of an Amazon online:



It is available to download (free) here:

https://volvoamazonpictures.se/docum...wing/122BP.pdf

[Othen]

I've often wondered what this bit that came with GAM was for:



... then someone kindly explained at the recent Sywell meeting that it was a blind for the radiator - to aid warming up in cold weather.

I found it out of the spares shed today, and I think I've worked out how it fits on and operates, but I still have a few questions. It seems to be complete apart from the wooden spar that runs through the blind at the bottom of the photo (above) - it has rotted away but enough remains for me to take some measurements and it would be trivial to manufacture another.

I'm guessing it fits (and please correct me if I have got it wrong) the way up I have it in the photo, so that the spar at the bottom is secured by the two self-tapping screws on the panel just in front of the radiator. The blind then somehow wraps around the wooden rod in the frame at the top of the photo such that spring tension normally keeps it at the bottom of the radiator. Here are my first two questions:

a. How does the blind attach to the wooden roller? Is it glued, stapled or something else?

b. Should the two fabric straps be attached to the fabric blind (perhaps glued)?

I assume the chain then attaches to the middle of the spring loaded mangle affair, perhaps with a small shackle, such that the force of the coiled spring normally holds it in the lowest position. I imagine the chain then runs upwards to this change of direction device at the top of the radiator:



... then over the engine to this little chap:



... and so into the cabin where the large ring normally rests against this little bracket (I have often wondered what it is for):



Would that all be right? Assuming it is, I have a few more questions:

c. How much tension should there be in the wringer affair when it is in the normal (open) position.

d. Is there somewhere to stow the chain in the cabin when the blind is pulled up?

There is no need for this mechanism in out mild British climate (although I suspect it is quite useful to get things going at -20c in northern Sweden), but all the same I thought I might repair it such that it could work. I don't think I'd actually have it affixed to Maud - perhaps I'll just get it working for a photo and then store it safely for posterity.

Any advice on the above would be much appreciated.

Alan

PS. Perhaps I'll fit the device for one day/year at the Sywell meeting?

[Moomoo]

Originally Posted by Othen

I've often wondered what this bit that came with GAM was for:



... then someone kindly explained at the recent Sywell meeting that it was a blind for the radiator - to aid warming up in cold weather.

I found it out of the spares shed today, and I think I've worked out how it fits on and operates, but I still have a few questions. It seems to be complete apart from the wooden spar that runs through the blind at the bottom of the photo (above) - it has rotted away but enough remains for me to take some measurements and it would be trivial to manufacture another.

I'm guessing it fits (and please correct me if I have got it wrong) the way up I have it in the photo, so that the spar at the bottom is secured by the two self-tapping screws on the panel just in front of the radiator. The blind then somehow wraps around the wooden rod in the frame at the top of the photo such that spring tension normally keeps it at the bottom of the radiator. Here are my first two questions:

a. How does the blind attach to the wooden roller? Is it glued, stapled or something else?

b. Should the two fabric straps be attached to the fabric blind (perhaps glued)?

I assume the chain then attaches to the middle of the spring loaded mangle affair, perhaps with a small shackle, such that the force of the coiled spring normally holds it in the lowest position. I imagine the chain then runs upwards to this change of direction device at the top of the radiator:



... then over the engine to this little chap:



... and so into the cabin where the large ring normally rests against this little bracket (I have often wondered what it is for):



Would that all be right? Assuming it is, I have a few more questions:

c. How much tension should there be in the wringer affair when it is in the normal (open) position.

d. Is there somewhere to stow the chain in the cabin when the blind is pulled up?

There is no need for this mechanism in out mild British climate (although I suspect it is quite useful to get things going at -20c in northern Sweden), but all the same I thought I might repair it such that it could work. I don't think I'd actually have it affixed to Maud - perhaps I'll just get it working for a photo and then store it safely for posterity.

Any advice on the above would be much appreciated.

Alan

PS. Perhaps I'll fit the device for one day/year at the Sywell meeting?

She’s just a girl who keeps on giving Alan.

Super little project!!!😁