ORIGINAL 'A' GENERATOR AND LIGHTS

[SHELBY MESSER]

I was on the road late one evening Almost dark. I thought I having electrical problems (thought) I stopped on the side of the road. I removed the floor board to get to the battery. Maybe my battery connection was loose. With engine running headlight on, I disconnected the battery cables, WAM, a flash of lighting and no head lights. All the lights that were on burned out. 13 miles from home and on headlights. I drove 3 miles through town and 7 miles on country road using a Minnie flash to light the way. made it safely home but will never again pull that stunt. Don't know how many volts the original A 6 volt generator puts out but it is plenty. SO don't have engine running lights on and disconnect the battery. Hope this helps some one Shelby, Sacramento.

[Bob C]

They can put out up to 40 volts when they are not connected to the battery and run wild.

Bob

[tiredtruckrestorer]

The same thing can happen if you use one of the fuses that mounts to the starter that the Model A vendors sell. if you have a short somewhere and that fuse blows, it disconnects the battery from the system, the generator will run wild and blow out every bulb that is turned on in the system. It can even burn up the generator if it is continue to be driven that way. I mount a fuse to the output wire of the generator that feeds the lights and horn. I also use a battery disconnect every time I park the vehicle to protect the rest of the system. We had guys in our club blow that fuse mounted on the starter and left them in the dark just like Shelby.

Keith

[SHELBY MESSER]

When my lights burned out I must have thought that all the filaments had burned out. I drove home in the dark. The 2 filaments did not burn on the hi-lo which ever was off, but I don't know why I didn't think of this, panic attach I think. Shelby, Sacramento.