I admire your goal in getting the engines to run smoothly. like at the vintage shows, I admire the stationary engines that tick over the slowest
I noticed that I like over types (locomobiles, etc) quite a lot. I think the way that Mamod has packaged the engine is very clever with the light in the chimney.
In regards to it not lighting 💡, keep in mind that the power of any engine is proportional to the fuel input. 1 cube probably won't do?
For me, I always try to get the engines to run quieter while running equipment. So using clear plastic shims/washers from left over food containers or using plastic floss can reduce the slop.
I took the Dynamo out of the engine....I freely admit that "voltage" is not my strong point... But I did a little trouble shooting.
The wires are Very fine gauge from Dynamo to lamp, I suspected a broken wire or connection, However I hooked the Large Red LED bulb to single AA battery and the bulb is good but not very bright.
Next I connected the AA battery to the Dynamo and it Runs as a motor Just fine!
So I removed the brass pulley from Dynamo and chucked the motor shaft in my cordless drill and spin the Dynamo with the Drill in high gear.....NO light at all!
I think my drill runs about 1600 RPM on high....it seems like that would do the trick?....I feel like I am missing Something.....
I agree that (1) tab does not spin the Dynamo Super fast, also when I ran the red bulb on AA battery, I had to dim the lights so I could tell it was lighting up.....I suppose the light may have been burning when I ran the engine, and I should have turned out the kitchen light to see better.
Photo: the Dynamo and test equipment, ...I need to find my volt meter for projects like this!
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If the Mamod Dynamo Needs to be spun very fast to get volts?...I think I want to replace it....I have this small Dynamo that came with my D100E kit, it's not decorative "looking" but that's ok because it will be hidden in the base of my chimney...what I really like about this unit is it makes usable volts at low RPM, you can actually get a small white LED bulb to flicker just by spinning the Dynamo pulley smartly with a flick of your fingers! Wilesco actually cautions that if you power this unit with a larger engine it may burn out bulbs but I believe there are instructions in the D100E kit on how to protect the LED bulbs from over voltage.
If this does not fit I will take the stock unit to my hobby shop, I would like to find a motor with the same face mount bolt pattern to avoid drilling new holes in my Mamod.
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