Re: F12-20 lighting packages

Posted by Bob M on February 25, 2005 at 07:24:29 from (151.190.254.106):

In Reply to: F12-20 lighting packages posted by Jeb2N on February 25, 2005 at 03:19:57:

Hey Jeb – Welcome to the “red side” of the old tractor world!

I’ve seen a lighting kits installed on a few old tractors at shows. Most interesting are the batteryless ones – I think made by Prestolite.

I believe batteryless generator is actually a permanant magnet alternator. Thus the lights are powered by variable frequency/variable voltage AC - same as the work lights on cheap, modern lawn tractors, walk-behind snowblowers, etc. Means the faster the engine runs the brighter the lights!

Anyway If I can find a photo of a Prestolite setup in my archives I’ll post it tonite.

Regarding gear drive “double ended” generators, they were somewhat common back in the day. Waukesha used them, as did Reo trucks and probably others. I recall also an early Cummins (J series?) diesel with one. On that the water pump drove off the shaft extension from the generator. All the double shaft generators I’ve looked at closely were made either by Delco or Leece-Neville.

Regarding generator speed, keep in mind for nearly all 4 cylinder magnetos the input shaft (impulse coupling) is driven at the same speed as the crank. The 2:1 reduction for the mag distributor takes place inside the magneto. So a generator sandwiched ahead of the mag on an F-xx Farmall does NOT need to be a special, low RPM design.

As you suggest this is weird (and fascinating) stuff!

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