the chinese way?

[moggiethouable]

My condenser failed last weekend, I had fitted a new one as a precaution against breakdown.
I re-fitted the old one and have ordered a spare from the Doc.
Anyway, armed to the teeth with idle curiosity I split the old one, to find tightly rolled baco foil in a plastic cap, you gets what you pays for?[frame][/frame]

[67-2door]

Wow, that's shocking.
It'd be interesting to split an original and see what's inside one of those.

[amgrave]

The older ones were exactly the same but better made of course. The foil in the new ones short across the roll and that is what makes them fail. The foil should be plastic or wax paper coated on one side so when rolled each layer is insulated from each other. One end of the roll is connected to the metal body of the condenser and the other end is connected to the wire.

[Trickydicky]

When you receive your new one from the DD you cannot fail to accept the better quality product, as amgrave points out its a combination of poor quality and not enough turns in the foil windings that causes them to fail. Any gaps between the foil and the metal body causes it to arc across due to the high voltages it has to deal with.
The only thing the condensor are useful for is to use the orange connector to make replacement LT Earth cables inside the dizzy.

[moggiethouable]

Thank you for that.
I did wonder if the baco foil was the norm, it was insulated on one side but clearly not well enough.
I will keep the wire, good tip.
I have received the replacement spares from the distributor doctor, no doubt they will fall in to the category of "coming in handy if they never get used"
Thanks chaps.

[bmcecosse]

I would fit the DD parts right away - and carry the old parts as 'spares' in the glovebox - but you are unlikely to need them.....