strange cutout behaviour

Giles

Giles

Junior Member
I recently checked my cutout (repro, but not an electronic one) for gap, clean points etc. No probs. Yesterday, after a longish trip involving a lot of stop-starting, I lost charge to the battery. today (i) I checked ammeter and generator: no problems (ii) I checked cutout by putting a current through it as per Paul Moeller's book, using a battery and also a 6v charger. The points chattered rapidly like an electric bell hammer but would not close. I wondered if the magnet was not pulling strongly enough so I held the points closed momentarily. Chattering continued. Finally, I replaced the cutout and all is now back to normal. But the faulty cutout was pretty new. Does anyone know what causes this behaviour?
 
f it was a new cutout they are junk... plain and simple. If you replaced it with the same style it probably won't last long either. I prefer an original or later "Ford" close foot unit ( Model A was open footed). Some prefer diode.

Make sure your generator is functioning properly. Many times if you discharge a battery through the generator due to a stuck cutout you will cook your generator.
If you didn't you are lucky.

Check and make sure you don't have any other battery drains or poor connections... terminal box, dash, etc.
Larry Shepard
 
Giles said:
Does anyone know what causes this behavior?
Click to expand...

Great troubleshooting! But Yea, as it has been mentioned they are junk.

Salvage the can and install this sold by the vendors;

A10155D10.jpg
 
Thanks guys - v helpful. Original cutouts are really hard to find over here in the UK, so I guess I will go the diode route. When I first had the car (23 years ago) you could get quite good repro cutouts, but the quality has gone down. I'd still love to know what is going on when the chattering happens, out of sheer curiosity ...
 
larrys40 said:
f it was a new cutout they are junk... plain and simple. If you replaced it with the same style it probably won't last long either. I prefer an original or later "Ford" close foot unit ( Model A was open footed). Some prefer diode.

Make sure your generator is functioning properly. Many times if you discharge a battery through the generator due to a stuck cutout you will cook your generator.
If you didn't you are lucky.

Check and make sure you don't have any other battery drains or poor connections... terminal box, dash, etc.
Larry Shepard
Click to expand...

Larry, When you say later style closed foot when were they used ??
 
Saw this on a friends cutout - the coil with the fine wire was not held properly and would move, resulting in a broken wire which lead to chatter.

His was a repro, and pretty cheesy in construction.
 
stouchton said:
Saw this on a friends cutout - the coil with the fine wire was not held properly and would move, resulting in a broken wire which lead to chatter.

His was a repro, and pretty cheesy in construction.
Click to expand...

I've had to solder a couple of the fine ground wires to the base. Since the base is a substantial piece of steel, it takes a lot of heat to get it hot enough to flow solder for a good bond. I like my WEN 250 Soldering gun for this job. A large soldering iron will also work, but not one of the small ones with a 1/8" diameter tip. I've had to repair cold solder joints, even on a couple of original cutouts.
 
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