semaphore lubrication, cleaning and testing?

hi i am playing with some semaphores at the moment and was wondering abour the best way to clean them. both the bases and the lenses?
also what should i lubricate them with (i assume that the hinge points etc need to be lubricated)
finally, i want to test them. i should preface this with the fact i basically know nothing about electricals. i don't have a 6V car/battery handy, but do have a 6V automotive charger. i was thiking of wiring the semaphores to the charger via a fusebox. will this work, ie stop the coils from burning out if something goes wrong? plus what amp fuse do i need (the vw fuse colour would be usefull as that is what i will be using.)


thanks.

henry.

lubrication can just be the use of WD40 or the like... mainly just to loosen up the joints.
if you use a fuse it will not be there to protect the coil it will be there to protect your power supply.
if the coil is shorted then the power supply will fry without the fuse.
the fuse should only be about 5-10 amp... the coil will draw about 4 amps on 6v so you will have to see if the charger will supply it.
what i would suggest is testing the semaphore WITHOUT power on it using a multimeter before testing it with power.
Check that the coil is not shorted to the frame. there should be a few ohms resistance between the terminal of the coil and the frame. -- remember to remove the lamp before testing as the lamp and coil are wired in parallel so your multimeter will give a false reading.

good luck.

I'll just jump in and make this a semaphore FAQ if you dont mind.

What should the semaphores feel like on a car in parked position. I would have expected them to be kinda locked in the park possie, but mine seem to be a little loose. I'd also like to get mine out to have a looksy at the lenses in case they are shagged and I need to find others. To do this do I just gently pull them out, undo a screw and slide them off the hook? I dont want to bust anything by pulling the arm out to get at the screw.

Should all aussie ovals be SWF made or is it a year thing? A 56 should have smooth everything yes? And colour should be orange? or yellow. Is yellow an orangy yellow or yellow yellow. Will I know the difference?

[ Edited on 18-9-2006 by amazeer ]

from the semaphores i have seen, they have about 10mm of movenwnt before they hit thier stop.

when you pull them out this stop is sprung so they (in theory) move past it and come out. once out it is the 2 wires and the mount screw, down then out. in practice they can stick when you try to pull them out. if you keep forcing it you could break something (it would need a fair bit of force but...). in the past i have had to pull them out as far as they would go then back in a fraction, insert a very small screwdriver (or similar) and try to move the bit that slides inside the solenoid (yes thats its technical name 🙂 ) down so the link clears the stop and the arm will swing out.

as far as brands, 8 of the 10 semaphores i have picked up over the years were SHO, whether this was just one of those things or not, i don't know. if it makes a difference all bar a miss matched pair which were loose came out of 58 or later beetles or late semaphore busses.

i think the orange lenses were up untill 54 poss 55, ribbed semaphores were v early.

the yellow lenses are a orange-yellow, the orange ones are, well, definately orange.

the top pic shows the top of a semaphore from the side. the top left arrow is the link between the arm and the solenoid actuation thingy, the top right is the top of the stop and the bottom arrow is the solenoid accuation thingy (the bit that slides into the solenoid)

the second pic shows where the link hits the stop, then the arm is pulled out.

the third pic shows how things are when the solenoid accuation things has been move down and the arm is free to be pulled out. the top arrow shows the clearance between the link and the stop and bottom arrow indicating the direction the solenoid bit has moved.

i hope that this makes some sense.

sorry about the poor pics and shonky photoshop arrows.

ps i never claimed i could spell 🙂



[ Edited on 18-9-2006 by whatnow ]

amazeer wrote:I'll just jump in and make this a semaphore FAQ if you dont mind.

What should the semaphores feel like on a car in parked position. I would have expected them to be kinda locked in the park possie, but mine seem to be a little loose.
[ Edited on 18-9-2006 by amazeer ]

definitely "locked" in the park position to prevent them from coming out when you go round a corner. You can adjust the amount of movement by gently bending the stopper out toward the arm so that it minimises movement when parked.
What this means also is that it is harder to manually move the arms out to remove them from the car.