Hi Folks,
Following study and discussion with others I've decided to change the condenser. Before I tell you what I've done, please let me start by saying I'm not at this time condemning the original unit. A handful of courteous people helped me with the revisit of the whole scheme and there was general suspicion there were possible reasons for failure
not related to the capacitor. Some of those have already been mentioned.
If you purchased the original condenser and it has failed or if a sudden change in performance suggests to you it is failing, please contact me via PM or email ([email protected]). I'll send you the new one as a replacement as soon as I can. It was always my hope none of these should fail and for 2 or 3 of these to have done so is both surprising and at the same time concerning enough that I've revisited and re-studied the whole scheme. I'm not sending the new ones out to everyone who purchased because several people have told me theirs are working fine. If yours is bad and you want to mail the other one back, that's okay. I'll re-use the brass piece and I'll test the capacitor and add that to the study data.
There are some images below showing the new v. the old. The new capacitor is larger...that is to say taller and wider, but the length is the same. Fortunately it still fits as it should. I'll be looking into a different mounting design, but the reason for that is simply to make certain this be used in other distributors. For the time being, I'll just concentrate on the 216, 235 and 261 applications. To eliminate any possible connection concerns (from oxidation, etc), two things have been changed: a separate bare copper wire goes from one terminal of the capacitor back to the mounting area and is soldered to a tiny silver-plated piece which is also soldered to the mounting plate. The ground connection (obviously essential) was thought to offer the chance of intermittent or limited conduction in the original model, and for any capacitor an intermittent connection can be destructive. I'm also awaiting delivery of stainless steel screws and stainless internal star lock washers, and you will receive one of each with the newly designed condenser to make certain your ground connection is as good as possible. My sincere suggestion is to clean the area of the distributor floor with a paper towel and solvent before mounting your condenser...no matter what type you use. I can't emphasize enough the need for a complete and proper connection.
For anyone who is curious about a few specifics, the new capacitor is a snubber type. The maker of it and other educated and generous folks who were kind enough to offer help and advice believe this type will work better for this particular application. I don't disagree at all, by the way. Making this change, we give up the high temp rating of the original capacitor by 15 C, however even if the internal temperature of somebody's distributor reaches 110 C or 230 degrees F (this truly should not happen), the voltage reduction will still not knock the capacitor out of working limits. The values are 630V DC and 400V AC so the degradation at 110 C would make the AC voltage 275 (250 being the max I think should be expected) and the DC voltage 433. What else? The tolerance decreased to 5%, which is a very good thing. And the expected life is 200,000 operating hours. The red one was 300,000 operating hours, but if maximum life is attained the difference becomes academic. If you run your truck 3 hours a day every single day of every year, 200,000 hours equals 182 years. What else? Ah, the size. I've mentioned that, but I was careful to hunt until I found one that was as small as possible. Some of the snubbers are larger and would have to mounted externally. I think that's about it. I'm making these as time allows. If you've asked about one, or if you've sent payment, this amended version is the one that will be sent to you as soon as the stainless steel screws and washers arrive. If you were one of the people who sent the original condenser back to me, then I'll be sending you one of these at that time.
And as mentioned before, if the one you purchased previously has failed or if you have reason to believe it is failing, please contact me.And thanks to everyone for their support and help...
