Re: Mike's 53 Clipper

Posted by BigKev On 2013/11/11 10:50:16

A couple of things.

First, you don't need a voltage drop circuit for the gauges. Your gauges are actually 5v, and there is a "chopper" voltage regulator on the back of the Packard cluster that regulates the power to 5v. But that same part number was also used on the 55/56 cars, and it crosses over to a Ford instrument voltage regulator available at NAPA that was used by for into the mid 1970s. Basically, that chopper voltage regulator takes in 6-14v and converts to 5v regulated. So use that.

Second, if you watch the clock winding circuit through a amp meter you will see that it has a momentary 2-4amp surge when the points contact and the solenoid winds the clock. That may destroy that solid state circuit. I really think that the clock should be just fine on a straight 12v. The points fry from low voltage arcing as opposed to high voltage arcing. If you wanted to get really protective about it, use a ballast resistor like they do to protect the points on a distributor.

Just my $.02