Hi Everybody, I've had my 1975 R75/6 for a few months now and while replacing the brushes on my alternator the insulation on the stator wires disintegrated.
I'm assuming that I'll need to de-solder the spades and re-insulate the wires with shrink wrap. Is there anything I should be aware of before doing this?
I think you will find that what has disintegrated is really a short piece of cloth tubing placed over the wires where they traverse openings in the alternator housing. The real "insulation" is merely a darkish lacquer coating on the copper wire. So the fear is that the wires may vibrate in service, and thereby rub through the very thin lacquer coating at the point where they poke though the housing. I see 6 such places in your photo.
To replace this you can get some more (non-shrinking) insulating tubing used for wiring, slit it open, and slide it onto (and over) the wires in danger of rubbing through. (The insulation off 12AWG household wiring may work.) You can hold such pieces of vinyl tubing in place with common silicone sealer of any color. The adhesive type silicone will be best but all silicone sealer holds well enough to work, if the wire is free of oil residue.
Common electrical tape would do, but making sure it stays in place over the long term is the problem. Silicone sealer by itself is also an excellent dielectric, but the problem is again making it stay in place.
Hope this helps.
Owning an old Airhead is easy.
Keeping an old Airhead running great is the true test.
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