Re: (ET) Question for the EE types

[Charlie <medievalist gmail com>]

Thanks, Rob, I was wondering about that; the toaster is obviously
capable of carrying huge amps, but the little wire-wound ceramics
under the dash don't look like they could handle much current at all.

Today I discovered that my varistor is exploded.  Remarkable that the
I-5 still works, although certainly not optimally.

--Charlie

On Sun, Jun 24, 2012 at 9:27 AM, Rob Brockway <GEtractor yahoo com> wrote:
> Keep in mind the power loss with resistors used with the field is 
> trivial.  Resistors used with the armature is significant.
> Rob
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Jun 22, 2012, at 5:43 PM, Charlie <medievalist gmail com> wrote:
>
>> In at least three places in the Elec-trak's original circuitry,
>> voltage is being dropped by resistors which waste a portion of the
>> power as heat.
>>
>> In theory, could a circuit be designed to substitute a less lossy
>> voltage converter (buck-boost maybe?) using the original wiring and
>> connectors?  A "plug in" replacement for that card full of resistors
>> under my dashboard, or a "bolt in" replacement for the toaster?
>>
>> I'm aware that an Alltrax would make this unnecessary, but I've got a
>> late model I-5 in reasonably cherry condition and I don't want to
>> install a potted controller (admittedly if I had a field reversing
>> relay I'd drop in an Alltrax in a heartbeat).
>>
>> --Charlie
>>
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