Illuminating - pod motors mod

[AJay 1]

Can any one help.

I have a set of headlight pod lift motors that i want to fit to my G car, but being newer technology the stevens cars have a module that the lift motors plug into and the G car is done with relays and switches.

Doe any one know how the module works? I.e how does it know the lights are up/down as there are no limit switches. ( it all appears to be witch craft at the moment).

[nicksoldies 0]

I just looked at the service notes and there is no description of how it functions that I can find. The way it's wired, I guess the module must sense the increased current draw when the pod hits the stop and turns off the feed to the motor. It wouldn't matter that it knows where the pods are, the switch dictates that. I think you need that control module. There is also a pod delay module in the circuit that keeps the pods raised for 4 seconds, when the lights are on main beam, to help when using the flasher. I guess you could wire the motors with or without thiss feature. The wiring looks fairly straightforward. If you need a copy of the Stephens setup, let me know and I'll post one.

[AJay 1]

Thanks for the info, came to the same conclusion this afternoon while looking at a friends V8.

I dont have the mounting brackets and didn't realise that there were stops on the bracket, the g car motors spin through 360 degrees.

So i think you are spot on on the current monitoring and presume that when the motor stalls out on the stop the module senses the over current and removes the voltage from the motor.

[GSimpson 0]

As noted the G car lifter goes through 360 deg. It knows when to stop thanks to diodes. If it doesn't stop then a diode is burnt through. This is a common arrangement. We put a couple of Honda lifters on a G car. Had to replace the diodes at a cost of $1

[Evil_Dr_Fish 1]

Sorry to be dim...

I have never looked at automotive electrics really but I do understand electronics a bit...

So... How do Diodes make that work then?

[USAndretti42 315]

The end of the lift motor has a rotating cam and, above it, a brass strip and 3 contacts. The centre one is permanently connected while the other 2 are opened and close by the cam as it rotates. These feed the motor relay. When the lamp is fuly up one of these contacts is open and the other closed. The situation is reversed when the lamps are fully down. The diodes prevent backfeeding the current through the closed contact to the relay which could lead to some odd things happening.

[nicksoldies 0]

If you look at the various wiring sheets for the Esprit, at least my Stephens' model, it is suprising just how many diodes are used. There's even a wiring harness and diode location diagram (MG 10). I counted 16 diodes used for various things.

[AJay 1]

Ok so i now have the motors working correctly on the bench wired up to the lift module, but the motors don,t have the mounting bracket on them.

Does anyone have two spare for sale or one that i can take the measurements off to fabricate some?

The position of the motor and angles involved look quite critical for sucessful operation.