Re: [VAC] Grote lights

["Dr. Gerald N. Johnson" <geraldj@xxxxxxxx>]

I've been working on my Caravel's marker lights. All the marker lights
are Grotelite model 234. All but one of the lenses are Grotelite model
233. One (more flat, not a double wedge) that fit the Grotelite base is
a Bargman. I didn't make note of the number.

I don't have any more marker lights lit now, than I did before... The
problem in all of them (even those that are lit are not full brilliance)
is the ground is supplied through a pop rivet and washer. The pop rivet
is grounded solidly but there almost no pressure on the aluminum washer.
This connection is depending on squeezing metals together through a
plastic. That was not an approved technique even with hard plastics at
Collins Radio 37 years ago... I think I'll work up a more robust
technique that might meet Collins Radio standards and as a consequence
not need repair every trip... Seems to me that I want to remove the
rivets and loosen the fixture. Then I want do drill another hole in the
fixture base to pass a second stranded wire pigtail which I can solder
to the brass ground strap. Then under the fixture base (presuming its
hollow) I can use an aluminum self tapping screw with stainless steel
star lock washer to ground a wire lug crimped to that ground wire
(crimped with a surplus mil spec ratchet crimper) to a new hole in the
shell of the Caravel. I was thinking that maybe I'd just drill out the
rivet at the grounded end and replace it with a larger self tapping
screw and lock washer, preferably stainless steel or aluminum, but that
still makes the ground dependent on squeezing plastic. Sure I can go pop
the lenses off and tighten the screw each trip, but I think the pigtail
will be a significant improvement.

I made one other problem. I took the license plate fixture apart. It was
a mass of rust and the lamp collapsed in my fingers when I tried to
remove it. The base is permanently rusted to the socket. I unbolted the
base and pulled on the wire, but the connection broke off in the wall. I
may have to open up the wire hole to something big enough to get my long
nose pliers through to fish out that wire. Its sure I need a new fixture
there.

As long as I'm fishing for wires in the back, I've wondered about adding
a third brake light in the back window. Might be a useful safety item...
Might be a really huge pain to wire without taking the bath out too.
Though maybe the stop/turn lamp fixtures could be unriveted from their
castings to get wiring access for both tasks in the back wall.

Gerald J.