MTFCA Forum

I have a 1918 touring car. It has a coil box with the switch on the front of it. With the switch cover off and the switch set to "battery" and maybe on Magneto as well, and when energized, there are a lot of extra sparks dancing around the lower portion of the switch. QUESTION:::: There seems to be like cardboard insulating at that area., over time did that cardboard get hard and become a conductor rather than and insulator ???

I have a plastic back and bottom in the coil box. I coated the back of the switch with electrical tape and still got sparks. I bypassed the switch and no sparks, so it must be the switch. Can that old cardboard be somehow rejuvenated??


THANKS

Sounds strange - what shape is the insulation on the wires? (Batt / mag/ common) Also, I don't think the insulation was cardboard - perhaps someone replaced the original. You may want to get something like this: https://www.modeltford.com/item/4730INS.aspx

Sparks are bad. Disconnect the battery and do not run it untill you get it fixed.

Some of those switches had a heavy paper insulator on the back side, the same shape as the switch. If I were you, I would rewire the entire switch.

this:

https://www.newark.com/gc-electronics/5 ... hnicalDOCS