From time to time we will post helpful ideas for your car and shop.  All contributions are welcomed and encouraged. Send in some of the tricks that you have learned working on your Lotus.  Just e-mail them to editor@nelli.org

Today's tip is a solid state voltage regulator to replace the original mechanical/electrical regulator found in Series 3 and 4 Elans and all Europas.  The regulator was used to stabilize the electric dashboard instruments, and reduces the voltage from battery levels - 13 - 14 volts - down to a "steady" 10 volts.

If your instruments read wrong or jump around, your problem may be a bad regulator.  The replacement is easy to build, cheap, and all of the parts are readily available from electronics stores like Radio Shack.

Thanks to Dale Rembold who shared this with us through the Europa Owners Group on Yahoo.

[The basic part number for the voltage regulator is 7410.  Texas Instruments recommends using a 0.33uF capacitor instead of the 0.01uF capacitor between the input voltage and the ground (common), and adding a 0.1uF capacitor between the output voltage line and the ground.   ---Ben]

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