Never ceases to amaze me that after all these years I can still find things on a 2CV that I have not seen before.
The item in the photo is on a 1965 AK350 12 volt. It was behind the dash board and connected into the spaghetti of wires there. I am guessing it has something to do with the charging indicator the van has but might be wrong.
Anyone know what it is and what it does.

I wonder if it's the same part that Dave411 was trying to track down (I'm at work so can't view any pics!)

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3797

Yep, its the same bit Dave was looking for

Has the stampede started yet?


It's not often that the Holy Grail appears on the internet...

ken

looks like a 12 volt rectifier, it converts ac from an alternator to dc
ac(the sine wave prongs) at the top, dc out at the bottom? probably just 4 diodes inside it?
unless its the reverse(scratch head)

Does the car also have a voltage regulator box?

Yes, it will have the usual voltage regulator associated with an alternator.
All this device does is take alternating current from a pair of exposed pins on the back of certain alternators, rectify it and compare it with battery voltage.
Once the alternator's output is sufficient to start charging the battery, the warning light connected to the output pin labelled 'L' is switched off.

So, it's just a very basic 'lack of charge' warning light setup, as it gives no indication of the actual charging voltage, which could easily be too low or too high...

ken

I though it might be the warning light unit. Never seen one before but given where it was in the wiring loom it had to be that.

The alternator has been changed at some time and there are two brown wires near the alternator that have been taped up.

I am rebuilding the van with a later engine and disk gearbox for a trip into the Sahara and Atlas mountains next year so this part is redundant to me and will go into my spare parts bin.

Good plan,
a good quality voltmeter will be much more useful on that trip.
Handy addition to any A series which didn't have one originally, tbh...

ken

I mentioned to Dave the other day that the 'charge warning light' shouldn't really be called that. It's an 'alternator not functioning light' really. I've had major charging issues because of dodgey wiring, but because the alternator soldiered on the light never came on.

If you take either of the wires of the top left side of the alternator off, that light will come on.

What the box does I don't know. I have one too.