I agree with you 100% Caddyman. Anyone who has looked at howstuffworks.com and compared a manual transmission to an automatic transmission can easily see that manuals are the way to go for simplicity, reliability, and ease of repair.
To be fair, as the miles pile up, ALL transmissions will eventually fail. Of course, I must exclude Rocketman’s Accord from this statement.
Let’s modernize this question. If we go to cars powered by electric motors, we will be switching to different sets of windings in the field coil depending on the speed that is needed (think about an induction motor on an electric fan–you can have three or more motor speeds). Should this winding change be done automatically or should the driver be able to select the proper winding in the field coil?
Oh, that’s a good question!
I would want three options. I would want two automatic settings, one for fuel economy and one for maximum power, and a manual mode. The manual mode would accommodate my particular driving style in the same way a manual transmission does.
With the exception of a few models with a history of problems, automatic trannys today if properly maintained will last the life of the car. And the cost of the maintenance on the tranny over its lifetime combined with its added cost at time of purchase (in my case $800) is probably not too much different than the cost of clutch replacements. I actually got 295,000 miles out of the original clutch on my Toyota pickup, and that’s the only one I’ve ever had to replace (except my '72 Vega, but I never count that in stats. Every thing that failed on that was due to poor design or manufacture. In the case of the clutch assembly, the tranny wasn’t properly bolted to the bell housing and the bolts holding it on came loose).
A series field automatically reduces field strength as the armature picks up speed. It is the standard for traction motors. The motor doesn’t need a transmission because the motor is the transmission.
I have a CD player and I obviously have a personal computer also. It’s just that I haven’t thrown my old records away.
What’s a “turntable”?
Surely you jest…we old timers at one time actually listened to wax records. Manual turntables didn’t allow one recording to ride atop another, preserving it’s pristine sound. You know, back when scratches, hiss and pops were the norm in home music reproduction.
I agree that as the armature picks up speed, the back electromotive force created reduces the field strength and the current drawn by the motor. I know that there is no need for a transmission. I think I read somewhere, though, on diesel-electric train locomotives, there are only 9 or 10 throttle settings for the diesel engine. The electric traction motors, switch the windings in different series-parallel arrangements depending on the speed. In fact, I think that the Citicar, a battery powered car introduced during the oil embargo in the 1970’s, switched the winding connections in the field coil depending on how far down one pushed the accelerator. I was envisioning a set of switches so that hot rodders could do speed switching instead of speed shifting.
DC motors change speeds in response to changes in voltage. And, since AC can’t be stored, the EV cars will all be driven by DC motors. Changing voltage is simply a matter of connecting a variable resister in series with the motor, infinite end (total open) on the “pedal up” position and zero resistance at the “pedal to the metal” position.
You didn’t have a gearshift on the Model T. You had three pedals. As I remember, the right pedal was the brake. The left pedal was the transmission–all the way down for low and all the way out for high. To go backwards, you pressed the transmission pedal half way down and and then depressed the center pedal. This put the car in reverse. The throttle and spark controls were on the steering column.
I used to work for a farmer and had to drive his International Harvester F-12 tractor. It had a magneto ignition and a hand crank. I regarded farmers who had electric starters on their tractors as wimps. I’ve heard some old timers say that the ruined the Model T when they offered an optional electric starter. All you had to do was set the spark control so the ignition was retarded, pull out the choke control which was on the radiator and crank the engine. This got you going most of the time. If it didn’t work, you banged on the coil box and tried again.
Unfortunately, as a geezer I’ve become a wimp. Not only does my car have electric start, but it has automatic, air conditioning, power windows, power locks, etc. (Well, it’s my wife’s fault–she insists on being comfortable).
Sorry, couldn’t resist. My turntable’s up in the attic, packed away somewhere. One day I’ll play my LPs into the PC…one day…
If we are going to use DC motors, how many miles should we go between changes of cummutator brushes?
I would like to argue one point. Regardless of what inherent values a manual has over an auto, in our family with sports minded teens, it has always been advantageous to have at least one automatic though both learned on a manual and were quite capable. Foot and shoulder surgeries, kids with sprains and strains of the arms and legs have always been better adapted to by shifting the auto to the operator in need.
Without exception, everyone in our family preferred the manuals, but safety dictated that one of our cars/trucks always be an auto.
Good question. But since all car motors big and small are by necessity DC due to the impossibility of storing AC, I suspect the problem of brush longevity has long since been solved.
Solid state inverters can convert the DC from the battery into 3-phase AC to drive either an induction motor or a permanent magnet synchronous motor. Nearly all the newest electric cars use some sort of brushless technology. I think the Prius uses 3-phase induction motors for both of its motor/generator units.
Yes, an induction motor can generate.
My electric model airplane uses a brushless motor which is really just a permanent magnet 3-phase synchronous motor. It needs an electronic speed control that serves as an inverter that changes the battery’s DC into 3-phase AC. Without the inverter, it is not a functional motor.
I predict that in the future, this technology will displace the old brush and commutator DC motor just like EFI has just about totally displaced carburettors.
I ran up an escalator in my sandal. 1/2 way up the steps, I cut my RIGHT foot and I didn’t drive for a few days. I didn’t want to know what my stitches felt like when I had to stand on the brake.
Maybe it’s my youth talking, but I much rather sit in LA traffic with a good manual than a bad automatic. The slip in the torque converter doesn’t give me power when I want it, then too much power when I don’t want it. This needless hopping between loud and stop pedals drives me up the nerves. I can drive much smoother in a manual by staying in a gear lower than normal and play with the throttle. I would do that in a rental, as I don’t have to worry about heating up a transmission that isn’t mine.
If I can buy an automatic that’s an automated manual just like a Smart Fortwo, I’d consider an automatic. I don’t even care for the manual shift function. I just can’t live with the torque converter. It had its place before sensors and electronics. Now its time for it to step aside.
Automatic transmission for sure. Just put it in “D” for dummy and go.
Excellent points.
While I really haven’t kept up with brushless technologies, I had no doubt that the problem of commutator brush wear had long since been solved in some manner. I never really gave that a second thought.
Vinyl has returned. True audiophiles now consider the analog of LPs to be a truer and richer sound than anything digitized. I agree.
I just finished deigning and building all new living room furniture, and designed in not only places in one of the main cabinets for my turntable and audio equipment, but also deigned in a special deep drawer just for storage (in a fileing system manner) of my LP collection.
Vinyl has returned. True audiophiles now consider the analog of LPs to be a truer and richer sound than anything digitized. I agree.
I respectfully disagree. ALL music is processed digitally somewhere in the chain by major studios whether the final source is analog or not.
A few so called “audiophiles” just like the “noise”, pops and scratches instead of the quiet of a quality digital listening experience and want the exclusivity of believing so.
The “best” listening experience is a live performance, and that is fraught with environmental compromises. So any recording is a compromise but I feel digital is less so.
Sorry, I don’t believe that any true audiophile who’s also a sound engineer and most of all who’s left would agree with you. All I know who are in the audio business for many years feel audio equipment is like cars. Regardless of the nostalgia of old, the newer are definitely better at what they do.
All in good off topic fun I hope…nave a nice day !!!