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Re: Electrical system - lights - low voltage

To: Thomas Dertz <thomas.dertz@creo.no>
Subject: Re: Electrical system - lights - low voltage
From: doug@dougbraun.com
Date: Sun, 22 May 2005 11:08:22 -0400
Those bullet connectors on the ends of the wires and the little junctions they 
plug into
can be really flaky.  You need to check all of them.  The 4-way junctions tend
to crack internally and lose contact.  I suggest buying a dozen or so and
replacing all of them, and inspecting the bullets that plug nito them for
corrosion.

You may have other problems, of course. I also had problems with flaky 
headlights
and taillights until I checked and replaced a bunch of connectors several years 
ago.
Since then my electrical system has been working perfectly.

If it turns out that the turn signal switch or the hi-low beam
switch in the steering column are bad, you might be able to clean
their contacts if you are lucky.  About 12 years ago my turn signal switch was
flaky, and I discovered that its little printed-circuit contact board had
burned out.  I made a new one from a bit of nicer fiberglass circuit
board material, and it has worked fine ever since.

Doug Braun
'72 Spit


At 04:32 PM 5/22/2005 +0200, you wrote:
>Dear all,
>
>One after one the lights on my Spitfire Mk II have disappeared -
>fortunately with the exception of the headlights. I was able to get my
>break lights back online today by cleaing the sockets, but front park
>lights, rear lights and licence plate light are still out.
>
>Initially I thought this was due to bad grounding, since the lights
>disappeared one after one (first licence, then parking, then one after
>one rear), but now I think the cause of this is a loss of voltage. I
>measured, in a very non-scientific way, the power of mye battery to 0,5
>"something". At the lights the strength is 0,004 (when switched on),
>less than 1/100. The same, low strength can be found in the cables
>underneath the dash, before they disappear into a spaghetti. At the
>switch on the steering column the strength is the regular 0,5, so
>somewhere in between I seem to loose the power.
>
>Any idea as to why, where and how to fix it?





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