tegwin
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| posted on 4/9/07 at 03:17 PM |
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SVA man and dimming lights...
Finaly got all my lights wired up and there is a very slight issue...
If I put the hazard lights on, the sidelights dim a little bit as the lights flash....
The "dimming" effect isnt so great that it causes me any electrical safety concerns, but its deffinately there...
Will Mr SVA get all angry and tell me off, or can I just leave it?
Chears.
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MikeR
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| posted on 4/9/07 at 03:24 PM |
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sounds like you're draining slightly more power than your system can supply. What condition is your battery / alternator in?
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tegwin
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| posted on 4/9/07 at 03:27 PM |
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Battery is pretty much brand new and I think the alternator works ok... It loads up the engine a little bit when the cooling fan kicks in...
I suspect somewhere there is a cable, or earth thats not quite up to the job, hunting it down is going to cause so much kayoss!
I reaally dont want to start tearing appart the loom under the dash....
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JAG
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| posted on 4/9/07 at 03:28 PM |
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It can also be an earthing problem - do the two systems share an earth?
Justin
Who is this super hero? Sarge? ...No.
Rosemary, the telephone operator? ...No.
Penry, the mild-mannered janitor? ...Could be!
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tegwin
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| posted on 4/9/07 at 03:29 PM |
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Its all pretty much earthed straight onto the chassis with the shortest earth cables possible...so unless one of the earth cables is recieving more
load than designed....hmmm
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ash_hammond
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| posted on 4/9/07 at 03:43 PM |
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me thinks bad earth as well!
.: www.mac1motorsports.co.uk | www.m1moc.com :.
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Guinness
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| posted on 4/9/07 at 03:47 PM |
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Kurt had exactly the same issue with his car at SVA time.
We spent hours looking for the fault. We checked and replaced the battery, the earth strap to the chassis / engine, checked the fuses, checked the
earth from the lights to the chassis, checked the leads, replaced the switch, replaced the relays, everything. And still the side lights went dull
when the hazards were on.
After checking all that lot, we went back to the Sierra Haynes Manual. Turns out the Sierra uses a relay to turn on the side lights. Kurt was using
the original Sierra switch (switching the live or supply side). The little wire that ran alongside the steering column up into the switch gear
couldn't carry the load and was getting very hot.
We fitted a relay into the side lights circuit and it passed the next day!
Hope that helps.
Mike
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BenB
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| posted on 4/9/07 at 03:57 PM |
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Try attaching a multimeter across the battery and monitoring the voltage as the indicators go on / off. If the voltage is stable it's likely a
power supply issue (likely earth).
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RazMan
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| posted on 4/9/07 at 04:21 PM |
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Thinking laterally, you could fit LED bulbs wherever possible to reduce power consumption. My car only has the headlights as filament bulbs -
everything else is LED.
I've got loads of spare LED bulbs if you need some.
Cheers,
Raz
When thinking outside the box doesn't work any more, it's time to build a new box
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tegwin
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| posted on 4/9/07 at 04:43 PM |
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Right...
Checked the earths by directly linking the lights to the battery with external cables and that doesnt help...
have done the same with the posative supply...
The battery voltage bounces up and down like a yoyo with the hazards on, so I suspect that is the issue....its a brand new battery, but it possibly
doesnt have enough charge in it....with the hazards on it drops to somewhere around 10.5V
Am charging the battery at the moment, so that might resolve the issue....
But, if it was the battery, shouldnt the issue go away with the engine running?
And to the point...is it going to fail sva because of this?
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wilkingj
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| posted on 4/9/07 at 04:56 PM |
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Its almost certainly an earthing problem. Make sure ALL your earths are down to metal on the chassis, NOT PAINT!. I bared the chassis, then covered
the earth points with grease afterwards to prevent rusting (and further earthing problems when it rusts!)
Check the battery earth, and the one to the the engine from the Chassis.
If lights are dimming, then its not insufficient power, its poor resistive returns / joints that cause the fluctuations!
I'm with the others.
A 12v battery will supply 300 Amps to start the engine (I assume you can start the engine?) Therefore supplying just a measly 7 amps to light 4
indicator bulbs should not present a problem.
Look to your wiring and connectors and most importantly your earths. get them back to bare metal, then grease up to stop them rusting. (grease between
the ring tags if you have several under one bolt.
I fitted nutserts and bolted mine down. Next time I will weld upturned bolts to the chassis for earth lugs. or a piece of 3mm strip with holes in it
for the ring tags.
One hoped you bought a set of ratchet crimpers to crimp the blue ring tags / bullets etc. The simple plier types are totally crap, and do not crimp
the connectiond well enough, unless you have muscled like Samson! the ratchet ones cost no more than about £18, and ensure all crimped connections are
done up to the correct amount of crimp.
You have spent several thousand pounds on your car, and will spoil it for a saving of £16. (cheap crimps are £2:50 a pair)
Linky
Looks like they have a spelling mistake about it being non insulated, as they text says it crimps the insulation as well. DONT get the £2:50 cheap
ones, all you get is cheap crimps and future reliability issues.
Note even their comments about "You will get crimping" I think they are trying to warn you!
poor electrical connections will give you intermittent, and hard to find electrical faults.
The electrics are most peoples nightmare on cars, so try to make a good job of it. After all you wouldnt finish off a fuel pipe connection with a
plastic tie wrap instead of a jubilee or proper fuel clip would you?.
1. The point of a journey is not to arrive.
2. Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
Best Regards
Geoff
http://www.v8viento.co.uk
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BenB
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| posted on 4/9/07 at 05:03 PM |
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10.5v!! that's battery is not happy!!!!
the problem might be that the battery is knackered!!!
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tegwin
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| posted on 4/9/07 at 05:13 PM |
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Thinking about it...
the battery has been used to start/crank the engine a LOT! and the engine hasnt been used long enough to charge it up....
So hopefully a long deep recharge might...just might...solve this issue..
If not, im going to have to start tearing things
appart
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Peteff
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| posted on 4/9/07 at 05:22 PM |
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When my car was tested he just pressed the hazard button from the driving seat and the other lights were switched off. He'd already checked the
indicators separately.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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russbost
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| posted on 4/9/07 at 05:45 PM |
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Just another point b4 ripping things to bits, how much does it affect the lights, if it's only very slight SVA man won't be interested. If
it is bad enough to need doing it's almost certainly an earth or connector problem at the rear end, highly unlikely to be under the dash.
I no longer run Furore Products or Furore Cars Ltd, but would still highly recommend them for Acewell dashes, projector headlights, dominator
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furoreltd & furoreproducts, discounts available for LCB users.
Don't forget Stainless Steel Braided brake hoses, made to your exact requirements in any of around 16 colours.
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