Getting fed up with electrics

[shiplee123]

Any electrical wiz who can help ?

Had a few electrical issues with my bus since I brought it.

Good old dad ( sparky ) has now spent 3 days on it.

We now have got all the electrics working including the headlight dimmer / flasher on the indicator stalk which was always a prob but a new relay seems to have sorted it!

The indicators , wipers , and lights all now work

The problem is that whenever we try dim the lights / flash the lights ( when main beam is on ) the fuse blows !

We have tryed all sorts of different things and just can't fig out what's happening ?

Any idears would b much appreciated , we r stumped

 

[gvee]

I'm no electric guy but... what size fuse are you using? Sounds like you might have the relay wired up incorrectly?

 

[shiplee123]

The white ones , 8 amp
About 20 of them now
Seems to b to much load when we flick the lights on full beam

 

[gvee]

Is 8amp what the manual suggests for this circuit? (I haven't got anything to hand to check).
Revisit your wiring to the relay. Is there anything that could be causing a short (exposed wires, loose connections, something extra piggybacking off the same circuit, etc)?
Perhaps the relay itself is a duffer?

 

[sparkywig]

Sounds like you've got a short to earth.

 

[bluenose]

yea, I think it will just be a short.

I would just pull the plug off the back of the headlight set my multimeter to beep, stick one probe in the white wire and one to earth and if it beeps then that wire must be shorted

 

[shiplee123]

Ok thanks guys I'll give that a look!
Really got to me today!
Friday I thought we had it sorted , today getting nowhere !

Auto electrician booked for Thursday if I can't find the problem sooner !

 

[Peter Good]

What is the wattage of the headlamp bulbs you are using?

 

[shiplee123]

As far as I remember they are upgraded halogen 55w

 

[Peter Good]

The headlamp flasher facility was not available on the 1970's original and genuine relays. The operate your aftermarket headlamp relay in the flasher mode you need to use a 16Amp fuse for a pair of 55W head bulbs.
Peter Good

 

[shiplee123]

Whaaaaat :shock:

So my flasher on my stalk shouldn't b there!
I didn't realise it was an after market upgrade on my bus?

So the flashers started 1970 onward ?
How did they flick from main beam then ?

 

[Peter Good]

It was the relay internal construction that was changed to give the headlamp flash facility, no other modification was necessary. Although various changes were made to the indicator switch, it was not related to the headlamp flasher.
Peter Good

 

[bluenose]

Whaaaaat :shock:

So my flasher on my stalk shouldn't b there!
I didn't realise it was an after market upgrade on my bus?

So the flashers started 1970 onward ?
How did they flick from main beam then ?

not sure about this at all. my US 69 flashed off the indicator stalk. The relay looks original and the wiring diagrams for it on vintage bus show it wired to flash off the indicator stalk

 

[sparkywig]

Whaaaaat :shock:

So my flasher on my stalk shouldn't b there!
I didn't realise it was an after market upgrade on my bus?

So the flashers started 1970 onward ?
How did they flick from main beam then ?

not sure about this at all. my US 69 flashed off the indicator stalk. The relay looks original and the wiring diagrams for it on vintage bus show it wired to flash off the indicator stalk

And my February '69 build UK bus. Still running original main beam and indicator relays.

 

[Peter Good]

Check some of the wiring diagrams. On many, there is no terminal 30 shown on the headlamp relay. (Component 'J' ) Thinking about it, possibly was a case of some models did and some didn't. Although terminal 30 was present actually on all the early cube relays, on a great many it wasn't connected. Various mods were done by myself and others back in the70's to overcome this, including opening the relay and adding the link, or linking externally. On many old looms the link is still there, even though the later relay has been used negating the need for the link.
Peter Good

 

[67panel]

from my experiance its only US spec that dont have flash conected,all thats needed is live to terminal 30.back to the blowing fuse ,first think I would check is wires on bulb holders in headlamps then chase wire back to fuse box looking for shorts.