I have a 6V Vw camper 1965 sp[lit screen. Comming home the other night I smelt burning under the dash. Found some thin insulation tape around the headlight connectors. The connectors are brass with a Tjunction Teeing into another T junction if u know what I mean. One wire from the ignition,one to the main fuse box and one to the switch. When I put the headlamps on The wire to the fuse box gets very hot and this heats up the brass Tpieces making the wire to the switch hot. I,ve traced the wire down to the fuse box and it is not hot, left the van running for 10 minutes and the wire gets to a temperature and gets no hotter. You could not grip the tPieces between your finger as they are too hot. I cannot find any touching or earthed wires. Is it usual for these brass/copper tpieces to hot up? I don,t want to put insulation tape on until I know whats causing the wire to heat up. I ran another live feed from the ignition and the same wire heated upo again (the feed to the fuse box). If anyone has any ideas on whats going on here it would be appreciated.
many thanks
rob
{Typo in header corrected}
Edited by Webmaster on 13/09/2009 at 23:15
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Hi the head lights should work via a relay as the lights pull a high load , basicly you should have the feed from the switch to operate a relay, which has a higer gauge wire to run the lights, if you have relays fitted, then loose connections or a bad earth or a shorting some where in the circuit , it sounds like some one has "repaired" or altered the circuit because the insulation should not be thin tape ,if it was original at this age it would be a thickish rubbery type insulation, hope this is of some help steve
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Thanks Steve, I can,t see any relays. Do I just put one between the switch and the Tjunction? Or one each between the live which runs into each light socket? Thanks again
Rob
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I'm not sure if I understand the symptoms you've described.
Are you saying that the cable from the fuse box to the T-pieces is getting hot enough to make the T-pieces hot? Or is it the T-pieces themselves that are getting hot?
Conductors getting unreasonably warm indicate that they are carrying more current than they were intended to carry.
Have you installed higher wattage lamps than original?
Kevin...
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I,d say the Tpieces,they warm up first then the cable to the fuse box gets hot up to about 6 inches from the Tpiece. The start of the cable from the fuse box out towards the junction is not hot. Same bulbs in place as when I bought it 3 years ago. very dim at night. I,ll check them to see if they are the correct ones to be sure.
Thanks vmuch
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Can you buy high power 6 volt bulbs?
As it's 6 volt, take all your current ideas and double them. There won't be any relays either.
What size fuses are protecting the lighting circuits? There should be two IIRC. Has the wiring been tampered with?
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Hi,thanks for the tip. Ive checked the bulbs as follows. 6v 45/45w in at the moment. this heats the terminals up. I,ve swapped them for 12v 45/40w just now to see what happens and they burn more dimly but the terminal doesent heat up?
So it looks like the 6v 45/40w are drawing to much current? Maybe I need 6V20w for instance. But the lux leval would be very poor. Could I use relays on the 6v 45/40W?
Thanks again
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hi try and change the connectors over for new ones in time they get loose in connecting wires together ie high restance and for your safety use the 6v bulbs and not the 12v bulbs
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seen plenty of these with front or rear burnouts
i too would consider the bad earth syndrome as cause and effect
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IIRC the standard bulbs were 36/36w;the 45/40w were an upgrade;no relays but it sounds like new connectors needed or cut the ends off and solder.Shrink wrap rather than tape afterwards.
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over time (40 years or so ) copper wire will lose some of its conductivity especially where it is working near to its max load and as has been said connections will corrode
I would sugget running a slightly heavier wire up to the T which is heating and fit new connectors
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