headlight gremlins

[austingipsy]

Might be better described as indicator gremlins as they seem to be the guilty parties. I was driving along the other evening and when I indicated to turn left i noticed my headlights where dimming noticeably in time to the beat of the indicator. They do the same if i turn right, like there's a huge current draw on the circuit. I'm not running on a dynamo its a pretty hefty alternator putting out 60 amps so its never normally a problem having everything running.

an earthing issue perhaps? (i used to run an old landrover so I assume everything is down to a bad earth) or the flasher unit on the fritz. All the bulbs work fine and the wiring all appears fine, hmm, any ideas peeps?

[Leeds Lad]

Definately an earthing problem, remove all the earths clean both the body and the eyelets and then cover them with white lithium grease, new bolts to the body also work, good luck.

[Alf ista]

Yup, sounds like an earthing problem to me too. Should be an easy fix, once you can find it of course....

[Ron Kwas]

ag;

I agree with other posters that problem is likely a poor chassis connection, but it could be a poor power connection also. The fact that you have a Generator or Alternator as a power source is pretty much irrelevent. "A huge current draw on the circuit" is unlikely also unless a short circuit exists...poor connections increasei circuit resistance which decreases circuit current...and multiple circuits making a chassis connection through one (less than adequite) connection can often have interactions which can result in the whacky symptoms your describe...

Short of searching out the specific connection which is resulting ina a voltage drop and repairing that, I suggest you inspect, clean and tighten all connections having to do with lights and directional indicators, particularly those not under the relatively cozy dashboard...like at the hi/lo beam footswitch, the six circuit connector under hood (er bonnet), and all the connections for headlight (in headlight bucket itself) and directional indicator assemblies, particularly the chassis connections...and for protecting these connections, read on:

I totally dissagree with any advice of using grease, dielectric grease, bean dip, chicken fat or any other some such INSULATING GOOP for "protecting electric connections". The CORRECT manner to proceed is to first assure clean and tight connections, and to use Zinc Anti-Corrosive Paste intended for electrical connections when reconnecting. More here: http://sw-em.com/anti_corrosive_paste.htm

Cheers from Connecticut, and Good Hunting!

[TomTom]

Is Penetrox available in this country, or would this be something like Duralec?

Tom

[Ron Kwas]

Tom;

If you can post a "Duralec" data sheet or link, I'll have a look at it and will try to answer that...in this day and age I'm certain that it or an equivalent product is available over there...I'm also contacting Burndy and asking them for a Eurodistributor for Penetrox... they are a global company...I'll post results when I get them...

Cheers