Electricals - the good, the bad, the ugly

[Warren]

Electrics are one of those things that while everything is going great, no problems.

But when things go wrong, well it can be a real pain.

What areas have you had problems with ? and what did you do to rectify it.

My Van has an old style foot operated dimmer switch installed to replace the switching in the column. I think the issue with this is the whole current flow for the lights goes through the light switch and dimmer switch, I still get a bit of burnt insulator smell when the lights are on.

Apart from a complete rewire, I think running relays to switch the main current to the lights and only the switching current through the dimmer switch would solve my problem.

What have you found ?

Warren 

   

[BlackBedford]

I found this story at:
http://uk.geocities.com/blu_jaguar/austins.html

I would say it applies to CF's as well


Lucas Electric rewrites history...

Or... If Murphy had a real job it would be with Lucas Electric!
Nearly all the British cars imported were fitted with Lucas electrical system. Lucas has been coined The Prince of Darkness. Fittingly so! There you are out at about midnight with your favourite girl. The weather has been foul, the girl wants to go home, you are both soaked to the bone from the thunderstorm that came from nowhere. It is pitch black, the wipers are barely beating the rain off and all of a sudden DARKNESS. Lucas has struck! All the lights in the car go out the wipers stop. Dead, nada, zip. Not a blasted thing works. Sometimes the engine stays running, but most of the time it's dead as a doornail. Lucas strikes again!

Lucas has spawned a whole group of witticisms. The Lucas Theory of Electronics is one of them.

It has been determined that we are all wrong with the laws of electron flow. Lucas' theory simply says that it is all done with Smoke. A charged battery is really full of smoke. The wires move the smoke around the system. If the smoke escapes, that's it, she's dead.

Personally I like the slogan "If Lucas made guns, wars wouldn't start". I have seen a poster of a "Bloomer Girl" (anyone old enough to remember that?) pushing a huge upright vacuum cleaner. The slogan was "Introducing the new Lucas Upright Vacuum. If it is made by Lucas YOU KNOW IT SUCKS."

[BlackBedford]

G'day

The problem with most vehicles designed and/or built in pommyland is that the electrical system is only just there. Not enough copper was used in the cables or switches. Bedfords are no exception.
Voltage drop across the wiring harness and switches is significant and generates heat.
I always treat CF wiring as signal strength only!!!
Relays should be your best friend and are the easiest solution. I use the relay bank out of an XF Falcon and mount 5 relays on the drivers side bonnet hinge. Then I can have relays for high beam, driving lights, thermo fans, electric fuel pump, more driving lights. Run the power through a Falcon thermal circuit breaker to the back of the alternator and you will have plenty of light without burning anything out.
Another relay fitted near the starter motor will save your ignition circuit and give good starts. This mod is even used in Commodores and Falcons.

I don't have any problem with burnt out switches or wiring.

[obsession]

interesting reading I hate Bedford wiring but mostly cause I find people do tack on jobs and put new stuff in and leave all the old wiring live and in the van still 
often thought of just buying a rod kit and re doing the whole thing....
speaking of rods if any one wants a good window wiper conversion theres an excellent article in this months Australian street rodder also a new electric window kit that looks a bit more solid than the cable ones.

[strez]

the wirering in my beddy`s terrible . when the high beam selector on the stick fryed i said sh*t now i`ll have to bodge it up even more , but instead i ran a power wire from the battery to a 30amp block and some tricky relay conetions and now even though when the switch is on high beam and no power is coming from it my high beams work with clean power from the battery . added spotlights and now theres plenty of light . only problem is if the low beam frys they`ll be stuck on high beam  deffinatly ugly but it works

[Dano]

Craig did you find a wiring diagram???, can someone please post a diagram, cheers Dan.

[Tweaker]

I've got a similar setup to strez. Except my switch block is mounted inside the fire wall above my accelerator pedal. I have a feed that comes directly from my battery to this switch block. Like strez I also then run relays for everything off this switch block.
1 for parkers and dash lights
1 for low beam
1 for high beam
2 for air-con thermo fans
1 for starter motor
1 for air-con

[ben]

really? i never thought of running relays for all that stuff. i only have them fr head lights.. how do you keep your wiring neat? mine isnt too bad but if i had extra relayes im sure it would get messy ay!
ben

[Tweaker]

It's currently not as bad as it was, but I'm still working on it.

I think the trick is to either keep them where you need them or all together as they all draw power from the same place.