| gwistrup | -- 09-13-2023 @ 7:15 PM |
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I finally drove my '40 Tudor Sedan at night a few weeks ago and the headlights shut off after about 10 minutes of driving. I could hear the circuit breaker click when they shut off. If I let the breaker cool off, I could get a few more minutes of driving before it would click off again. I checked the draw of the lights and I have 16 amps with high beam and 13 amps with low beam. Is this too much current or is the curcuit breaker weak? All of the wiring from front to rear is new. My car still has the 6 volt system and the headlamps are conventional 6 volt sealed beam lamps.
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| ford38v8 | -- 09-13-2023 @ 7:30 PM |
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Your circuit breaker should be the type that doesn't shut off, but buzzes on/off/on/off to allow continued travel. They say that most problems are the result of the last thing you did... New wiring? Check the dimmer switch first, they go bad and go to ground. Alan
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| JayChicago | -- 09-14-2023 @ 8:02 AM |
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Agree with Alan. 13 and 16 amps seems excessive I think, probably a slight short somewhere. Another possible place for a short: Iside the kidney-shaped wire cover on firewall near steering column. Dash harness wires connect to front harness wires in there. On my car, all the rubber insulators on the connectors were dry-rotted. New connectors are available: https://thirdgenauto.com/product/1930s-40s-new-wiring-sleeve-connectors-10/
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| gwistrup | -- 09-14-2023 @ 10:42 AM |
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Alan, I will check the dimmer switch. You might be on to something because sometimes you have to hit it with your foot a couple of times to switch beams. I replaced the rubber gromets where all the wiring goes through any portions of the body and I also replaced all of the rubber insulators on all of the single connections. What sould an acceptable current draw be with the lights on? Less than 10 amps? Thank you, Gil
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| TomO | -- 09-18-2023 @ 5:36 PM |
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The sealed beams are usually 40 watt low and 50 watt high. Current draw should be about 7 amps ea for low beam and about 8.5 amps ea on high beam, so your measurements are in the good range. Did youu check the current draw before or after the CB? If you checked the current draw before the CB, your CB is probably bad. You can try to clean the contact points in the CB to see if that fixes your problem. Tom
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| gwistrup | -- 09-20-2023 @ 11:12 AM |
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I checked it before the circuit breaker. I wanted to know the total draw.
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| ford38v8 | -- 09-20-2023 @ 4:55 PM |
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TomO knows his stuff. Sounds like a new regulator and maybe a dimmer switch and you're good to go? Hopefully! Let us know how it turns out please? Alan
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