Dip Switches and Melting Wiring

[SamWise]

We've only owned our Herald for a few weeks, and it's only been back on the road for 3, but we've been having constant electrical niggles. When we got the car back, from MOT, we couldn't get the lights working. We took it back in, and the garage for some reason rewired the lights to a different switch (most of our dash switchgear is disconnected, because a previous owner felt that nasty plastic rockers were better). After that, the lights worked, but it took us a while to work out how to dip them - I'd foolishly been pulling the dip switch towards me.

Anyway, at the weekend, late at night, on a dark road, no lighting, but the Herald lights working fine, I suddenly discover how to use the hi-beams, or at least, when I move the left stalk up and down some limited change in the beam pattern takes place. And then, as I experiment, *ping*, the lights go out. On a sweeping bend on a country road at night. I end up driving home using the spotlights (thank God they were there), and blinding everyone.

So, I checked the fuses (yes, my Herald has a fuseboard), and both the hi-beam and dip fuses had blown. I'd always been a bit mystified that everything was on a 10 amp fuse, so I threw 15's in, and tested. Sure enough, it looks like the top of the three positions is dip, the bottom looks as though it might be hi-beam, but the middle is very very dull indeed - about 20% or less of the output on dip beams, which confused me. So, I get back in the car, and I'm buggering about a bit more, when smoke starts to come from behind the dash. What appears to be happening is that in the top position, everything is fine. I think that's true in the bottom position too, but in the middle position, with the very dim light, something weird is up - enough current to blow a 10 amp fuse, and get the wiring nice and hot!

Does anyone have any ideas what this might be, and can anyone tell me what SHOULD be on those three positions?

[ButtonIt]

Mine has three positions:

Top - All off (so, just the side lights if the pull switch on the dash is out)
Middle - HIGH beam, confirmed by a little blue light inside the speedo
Bottom - Dippers

[herald948]

There's a good chance that your column switch has melted down or otherwise shorted out "internally"; but it's also possible that it somehow is shorting out on the column itself. I've seen that happen.

Regardless, if it were my car, I'd want to spend some time attempting to track down any and all past attempts at "creative rewiring" and restore same to original configuration. ;)

[GT6boy]

Samwise: the seperate chassis Triumphs have very basic and rudimentary wiring. Ideal on which to learn the basics of vehicle wiring- certainly nothing the average owner shouldn't be able to get their head around. Just remember switches etc will be potentially 40+ years old, so electrical contacts can and do wear out, spade and Lucar connectors become frail and earthing connections high resistent, all requiring either replacement or careful cleaning.
If you're in my part of the world, I'm more than willing to get hands-on to try to de-misty for you. I'm in Yate, near Bristol.
Best advise is indeed to work out how it was wired and should work, and then look toward re-instating to that standard.  :)

[SamWise]

That's pretty much my plan, at least with the column stalks. I think I'm gonna stick in a bank of good quality toggle switches for some of the other stuff though, and I definitely am a fan of having everything switchable by the ignition - I've never been able to think of a good reason why the lights should be on when I'm not in the car!

[GT6boy]

SamWise wrote:

- I've never been able to think of a good reason why the lights should be on when I'm not in the car!

I have a recollection it was a legal requirement in the past, that the lights had to be capable of displaying without the key in the ignition? :-/ Or am I thinking of something completely different???????? ::)

[heraldcoupe]

Do parking lights remain a legal requirement? All of my modern cars have been equipped with side/parking lights enabled with ignition off, so I presumed it remained a legal necessity.
If you want a good reliable electrical system, put the wiring back to standard configuration. People (particularly in the US) are quick to deride Lucas electricals, but the 1960s equipment is very good indeed - I am prepared to accept the occasional failure of a 40 year old component! Owner "improvements" to the electrical system are responsible for the vast majority of electrical problems on these cars, the standard system is quite robust. Add a fusebox by all means, but for your own sake, don't over-complicate things.
Cheers,
Bill.

[herald948]

heraldcoupe wrote:

...People (particularly in the US) are quick to deride Lucas electricals, but the 1960s equipment is very good indeed....

Not ALL of us in the colonies feel that way. I'm with you, Bill, in that Lucas equipment -- particularly that before the 1970s -- has an almost completely undeserved bad reputation! In nearly 40 years of playing with Triumphs and other British cars, the great majority of electrical problems I've faced were solved by restoring proper connections and configurations! Of course, there's only so much one can do after an owner has messed with things to such an extent that one has to don a gas mask and peel away burnt insulation, etc., etc. ...  :o