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Bad Earth?

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2004 4:56 pm
by ToNkA
Ok wired up all my lights etc and went to turn em on.

I got nothin :(

Checked with the multimeter etc and power is getting to the lights they just aint turning on. Hence I havent got any of the 4 lights on the rollbar earthed very well.

2 of the lights have earth leads, the other two earth through thge mounting bolt and bracket. The Light rack is an old rectangular roofrack with a plastic coating, that is bolted to my rollbar which in turn is bolted to the tray. I didnt grind back any of the plastic off the roofrack bar as I thought the lights that are bolted through the roofrack bar would provide enough earth. If I grind back the plastic coating off the bar to show more metal will it be the end of my earthing problems? Or is the light rack bar itself not earthed even though its bolted to the rollbar...

Can someone shed some light (tee hee) on the problem?

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2004 5:28 pm
by DAZZ
Get a piece of wire and hold it on the mounting stud of the light (light with internal earth) and the other end various points on the light bar. The light should work when a good earth is found. If the light bar is bolted to the roll cage and it is well earthed then grinding off the plastic should give a good earth.

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2004 6:31 pm
by -Scott-
Or just use the multimeter to measure the voltage on the rollbar etc. The light filament will effectively connect everything to +12, so anything electrically connected to the filament will also be +12. Find where the voltage changes.

Scott

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2004 10:39 pm
by murcod
Just run a earth wire to the lights from a good solid point on the chassis.

My Feroza had non functioning spotties when I bought it from a small amount of resistance in the earth line (the mounting bolts were being used for the earth and had rusted a bit ).

Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2004 6:43 pm
by ToNkA
Sorted.

Was bad earth. Ended up running an earth back to the -ve terminal on the battery in the tray (closest thing to the lights).

Cheers.

Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2004 8:47 pm
by robbie
good work ed.. :cool:

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 7:34 pm
by DAZZ
You'll be an autolec before ya know it!!!! :rofl: :rofl: