The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay ^ volt headlights

My 53 has been all done over(year right)everything is good, changed out the Gen. to a 6 volt Alt. Problem is my head lights are WEAK. Do I need new ones ore what other can be wrong? This sight has always been the bestis of sights

I have a 6 volt alternator and my lights are very adequate. This wasn't always the case however since my onewire alternator didn't charge at low rpm and once charging would kick out at low rpm's (below 2k or so). To fix that I ran a wire from the accessory side of my ignition switch with a tail light fixture and bulb located near the switch under the dash. Other end goes to the inside terminal of two terminals near the charge (or hot terminal) of the alternator. This makes the alternator charge if it's turning.

I also ran a 8 ga. wire from the alternator to the battery wire on
the starter. No problems now.

If the above makes no sense see this;

Good Luck, RR

Hy red 53 pickup, there could be a high resistant connection somewhere in the wiring system, possibly in the dimmer switch. Measure the voltage at the headlights to verify what is available for the headlights. Verify the ground wires for the headlights, also verify that the wires to the headlights are going to the correct terminals on the headlights, one harness I installed had every connection to the headlights in the wrong spot. If everything is good, replace the headlights, hope that helps.

First check the voltage at the battery terminals. With the engine running at 1,000-1,500 RPM it should be around 7.5 volts. Then check the voltage at the headlights. It should be very close to the same voltage, at least 7V. If it's not, find the high resistance connection- - - -ammeter, headlight switch, dimmer switch, junction blocks, etc. The dimmer switch is by far the most likely choke point. The simple solution is to install a heavy hot wire (#8 or so) from the battery to near the headlights, and use a relay from there to provide a low-resistance high/low beam circuit. Use the dimmer switch to trigger the relay. Also be sure the headlights have a very good ground circuit.
Jerry

Make sure someone hasn't put 12 volt sealed beams in at one time.

I use a 6v one wire alternator and it charges just fine at idle. I'd listen to Wrenchbender's advise & check that first.

Thanks everyone, got some good advice...Paul

Has anyone thought about the grounds on the lights? With bad grounds the lights will be dim. root

If I am reading this correctly, your lights were fine until you switched from gen to Alt, right? I am assuming your alt is a 1-wire and you are not using the regulator that was running with the generator, with the mechanical regulators, you could go in and adjust to get a bit more voltage, some would even run 8 V and put an 8V battery in the vehicle to make the starter spin faster. It may be that your generator/regulator was actually putting out higher voltage than your alternator.

Although I have a 12 volt system,I had a similar problem. I was losing almost 2 volts through the wiring and switch. The headlight switch now controls a relay,and I can use H4 headlight that are very bright.

If the wireing has been replaced with a universal harness the wires are too small. The universal harnesses are made for 12 volts.