Reverse switch set up dramas.....any ideas?

[SIImad]

This weekend I thought I would put a reverse switch and lights on my 2A wagon. I drilled and tapped the hole in the gear lever bracket and fitted the reverse/stop lamp switch and from this point all went down hill. Everytime I connect a power supply line from the fuse panel to the reverse switch the wire becomes so hot it melts the plastic casing and has also burned out the reverse switch!!:(

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what may be wrong. For the moment I have reverted to a toggle switch setup, which I really do not want to continue using, I would prefer the SIII style gear lever reverse switch if I can get it working. Any suggestions (KEEP EM CLEAN!:p ) would be greatly appreciated.

AJ

[debruiser]

sounds like a dead short to me.... maybe you switched the polarity somewhere?

[Timj]

Yes it sounds like the switch itself is shorting or you are connecting power to the earthed side of the reversing light. The circuit should run from power (usually ignition switched since you don't want the light to stay on once the car is switched off) to the switch, from the switch output to the light then from the other side of the light to earth. At the moment it sounds like you are going straight to earth, either through the body of the switch if it is not the right type or through the wiring somewhere from there to the light. The light itself acts as the resistance that stops the current running high enough to melt things.

Cheers,

TimJ.

[debruiser]

thinking about it again, I would probably use a smaller fuse so that that fuse blows before the wire melts as well. Fuses are cheap and easy to replace; wiring is not so much.

[schuy1]

thinking about it again, I would probably use a smaller fuse so that that fuse blows before the wire melts as well. Fuses are cheap and easy to replace; wiring is not so much.
or a whole landrover! :o

faulty switch. How have you got the toggle switch worked so it is not doing the same thing?

[drifter]

How did you attach your wires to the switch? Did you use uninsulated crimp connectors or similar? If so, you may have created the short yourself.

If you did the wiring correctly and the switch has now burned out, maybe there is a solid earth coming up to the switch from the reverse lamp?

If it was me, would be suspecting either of the above.

[SIImad]

The lamps I was going to use were faulty, they were cheapies from a discount shop which I intend replacing the existing ones with. I found this out by rigging an inline fuse into the circuit and everytime I connected the new lamps the fuse kept blowing! So I fixed the problem by keeping the lamps I used with the toggle switch, attached them (fused at first) to a new SIII reverse switch and bingo they worked.

Thanks everybody for your advice it proved most helpful in tackling the problem.

AJ

[debruiser]

NO problems! Glad I could offer assistance to someone. :) :D :) :D :) :D :) :D

[S3ute]

The lamps I was going to use were faulty, they were cheapies from a discount shop which I intend replacing the existing ones with.

Hello.

If the reason you are thinking of replacing the orginal Lucas lights (assuming these were fitted) is because they are looking old or have dull or cracked lenses, you can get OEM replacements from the UK (and maybe locally). I replaced the lenses on my Series 3 through a UK sports car specialist at a not too bad price - same ones were used on several classics as well as a raft of run of the mill UK cars and trucks. Just looked up the number on the lens and typed that into Google and up popped half a dozen options.

Cheers,

[SIImad]

Hi S3ute.

The old lamps are the flat metal backed Hella trailer lamps from the 70's and 80's which I used because I didn't need to cut holes in the tub :D

However, I will definitely be looking for a spare set of the Lucas lenses for my SIII wagon.

Many thanks for the info! :)

AJ