electrical overload

[rigrunner567]

picked up my 78 CJ7 tonight and on the way home if i used my high beams all the lights would go of. and on. And when i put the low beams back on every thing is fine. also cant turn on the heater blower motor with low beams on or same thing. anyone have any ideas as to what will cause this? thanks

 

[1986cj7]

picked up my 78 CJ7 tonight and on the way home if i used my high beams all the lights would go of. and on. And when i put the low beams back on every thing is fine. also cant turn on the heater blower motor with low beams on or same thing. anyone have any ideas as to what will cause this? thanks

I would say its your dimmer switch. On mine the head lights would work in low but if you hit high beam they would go out. But the heater blower is new to me. Your lights and heater switch should be on differant circuits. I would try a new dimmer switch there cheap. Maybe someone else has an idea about the heater switch.

 

[IOPort51]

Some how I think your going to find some field modified circuitry. those two things sort of pass by each other in the fuse block but are not related that I can see. upstream of the fuse block I would think the ignition would die as well as the lights. and then again, start by checking all the grounds, bad grounds account for 90% of CJ electrical problems.

 

[Torxhead]

I'm going to ask what voltage are you putting out to begin with. The lights and heater motor should be powered thru one of the fusible links coming off the battery side of the starter solenoid. Weak battery connections are a possibilty and you aren't putting out enough power for that stuff.

 

[rigrunner567]

thanks. ill check all connections soon. the volt reader is reading over 60 volts but show around 12 when not running.. but the oil pressur gauge is beside the volt meter and it reads over 80lbs and 60 at idle. after market antique guages.

 

[Torxhead]

60 volts out of a 12v battery is a bit much, with the engine running it should be around 14.5. I would also suggest testing with a multimeter or something like that.

 

[JR74CJ5]

60 volts out of a 12v battery is a bit much, with the engine running it should be around 14.5. I would also suggest testing with a multimeter or something like that.

Something is not right there...

I had a similar problem, and it turned out My battery, and alternator, were both in need of replacement.

Sounds to me like you are running off your battery only, or the battery has some dead cells...

 

[IOPort51]

Digital Multimeter - Save on this AC/DC Digital Multimeter

this is a surprisingly good meter and doubly so for less than $20
if you don't have one I recommend you get one.

 

[CJ]

I'm guessing that the '60 volts' is a typo for '16 volts'. Never seen a volt gauge before that goes above 20 volts.

 

[1986cj7]

Some how I think your going to find some field modified circuitry. those two things sort of pass by each other in the fuse block but are not related that I can see. upstream of the fuse block I would think the ignition would die as well as the lights. and then again, start by checking all the grounds, bad grounds account for 90% of CJ electrical problems.

The headlights should be on a dedicated circuit. My headlights can be turned on even with out the ignition turned on. Could be that mine is wired wrong. I agree that if it was inadequate voltage the engine would cutout.

 

[rigrunner567]

i had to pull the intake and the lights are on hold. it has some really old stewart werner gauges and both the volt and oil gauge go real high in numbers. ill post what i find when i get it running again. thanks

 

[Old Dog]

I'm guessing that the '60 volts' is a typo for '16 volts'. Never seen a volt gauge before that goes above 20 volts.

do you have as amp meter and not a volt meter in there. an amp meter will read both sides of zero.

 

[CJ]

do you have as amp meter and not a volt meter in there. an amp meter will read both sides of zero.

Maybe, an amp meter may read +- 60.

 

[rigrunner567]

i was wrong. lol checked again it is volt meater. reads 12 when shut off and pegs the needle past 16 when running. gonna get the alt checked tommorow.

 

[73CJ]

+16 volts sounds like a bad regulator.

 

[Turbogus]

When I wired up my Hella headlight shells so I could run high output H4 bulbs I wired in a relay for each side from the switch this way it wouldn't overload the circuit. I'm currently running 130/100 watt bulbs with no issues.