Of course you could install a later headlight relay which I belive is solid
state.
I can post the part no. if anyone is interested.
BTW, early cars had wiring for fog lights also and even the toggle to turn
them on/off. No damn relays to worry about :)
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "John F Sandhoff" <sandhoff@csus.edu>
To: "Michael Shimniok" <michael.shimniok@usa.net>
Cc: <datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2001 2:03 PM
Subject: Re: Headlights
> It was asked:
> > What has me stumped are the headlites. Mine broke tonite (one can only
> > expect so much out of a 33 year old relay) so I'm only guessing
pull/twist
> > is hibeam?
>
> Some -general- comments here. Print out the schematic (check Ross'
> site at http://home.iSTAR.ca/~datsun) and find a buddy that knows
> electrons to really figure it out :-)
>
> First, note that 1970 is DIFFERENT than prior years! On 1970, there
> are TWO fuses, one for each bulb, and +12 is fed to the 'common' (what
> you'd expect to be ground) terminal. To activate the lights, the hi or
> lo contact is brought to ground. So if you're using different bulbs, be
> careful as some of the HO stuff has the 'common' terminal grounded
> as part of its construction.
>
> On the '68 especially, the fusebox tends to have a problem and cook
> the single headlight fuse. From what I can tell, there's slight resistance
> between the brass clip itself and the brass rivet. That point heats up,
> burns wires on the back and melts the fuse on the front. Several of us
> have ultimately installed a separate fuse that bypasses this one on the
> fuseblock.
>
> The 'twist' portion of the headlight switch is for the FOG lights. All the
> later cars are pre-wired for fog lights (the connectors are with the turn
> signal wiring), just twist the knob to turn on the power. If you want to
> run high power fog lights, PLEASE use the existing wire to simply
> activate an auxiliary relay, and use the relay (direct from the battery,
> via an inline fuse) to run the lights. Let's not melt the original wiring
> harness, or cook the switch, OK?
>
> Finally, the hi/lo setting: This is controlled by a relay that is
activated by
> the stalk switch. Pushing/pulling the turn signal switch turns this relay
> on and off; the relay then provides power (or the gound path, for 1970)
> to the hi or lo connector as appropriate.
>
> Finally, many people note their headlights dim or go out at about 4000
> RPM. This is because of a vibration that affects the headlight relay -
> it makes the points bounce and lose contact. In my personal experience,
> it affects only one setting (lo or hi, I forget - the setting in which the
relay
> is NOT energized). Flipping the lights to the other setting at least gets
> them going again. The two cures:
> 1) Stop driving so fast. Especially at night, when you're using the
lights!
> 2) Mechanically isolate the relay from the body with a block of rubber or
> somesuch. Be sure to maintain an electrical ground, however! (that is, if
> the case requires a ground. I don't recall, and I don't have my car parked
> here in my cubicle with me... Easy enough to check - unscrew the relay
> and see if things still work properly...)
>
> If your headlights are weak, check and clean the fuses and fuse holder,
> check the connectors (especially underhood) for corrosion or almost-
> broken wires, and triple-check the gound points for the wires. Usually
> a partial ground on one bulb will make them both do weird things as
> the electrons try to find a 'back way' to sneak around... When I helped
> build a house 25 years ago, we'd blow lights when we turned on a space
> heater - bad grounds can do WEIRD stuff...
>
> -- John
> John F Sandhoff sandhoff@csus.edu Sacramento, CA
>
> /// datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net mailing list
> /// Send admin requests to majordomo@autox.team.net or go to
> /// http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
> /// Send list postings to datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net
/// datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net mailing list
|