Roger Howard wrote:
> James,
> I don't profees to know much about electrical stuff either, but my guess is
> your switch is failing internally. Again guessing, I think the wire gets hot
> because brakelight bulbs are high wattage (bright!), which heats up the
> wires during prolonged use.
> It must be a pain to work on this problem alone...jiggle the pedal up front,
> then walk to the rear of the car to observe, and repeat. Can you disconnect
> the wires from the switch and hook up a temporary deal so that the bulb is
> right there with you while you fool with the brake pedal?
CLEARLY this needs CLARIFICATION!!
NO brakelight bulb that will fit in your socket will consume more power
then your headlight bulb!!!!!!!!!!!!
For that Fact I don't know of any 2 brakelight bulbs that draw the
equivilent current to a single headlight bulb.
IF you check the wire gauge for the headlights I'll bet it is within
2 wire gauge sizes of the brakelight wire gauge. The power handling
of the brakelight wire gauge should be up to the task.
Granted that the wire is probably feeding 2 bulbs but the power
handling capacity is greater then one might think.
PLUS if your replacement brakelight bulbs are that much brighter then
the originals, then the heat from the bulbs is also GREATER.
Might just be melting the plastic lens also???
The by product of power usage in conventional lighting is always HEAT!
I think he has a short, or high ground in the circuit. The high ground
theory comes from the indication that the bulbs are lighting as well as
the wire heating up while the lamps are lit. A high ground will flow
current to ground and still allow some current to reach the bulbs but
will draw extra current from the circuit!
A dead (solid) short between the batt and before the bulbs would probably
not allow the lamps to light.
--
Paul Holmgren
Hoosier Corps #33, L-6
2 57 300-C's in Indy
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