[E-Type] Electrical Problems

I was working on my battery this past weekend and managed to short something
out. I won’t tell you exactly how, for fear of being dumped from the list for
stupidity, but while using a wrench on the positive terminal I managed to
slip and the wrench hit metal and sparks flew !!!

Anyway I am having problems with some of the fuse terminals, which I cleaned,
brushed, and put in all new fuses. I am getting no current to many of them as
indicated below:

Fuse Number Comment

1 No current
2 No current
3 OK No problem working fine
4 Spare
5 No current
6 OK No problem working fine
7 OK No problem working fine
8 No current

Are there some type of relay switches/fuses between the battery and the fuse
terminals that maybe I cooked?

Thank you

Thomas Lanahan
69 FHC

Tom: Just a thought. Some of the fuses have to have the ignition key turned
on in order to read current.
Bruce 65 ots-----Original Message-----
From: LANAHAN56@aol.com [mailto:LANAHAN56@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2002 8:13 AM
To: e-type@jag-lovers.org
Subject: [E-Type] Electrical Problems

I was working on my battery this past weekend and managed to short something

out. I won’t tell you exactly how, for fear of being dumped from the list
for
stupidity, but while using a wrench on the positive terminal I managed to
slip and the wrench hit metal and sparks flew !!!

Anyway I am having problems with some of the fuse terminals, which I
cleaned,
brushed, and put in all new fuses. I am getting no current to many of them
as
indicated below:

Fuse Number Comment

1 No current
2 No current
3 OK No problem working fine
4 Spare
5 No current
6 OK No problem working fine
7 OK No problem working fine
8 No current

Are there some type of relay switches/fuses between the battery and the fuse

terminals that maybe I cooked?

Thank you

Thomas Lanahan
69 FHC

Thomas;
I think fuses #3,4,and 8 are the only ones that are hot all the time.
Turn on your headlamps and recheck.(you’ll get power to #1on high beam and
on #2on low beam) And fuse #5 is hot only when the running (parking lights)
are on. According to my diagram, fuse #8 is for the map light, interior
lights, and the cigar (power outlet for the PC crowd) lighter plug. Hope
this helps.
Phillip----- Original Message -----
From: LANAHAN56@aol.com
To: e-type@jag-lovers.org
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2002 9:12 AM
Subject: [E-Type] Electrical Problems

Anyway I am having problems with some of the fuse terminals, as indicated
below:

Fuse Number Comment

1 No current
2 No current
3 OK No problem working fine
4 Spare
5 No current
6 OK No problem working fine
7 OK No problem working fine
8 No current

Thank you
Thomas Lanahan
69 FHC

I can’t answer your question but don’t feel to bad, most all of us have done the
same thing, we just don’t admit it to the world. My terminals are so close to
the battery hold-down bracket I have to be very careful or I will short it out.
Really gets my heart to beat a little faster so at my advanced age it’s not all a
bad sensation.

Len W

LANAHAN56@aol.com wrote:> I was working on my battery this past weekend and managed to short something

out. I won’t tell you exactly how, for fear of being dumped from the list for
stupidity, but while using a wrench on the positive terminal I managed to
slip and the wrench hit metal and sparks flew !!!

Anyway I am having problems with some of the fuse terminals, which I cleaned,
brushed, and put in all new fuses. I am getting no current to many of them as
indicated below:

Fuse Number Comment

1 No current
2 No current
3 OK No problem working fine
4 Spare
5 No current
6 OK No problem working fine
7 OK No problem working fine
8 No current

Are there some type of relay switches/fuses between the battery and the fuse
terminals that maybe I cooked?

Thank you

Thomas Lanahan
69 FHC

that’s why it pays to always disconnect the ground first before doing
anything on the battery…and reconect it last. Sparks and battery acid
don’t mix too well either…

but as you say, we’ve all done that once…

Pascal----- Original Message -----
From: “Len Wheeler” lenscats1@earthlink.net
To: e-type@jag-lovers.org
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2002 6:04 PM
Subject: Re: [E-Type] Electrical Problems

I can’t answer your question but don’t feel to bad, most all of us have
done the
same thing, we just don’t admit it to the world. My terminals are so
close to
the battery hold-down bracket I have to be very careful or I will short it
out.
Really gets my heart to beat a little faster so at my advanced age it’s
not all a
bad sensation.

Len W

Thomas,
I should tell you about the time that I was installing something under
the dash in an old car, not disconnecting the battery first. Had a
metal watch band that shorted across the terminals of an ammeter
nearby. Complely burned away the top half of the watch band link,
course the bottom half stayed intact to make sure the heat was properly
transferred to my wrist.

Not that familiar with the S2 schematic but most of those “non working”
fuses on a S1 pass through, or by, the ign. sw. You might check to make
sure that’s not fried or a connector loose.
pauls 67ots

I was working on my battery this past weekend and managed to short
something
out. I won’t tell you exactly how, for fear of being dumped from the
list for
stupidity, but while using a wrench on the positive terminal I managed
to
slip and the wrench hit metal and sparks flew !!!

Anyway I am having problems with some of the fuse terminals, which I
cleaned,
brushed, and put in all new fuses. I am getting no current to many of
them as
indicated below:

Fuse Number Comment

1 No current
2 No current
3 OK No problem working fine
4 Spare
5 No current
6 OK No problem working fine
7 OK No problem working fine
8 No current

Are there some type of relay switches/fuses between the battery and the
fuse
terminals that maybe I cooked?

Thank you

Thomas Lanahan
<<<<<<<<<<From: LANAHAN56@aol.com
Subject: [E-Type] Electrical Problems

In reply to a message from Paul Spurlock sent Tue 22 Oct 2002:

Off-topic perhaps, but....Working around batteries with jewelry 

on can be very dangerous. I spent over ten years working on
electric and hybrid cars back in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Gives you a
real appreciation for the amount of energy in even a car battery.
I once watched several inches of 1/2’’ stainless steel plate and a 3
foot section of 4-0 welding cable vaporize when something shorted
out. More than a few people working on those things also lost
fingers or worse when their wedding rings and watch bands ended up
in the wrong place at the wrong time.
One of my favorite quotes was from one of my professors in
college. We built a 21-passenger hybrid electric bus. The
batteries were custom-built lead-acid made from fork-lift cells.
Each battery was the size of a small refrigerator, and weighed 1840
pounds. When this professor saw them for the first time, his only
comment was ‘‘Boy, that’s a mess o’ Coulombs!’’. It was two of these
that vaporized the stainless steel plate (more than once).–
Ray Livingston
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–

Thomas,

In order to assist, it would be helpful to know exactly how you shorted
to chassis. If you shorted the battery POS terminal directly to chassis
it would be hard to cause probs elsewhere. If you shorted the POS
terminal to chassis through another component, that’s different. Did you
have any systems on at the time?

Not having a S2 schematic, what functions are the (all) fuse positions
supply?

Cheers,

Chuck Anderson
'64 FHC
890250

LANAHAN56@aol.com wrote:>I was working on my battery this past weekend and managed to short something

out. I won’t tell you exactly how, for fear of being dumped from the list for
stupidity, but while using a wrench on the positive terminal I managed to
slip and the wrench hit metal and sparks flew !!!

Anyway I am having problems with some of the fuse terminals, which I cleaned,
brushed, and put in all new fuses. I am getting no current to many of them as
indicated below:

Fuse Number Comment

1 No current
2 No current
3 OK No problem working fine
4 Spare
5 No current
6 OK No problem working fine
7 OK No problem working fine
8 No current

Are there some type of relay switches/fuses between the battery and the fuse
terminals that maybe I cooked?

Thank you

Thomas Lanahan
69 FHC

Actually I had just gotten the car out of the shop, everything was working
fine. No systems were on at the time I was working on the battery, dropped a
wrench which was attached to Positive terminal and touched the negative
terminal and sparked.

Thomas.

In reply to a message from LANAHAN56@aol.com sent Mon 21 Oct 2002:

After I did this I switched to a wrench that had a plastic coating
on the handle. Now even if I touch metal there is no current
flowing - this is my special wrench I always know where it is!–
Alex Jurgens
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–

The plastic coated wrench is the way to go, have learned an expensive lesson.
It may even keep me from the evening Car Shows here in Ft. Lauderdale this
upcoming weekend. (boo his). I show the car Friday Nights Saturday Nights,
and usually one formal show during the day on Sunday. I go home and BBQ
Sunday Night and then spend Mon Tues Wed fixing whatever went wrong during
the weekend.

Thomas.

Years ago when I was a lad in England I managed to melt a
spanner (OK, wrench) while working near the battery on my
Sunbeam Alpine. Scared the bejusus out of me and made me
very careful ever since when working near any battery.

FWIW, I have put specially designed rubber moulded “boots”
over the +ve terminal connector of my '71 and over the -ve
terminal of my '61 (which is still set up as a positive
earth car). I looked everywhere for these “boots” and
eventually found them in the XK’s Unlimited catalogue. They
completely cover the terminal so one is safe from the odd
dropped spanner. I also use a battery cut-off switch on
the terminal connected to ground on each car and make sure
this is in the disconnected mode when working on the
electrics.

All the best

Ray Sharp

'61 FHC
'71s2OTS

Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 16:53:13 +0200
From: rayl@atc.creative.com
Subject: Re: [E-Type] Electrical Problems

In reply to a message from Paul Spurlock sent Tue 22 Oct
2002:

Off-topic perhaps, but....Working around batteries

with jewelry

on can be very dangerous. I spent over ten years
working on
electric and hybrid cars back in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Gives
you a
real appreciation for the amount of energy in even a car
battery.
I once watched several inches of 1/2’’ stainless steel
plate and a 3
foot section of 4-0 welding cable vaporize when something
shorted> out…SNIP…

Need some advice with two electrical problems with my SIII V12;

The needle indicator on my voltage guage only gets to the red/black border
line. I think that’s approx 12 volts. The battery at rest without the
engine running reads 12.75 volts. Engine running, it reads 13.05 volts.
Shouldn’t the voltage with the engine running be approx 14 volts??

Second, With the switch on, my parking, taillights, and side lights stay
on. Same condition with the engine running?? Appreciate any comments on
both. Thanks

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In reply to a message from Williams, Marvin sent Sun 19 Sep 2004:

Marvin,
Sounds like either your alternator or regulator is toast.
Normal operating voltage (with engine above idle speed) should be a
minimum of about 13.8V, preferably over 14.0V, so you do have a
problem.–
Ray Livingston - '64 OTS Santa Cruz, CA
Santa Cruz, CA, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–

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Marvin,
Yes the voltage should be around 14 when the engine is running. But I wouldn’t get real alarmed yet unless you’re having dead battery or starting problems.

Regarding the lights that’s clearly not correct. The lights are supposed to be independent of the ign. sw. and in your case they appear to be connected to it. Would have to assume something misswired. As a troubleshooting test it would be intersting to see if you can turn on your parking lamps and headlights while the key is off, which you should be able to. If you can then you have something more elaborate going on there in that without some backward current protection the opposite of your current symptom would also be true. With the key “off” and the lights on you would be feeding voltage to the ign. sw. and even perhaps start the car, though it may blow a fuse first depending on how its wired.
pauls 67ots

Need some advice with two electrical problems with my SIII V12;

The needle indicator on my voltage guage only gets to the red/black border
line. I think that’s approx 12 volts. The battery at rest without the
engine running reads 12.75 volts. Engine running, it reads 13.05 volts.
Shouldn’t the voltage with the engine running be approx 14 volts??

Second, With the switch on, my parking, taillights, and side lights stay
on. Same condition with the engine running?? Appreciate any comments on
both. Thanks
<<<<<<<<<<

Search the archives & forums - http://search.jag-lovers.org/
Subscription changes - http://www.jag-lovers.com/cgi-bin/majordomoFrom: “Williams, Marvin” Marvin_Williams@kindermorgan.com
Subject: [E-Type] Electrical Problems

In reply to a message from Paul Spurlock sent Mon 20 Sep 2004:

Paul,
‘‘I wouldn’t get real alarmed yet unless you’re having dead
battery or starting problems.’’ - Sorry, but that’s really bad
advice. At the levels he’es seeing, the battery is clearly not
charging at all. Ignoring the problem will leave him stranded at
some point in the very near future, as well as likely damaging the
battery. This needs to be corrected immediately.–
The original message included these comments:

Marvin,
Yes the voltage should be around 14 when the engine is running. But I wouldn’t get real alarmed yet unless you’re having dead battery or starting problems.
Regarding the lights that’s clearly not correct. The lights are supposed to be independent of the ign. sw. and in your case they appear to be connected to it. Would have to assume something misswired. As a troubleshooting test it would be intersting to see if you can turn on your parking lamps and headlights while the key is off, which you should be able to. If you can then you have something more elaborate going on there in that without some backward current protection the opposite of your current symptom would also be true. With the key ‘‘off’’ and the lights on you would be feeding voltage to the ign. sw. and even perhaps start the car, though it may blow a fuse first depending on how its wired.
pauls 67ots


Ray Livingston - '64 OTS Santa Cruz, CA
Santa Cruz, CA, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–

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