Vicky Green Wiring Loom

[Guest craig cowley]

i have had a problem with one of the 20amp fuses blowing i know this supplies my instruments but the interesting thing with this is last time i had this fault i broke the loom down (luckly had foresight to make it modular) i got down to the last plug front left lights fuse stoped blowing checked wiring could find no fault re connected after doing nothing fine connected all electrics fine.

 

Six months down the line start engine fuse blown :gdit: replace fuse fuse blew after about 30 seconds not immediate :boohoo:

 

ran out of 20amp fuses thought i would do the naughty type of electrical fault finding put in 30amp fuse ran like a dream all electrics work no smoke?????

 

could the 20amp fuse be right on its limit unfortunatly my ammeter only goes to 10amps

 

also does anyone know what the four fuses in the vicky green loom actually relate to??

[Guest yosamite sam]

a. you need to measure what current that circuit is drawing. once you know that you can put in the correct fuse - so if you measure 17 amp for exmple put in the next highest fuse available IE 20amp

 

b. next do a short test - maybe shorting but after that length of time - perhaps not - but might be a loose wire moving - earthing out

 

what circuit is it? instrument 12v+ supply? there shouldnt be too much current through that circuit tho - what is the instrument off? what donor?

 

HTH

 

terry

[Guest craig cowley]

Terry thanks for the suggestions but as i said i am currently unable to measure the current as its outside of the range of any meter i own!!

 

as to what circuit it supplys that is part of my question as none of the vicky green documentation breaks down what the four fuses supply i know it supplys my instruments as they die when it blows but what else might it supply i just dont know?

 

my instruments are individual units from an auto jumble with a self made sub loom so i may have an intermmitent faul in one of these but until i can eleminate other sections of the loom i dont want to start stripping the dash apart ( another issue is last time i had this fault is i could completly disconnect the instruments and still blow fuses)

 

hope this is more illuminating i hope to have a proper look tomorrow and will update what i find.

[Jez Morton]

When I looked they were as follows

10A Side lights/switch illumination

20A Heater Only

20A Wipers/all other lights/clocks

15A Horn/hazards

 

I moved the wipers to the same fuse as the heater as I am only using a mini heater.

 

Jez

[Guest chris brown]

I moved the wipers to the same fuse as the heater as I am only using a mini heater

What makes you think that a Mini heater will take less current than any other? Most if not all consume about the same current.

[steve in stockport]

jez

just looked in haynes manual and uncle henry uses

10 amp fuse for each dip beam

20 amp fuse for each main beam

10 amp fuse per side for side lamps

10 amp fuse for hazards

30 amp fuse for the horn

30 amp fuse for wipers

30 amp fuse for the heater

 

looking at that it would seem that using the four fuses you have is being a bit optimistic to hope that it can cope

i know fords are probably erring on the side of safety and caution but its worked for them for years

i would be looking to add some more fuses and spread the load around as putting larger fuses in could lead to the wiring overheating and your car going up in flames

 

steve

[Guest salty_monk]

Yes, I had the dipped beams all on one 10amp & they were fine... until I turned the fog light on which was also one there... 20amp cured it but main beam was on a separate fuse... That was with the loom before the Vicky Green, can't remember the name of it...

 

Also what about voltage drop? If you are getting voltage drop over an overheated / damaged wire doesn't that increase the amount of amps it's drawing but wouldn't show up using a continuity test, thus the reaosn it appears to be fine but is now blowing the fuse out of the blue? Just an idea, I'm no auto spark... sound like you need more time with a meter. You could try unplugging one side to see what that draws & then see if it matches the other side, might give you an idea.

 

[Guest ady]

I would think the best way to find out what is on that curcuit is to pull the fuse out then check everything on the car to see what is not working. It's slow but atleaset you know what is and whats not on that fuse.

 

It's common on production cars to keep left and right headlight and sidelights on seperat fuses so that if the fuse goes you don't loose all your lights, also common to find right headlight with left sidelght etc.

[Snapperpaul]

Do you have an Ammeter in your dash if so check its not shorting through that, on some ammeters the connections only have small insulations and it does not take much for them to short on the metal of the dash or some of the other wiring.

[Guest craig cowley]

wow

 

I am always amazed at the responce i get on this site thanks for all the feed back

 

its an interesting point made about the ford system and the amount of current a standard system would take

 

i think that the actual cable size on the vicky green loom is quite generous on its size and thus current handaling capabilities

 

i think i will run with the 30amp fuse for now i have a main battery isolater for emergencys if i get smoke at least i will know what the fault is.

 

ps now the admision iam an electronics engineer by trade so you would think i know better but car electrics seem to bend the laws of physics at the best of times.

[Jez Morton]

Just to note,

I didn't pick the fuses there Vicky Greens.

I moved the wiper because its not safe to go bigger than 20A on the lights as they are wired in series and the fuse may not blow due to wire size restricting current flow which means heat and fire. With headlamps on about 7amps is pulled with one fog fitted add 2amps, reverse 2 amps, brakes 3.5amps. So we have a total of 14.5amps. And if you flash main beam thats another 7.5 amps, indicating thats about 2amps.

Peak current could be 23amps, with a wiper going that means fuse blow to me.

As the wiper and heater are wired in parallel off the second 20amp and the length is fairly short it would be possible to increase the fuse if neccessary. I have ran them together and they dont blow the fuse, but I will check the current draw more carefully before finishing the wiring.

 

Jez