Lights dont come on straight away?

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haynes
850 Super
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Lights dont come on straight away?

Post by haynes »

Its probably a dodgy connection, but with the dynamo is it possible it needs to warm up abit or something before the lights come on?

Its just wierd how its not intermittant or that they cut out. Sometimes they come on straight away other times it can be a couple of minutes.
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sclemow
998 Cooper
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Re: Lights dont come on straight away?

Post by sclemow »

No all lights should come on instantly with a dynamo as with an alternator. The battery should supply 12v, the dynamo charges the battery.
carbon
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Re: Lights dont come on straight away?

Post by carbon »

What year of car and type of light switch do you have fitted?
leonrjohnson
Basic 850
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Re: Lights dont come on straight away?

Post by leonrjohnson »

haynes wrote:Its probably a dodgy connection, but with the dynamo is it possible it needs to warm up abit or something before the lights come on?

Its just wierd how its not intermittant or that they cut out. Sometimes they come on straight away other times it can be a couple of minutes.

A Collection of Lucas Prince of Darkness jokes

The Lucas motto: “Get home before dark.”

Lucas denies having invented darkness. But they still claim "sudden, unexpected darkness”

Lucas—inventor of the first intermittent wiper.


Lucas—inventor of the self-dimming headlamp.

.

The three-position Lucas switch—
1. DIM, FLICKER
2. SMOKE, SMOLDER and IGNITE
3. OFF

The original anti-theft devices—Lucas Electric products.


"I've had a Lucas pacemaker for years and have never experienced
Any prob...”


If Lucas made guns, wars would not start either.

Did you hear about the Lucas powered torpedo? It sank.

It's not true that Lucas, in 1947, tried to get Parliament to repeal Ohm's Law. They withdrew their efforts when they met too much resistance.

Did you hear the one about the guy that peeked into a LandRover and asked the owner "How can you tell one switch from another at night, since they all look the same?" "He replied, it doesn't matter which one you use, nothing happens!"

Back in the '70s Lucas decided to diversify its product-line and began manufacturing vacuum cleaners. It was the only product they offered which didn't suck.

Equality Assurance phoned and advised a guy that they had trouble with his design.
The electrical circuit kept shorting out. So he made the wires longer.

Why do the English drink warm beer? Lucas made the refrigerators too.

Alexander Graham Bell invented the Telephone.

Thomas Edison invented the Light Bulb.

Joseph Lucas invented the Short Circuit.

Recommended procedure before taking on a repair of Lucas equipment:
Check the position of the stars and sun, kill a chicken and walk three times clockwise around your car chanting: "Oh mighty Prince of Darkness, protect your unworthy servant."

Lucas systems actually use AC current: it just has a random frequency"
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minimans
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Re: Lights dont come on straight away?

Post by minimans »

It;s probably the switch the moving contact is sticking and takes a while to vibrate over..........................
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Spider
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Re: Lights dont come on straight away?

Post by Spider »

leonrjohnson, thanks, I did really enjoy those. The thing is though, most are true.

Lucas also proved that electrical equipment doesn't run on electricity. It all runs on smoke. When you turn something on and it lets the smoke out, it stops.

Coming back to OP's question, sure it's not the switch? Put a meter on the battery (not a Lucas one though), then with the engine running, turn the lights on.
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LarryLebel
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Re: Lights dont come on straight away?

Post by LarryLebel »

Intermittent relay.
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timmy201
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Re: Lights dont come on straight away?

Post by timmy201 »

Spider wrote:leonrjohnson, thanks, I did really enjoy those. The thing is though, most are true.

Lucas also proved that electrical equipment doesn't run on electricity. It all runs on smoke. When you turn something on and it lets the smoke out, it stops.

Coming back to OP's question, sure it's not the switch? Put a meter on the battery (not a Lucas one though), then with the engine running, turn the lights on.
Lucas has that solved too!
Image
And the ebay add :lol:
http://www3.telus.net/bc_triumph_registry/smoke.htm
Tim
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Re: Lights dont come on straight away?

Post by Tim »

minimans wrote:It;s probably the switch the moving contact is sticking and takes a while to vibrate over..........................
That's where my money is. The later rocker switches are prone to this but the earlier toggles can do it too. Often the 50 year old grease dries out and becomes sticky. Its pretty easy to open the switches up, clean out the goop, polish the terminals and close them up again with a bit of white grease as a lubricant. It can make a world of difference to them.

Tim
1951 Morris Commercial J Type Van
1955 BSA C11G
1961 Morris Mini Traveller
1969 Triumph TR6R
1977 Leyland Moke Californian
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Spider
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Re: Lights dont come on straight away?

Post by Spider »

timmy201 wrote: Lucas has that solved too!
Image
And the ebay add :lol:
http://www3.telus.net/bc_triumph_registry/smoke.htm
timmy201, sincere thanks. I knew it was available as a spare part but had trouble tracking it down.

Do you happen to know where we can also get the Service Tool to fit it back in? I've also been looking high and low for a while for one of them.

I think the factory part no. is 710.
haynes
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Re: Lights dont come on straight away?

Post by haynes »

Ok, i now a little more about the dark magic, the fact that it is dark magic, there be dragons.

As an expediant ive squited in some switch cleaner to see if that helps. Its a 1965 morris 850 btw.
coop12g295
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Re: Lights dont come on straight away?

Post by coop12g295 »

Theres a difference in how volts were put in Austin fed them clockwise Morris anti clockwise as a result Austins here have good electrics
and Morrises in the southern hemisphere had better electrics ....Discuss :)
graham in aus
998 Cooper
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Re: Lights dont come on straight away?

Post by graham in aus »

That's because electrons travel as waves in Austin's, but distinct particle in Morris's

I thought everyone knew that! :shock: ;) ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave%E2%80 ... le_duality
Mini's don't rust................Downunder!
haynes
850 Super
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Re: Lights dont come on straight away?

Post by haynes »

Turns out its the connector blocks behind the grille where it pairs off to feed either light.

Recently the main beam was working but dip wasnt. I started by taking off the floor switch to clean it up but couldnt see anyway into it so gave up, then resorted to trying to figure out the wiring diagram leading to conclude it was the above.

So working now for the moment.
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