Weak charging with fog and spotligt on

[jensmartin]

Hi all,

When my fog and spot light are on (no headligts) the charging meter drops to about 12V, which is a bit low.
If i drive with headligts only, charging is ok at 13,5V or thereabout. I have cleaned Lucar connections, earthpoints etc, even the contact surface inside the two switches as its one switch per lamp. I suspect the full current is lead trough the switch. I was thinking if relays might do the trick? Have anybody installed relays to fog and spot with success? And if so, how and where? I have a standard wired Elan +2 130 -72 with three fuseboxes.

Other ideas are also welcome.

Jens Martin
Sweden

[AHM]

Jens,

Test your theory by taking a feed from the battery terminal on the starter solenoid (for example) and connecting it to the light.

[rgh0]

It sounds like your voltage meter supply comes off the same point as the supply to the fog and spot lights and sees the apparent supply voltage drop when they are on. You can check by measuring the output voltage at the alternator / generator to compare.

A relay would fix the problem and also preserve the switches better.

cheers
Rohan