Blown Spotlamp And Main Beam Bulbs.

[tdr_1976 41 1 Cars]

During a selective on a Road Rally on the weekend, the spotlamps and main beam lights on my car went ultra bright and swiftly blew, leaving me with just the sidelights, until I selected dip beam. Under normal circumstances, this would be scary, but when your on a rally, it makes your arse close up!

 

I'm not 100% sure what happened, but shortly before they blew on me, I hit a patch of black ice, the wheels span and the engine revved up way higher than I would have liked it too!

 

Could it be a knackered alternator, or the voltage regulator, if the regulator, where is it situated?

 

Any advice would be great, as i have another Rally coming up in a few weeks.

 

Cheers!

Edited November 29, 2010 by tdr_1976

[Tom Fenton 1,548]

Your theory could be possible, however I would also alter your wiring so that the spots and mains are on seperate circuits- then hopefully you lose one or the other, not both!

[tdr_1976 41 1 Cars]

Thanks for your reply,

 

I already have the spots on a separate circuit to the mains, the only link is the signal live to the relay from the main beam live circuit, to power the spots on, when everything blew it also fried the relay as well as the spot bulbs.

[rallysteve 22]

I would be looking at the alternator as the suspect i think, there is no other reason on a car wiring system where i could see there being a voltage surge that would be enough to blow bulbs and things.

 

The voltage regulator is part of the alternator on all systems, it might be removable but I would go with getting your alternator checked over/refurbed or just replace it.

 

You might be able to check it if you have a multimeter, run the engine with no load on it (e.g everything else turned off), after about 5min of running to allow the battery to recharge fully after cranking, check the voltage over the battery terminals. Try revving the engine whilst measuring it, it shouldnt be any higher than about 14.6-14.7v Any amount more and the regulator has had it

 

Steve

[tdr_1976 41 1 Cars]

Hi Steve, Thanks for your reply mate!

 

I'll be having a look at it tomorrow, not had the time to sort it out yet.

 

Cheers!