65 Head Light Upgrade and Circuit Breaker

Hi Guys,

I recently upgraded the head lights with Halogens and noticed that on hi-beam the lights including the red hi-beam indicator on the dash start to flicker once wamed up. On low bean no issues. Alternator is stock.

Has any one else had similar issues? I replaced the dimmer stwitch but it made no difference. I'm thinking it may be the circuit breaker mounted on the left innner fender where the main power cable hooks up.

Is there a stronger circuit breaker available or is it best to bypass it and intall a heavier fuse?

I'm thinking it may be the circuit breaker mounted on the left innner fender where the main power cable hooks up.

Is there a stronger circuit breaker available or is it best to bypass it and intall a heavier fuse?

Tony-

I'm not aware of a circuit breaker on the left inner fender. Can you post a picture of it?

I think the headlight circuits are protected by a thermal breaker built into the headlight switch itself. I'm not 100% certain on that and I am not at home to be able to check it.

Hi Jim,

You may be right and I have a new switch to put in as soon as I find a girl with tiny hands to fit up there. Here is a picture from the manual which shows the circuit breaker.

Hi Jim,

You may be right and I have a new switch to put in as soon as I find a girl with tiny hands to fit up there. Here is a picture from the manual which shows the circuit breaker.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]261814[/ATTACH]

The circuit breaker that is attached to the horn relay on the left inner fender is there to feed the hideaway headlamp motor. The power to the

headlamp switch is a large unfused red wire that also branches out and goes to the alternator and the ignition switch. The breaker for the headlamps

is built into the headlight switch on 60's GM cars. If you look at the wiring diagram on a 65 Riviera you can see that if your alternator or ignition

switch shorts out you are going to have a blazing fire. I am in the process of preparing to install a large fuse link at the bat post on the horn

relay to feed these wires so that if I have a short in the ignition switch or alternator the car won't burn to the ground. GM didn't start installing

fuse links on their wiring harnesses to protect from fires until the 1970's.

Tony-

I agree with seafoam about the use of that circuit breaker.

The breaker built into the light switch will make the lights go off totally, then come back on. It sounds like you have a flicker.

I suggest you check the alternator output voltage, test the battery condition, check the ground (earth) connections, because I think you have a voltage fluctuation at high alternator output.

It would not hurt to put the new headlight switch in, though. Have you tried removing the dash pad and doing it from above?

Tony,

Many moons ago, I tried to run some driving lamps off the same circuit as the head lamps on a van that I used to haul my canoe into the back woods. I wanted the brights as well as the driving lamps to come on with the dimmer switch. I too had a flutter in all of the lamps. I was pulling too much amperage through that circuit. It sounds as if you're halogens are doing the same thing. If I were you, I would install a relay of some kind in the system to pull some bigger amps to the head lamps. In order to pull those additional amps, you'll need a higher output alternator as well.

LED's don't pull the amps that conventional lamps do so you might want to check out this item that I found.

http://www.mustangproject.com/ProductDisplay.aspx?ID=5e5db5b8-c86c-47df-9dd2-bae08289dc01

Ed

The breaker at the battery cable junction on the left fender well is for the high blower relay.

Your headlight switch circuit breaker is tripping. Chances are good if you replace the switch you will encounter the same issue unless the existing switch is defective. Even so, you should not be running that many amps thru the switch. Best to do as Ed has suggested and install a relay to remove the amp load from the switch. I doubt you`ll need to upgrade the charging system depending on how often you run with the hi beams on.

Tom

Thanks for all the ideas guys. The relay sounds like a good idea and I have a higher amp alternator so just nbeed some time to sort out. I'll work on the dash pad removal. It feels like it's stuck but I know how it's supposed to come off.

fatb-you will definitely need to put in a relay to handle the addl current that halogens pull, esp if your highbeams are higher wattage than factory. even with a new switch, it was only designed to handle so much current.....it's a pretty easy deal to wire up, the old headlight wire will be used to tickle the relay, you will add a heavy wire to feed the relay & lights, wire & relay size depending on how big halogen bulb you are running. the relay takes the big current hit when turned on so your 50 yr old light switch doesn't have to...hope this makes sense. any parts house will have them, if they don't know what you are talking about look at one in off-road light kit among others....

on a related note, as mentioned above, if you are into the wiring, adding circuit breakers or fuses to those unfused circuits will help prevent underdash fires....well worth your time & effort. I almost burned my '55 chevy to the ground when the unfused ign sw wire shorted out....

Hey Seafoam! When you can, give us a rundown on how to fabricate or purchase a fusible link and how to install one. I can find no clear info or instructions on the subject. Fatbuick! I have average sized hands and had very little trouble installing the headlight switch through the fuse panel. What helped was a pair of long nosed, lockable hemostats (also known to some as a "roach clip") which I used to grab the tab on the ground ring and hold it in place while positioning the switch behind it. For Gods sake don't try to remove that dash pad unless you have to! Drew

rivnik-a fuseable link is just that, a sacrificial wire that is designed to carry a certain ammount of current, if the circuit gets overloaded it melts, just like a fuse. I think you have to just order a new one..... inline circuit breakers & inline fuse holders are readily available & easy to install.....hope this helps

Hey Seafoam! When you can, give us a rundown on how to fabricate or purchase a fusible link and how to install one. I can find no clear info or instructions on the subject. Fatbuick! I have average sized hands and had very little trouble installing the headlight switch through the fuse panel. What helped was a pair of long nosed, lockable hemostats (also known to some as a "roach clip") which I used to grab the tab on the ground ring and hold it in place while positioning the switch behind it. For Gods sake don't try to remove that dash pad unless you have to! Drew

If you don't mind chopping on factory wiring, you can buy fusible links at the Auto supply with big eyelets built onto one end and you just

cut off the ends of the big red wires going to the batt post on the left inner fender and splice a fuse link on the end of each wire with wire crimping

pliers and a crimp connector. If you don't want to cut your original wires, you can find fuse links that are encased in plastic covers with an eyelet on each

end and you can bolt one end of the link to the existing eyelets on each red wire and then put the other end of the links on the batt post on the horn relay. What you have to do to protect the car from an electrical fire is put fuse links on all the wires between the fuse box in the dash and the battery.

Every circuit beyond the fuses in the dash is protected by it's existing fuse in the dash. The biggest fire hazard is the big red wire going to the

alternator and ignition switch and headlight switch and fuse box(it branches out into four wires)

I'm pleased to report today I finally got the dash pad off. The hard part is getting enough grip on the pad to pull it back away from the screen without damaging it. I found by removing the accessories panel there is a perfect space to get your fingers in and allow a good grip. With a bit of pulling and jiggling it came out.

It needs to move back at least an inch to clear the mounting lugs before pushing it upwards.

Tomorrow I'll pull the pad right out of the way after disconnecting the Giude-Matic phototube wire from the amplifier and removing the speaker. I'm assuming I should be able to get to the amplifier by removing the glove box cardboard.

My objective is to replace the headlight switch and as many of the dash illumination bulbs as possible. My dash is very dim at night.

The other cool thing is on the new switch I've bridged the parkers and headlight terminals with a blob of solder so the parkers will stay on with the headlights. I always liked that about the 69 Rivs and did a similar mods to my 66 years ago.

I had a great day today except the bridging of the parker and headlight terminals did not work and logically the headlights came on with the parkers. I don't know how I did it on the 66. Replaced every bulb in the instrument cluster (except AMP) with 2cp #194. Some originals were the 1cp #161. Installed a rubber radio antenna horizontally above the glove box to replace the original which I deleted from the fender for a smoother look.

The old light switch was toast and there's no more flickering on hi-beam with the new switch. I will still consider a relay after checking the amp draw from the lights.

WOW! I can read my speedo and fuel gauge perfectly now.

Thanks for all your help guys.

Tony, you might want to put in a new dimmer switch just for general principle. It appears it wasn't your first problem. It will probably be the next if it is 50 years old.

Bernie

I was just reading some Packard wiring and switch information and had a brain fart. I have worked on high end British cars of the 1940's and 1950's that use a capacitor on many of their switches; windshield wipers, lights, and the like. The capacitor arrests the arc when energizing and de-energizing. It prolongs the life and reliability of the switch. As the switches on our cars grow older and become obsolete it might not be a bad idea to install a small capacitor on our switches when ever we service them or the wiring. I have the dash pad off my Riviera now and I am getting my '48 Packard ready for next year. Now is a good time to take my own advice. Sometimes I really do that!

Bwenie