wiring fire

[Bhigdog]

I have an aquaintence whose 1949 Ford Pick up truck tried to burn itself up. He says while parked the regulator and generator started smoking and "a wire" was melting. I'm going to look at the thing tomorrow but my guess is the cut out relay in the regulator stuck closed and tried to turn the gen into a motor. Complicating the problem is he just bought the truck and it's been converted to 12V.

Any thoughts why the cut out should stick and any thoughts if the 12V conversion should be suspect?. Thanks........Bob

[Larry Schramm]

My first question is if it was converted, where was the fuse(s)????? There should be circuit protection closest to the power source so if there is a wiring problem "out there" it would blow the fuse. When you get the wire(s) fixed, be sure to put in a fuse.

[TexRiv_63]

I'm no expert on 49 Fords OR electricity but some cars used a "fusible link" instead of a fuse for protection of a high amp circuit. A small section of special wire was spliced into the main harness in a location where it could safely (?) burn up if overloaded. Usually set up between two connectors for easy replacement. Just a thought.

[Bhigdog]

Typically in "older" systems the charging circuit wasn't protected by a fuse or link. I'm not sure what was done with this truck I'm leaving to check it out now.........bob

[Larry Schramm]

Agree with Don. Fusable links were used for circuit protection, but newer cars use that or a maxi fuse. Some of them go up to 200 amps. The operative words here are circuit protection.