Guest outlaw car man Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 Is this odd or normal If I clip the positive from the battery, to the wire that touches the base of the light bulb in the pigtail connection ( light bulb socket) I'm talking the fender light as an example , then connect the negative to the bolt that holds the fender light on the fender, then to the neg side of the battery, shouldn't the bulb light up ? I'm making a full circuit I've tried this with a test light as the neg connection and the test light goes on but not the ( new ) bulb or any other bulb. Yes, 6 V I thought this would be a simple thing . Am I missing something here ?Thanks, Sandy OCM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 What you may be missing is a clean connection at the pigtail positive or at the negative bolt on the fender. Also your new bulb may be defective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d2_willys Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Is this odd or normal If I clip the positive from the battery, to the wire that touches the base of the light bulb in the pigtail connection ( light bulb socket) I'm talking the fender light as an example , then connect the negative to the bolt that holds the fender light on the fender, then to the neg side of the battery, shouldn't the bulb light up ? I'm making a full circuit I've tried this with a test light as the neg connection and the test light goes on but not the ( new ) bulb or any other bulb. Yes, 6 V I thought this would be a simple thing . Am I missing something here ?Thanks, Sandy OCMIs this pigtail still connected to wiring harness? If so there may be more in the circuit than you think and causing no voltage at the bulb.First check bulb, then connections. If need be, disconnect pigtail and apply positive voltage to the pigtail directly. You need to be more specific as to where this bulb is in the wiring of the car (function). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest outlaw car man Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 I tried three different bulbs, one old and two new. This is on a fender light , that sits on top of the fender ( 1933) . Basically like a mini-headlight. Has a socket that the bulb goes into and clips to the back of the reflector and lens. This goes in the fender light housing and held in with a screw in the rear of the housing.I got a new pigtail with two insulators and a small spring in between- This sits in the bulb socket, bulb is pushed in and twisted slightly. Pretty standard i think. The wire from contact point for the bulb ( pigtail) is loose just hanging under the fender, not hooked up to a harness yet, everything is open. At this point, the pigtail wire will be hooked to the front harness when installed. Basically everything is ready and I'm doing a test. I 'm thinking the bolt that mounts the light fixture on the fender may not be grounded enough. However both lights don't work , both hooked up the same. I tried to bench test too- Clipped an alligator clip to the pigtail wire ( positive) and ran a test light from the back side of the socket to the negative on the battery. The test light lights, but the bulb(s) do not. Lost ! Thanks to both above for the reply. SandyOCM Is this pigtail still connected to wiring harness? If so there may be more in the circuit than you think and causing no voltage at the bulb.First check bulb, then connections. If need be, disconnect pigtail and apply positive voltage to the pigtail directly. You need to be more specific as to where this bulb is in the wiring of the car (function). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Would love to see this bulb, and all I can think is the back of the bulb is either not touching the postitive lead in the socket, or the socket is isolated from the housing in terms of a ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest outlaw car man Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 I have three things left now-1) I have 7 new bulbs, I tried 3 by connecting a neg to one little tit on the side, used the test light ( carefully) and touched the positive to the center of the bulb(s) . Test light on, bulb not on- All three the same,Maybe I'm unlucky, test the rest. 2) I had a Optima battery I'm using ( 6V) . Have the trickle charger on tonight3) I'm going tomorrow, to take a bulb out of my 48 sedanete, and test that with the bench test. I should know something tomorrow. Thanks, be in touchSandy Would love to see this bulb, and all I can think is the back of the bulb is either not touching the postitive lead in the socket, or the socket is isolated from the housing in terms of a ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Don't know if this is possible, but could there be too much amperage and the filiments are bursting with the direct lead to the battery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest outlaw car man Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Don't know either ? If I remove a bulb from the 48 sedenete and it is the same configuration as the new bulbs I have, I'll use the socket in the 48 to test the bulbs. If that fails, I'll bench test the sedanette bulb. It's really logically hard to believe 7 new bulbs would all be bad. Thanks, you got me thinking the right direction,Sandy Don't know if this is possible, but could there be too much amperage and the filiments are bursting with the direct lead to the battery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d2_willys Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 I have three things left now-1) I have 7 new bulbs, I tried 3 by connecting a neg to one little tit on the side, used the test light ( carefully) and touched the positive to the center of the bulb(s) . Test light on, bulb not on- All three the same,Maybe I'm unlucky, test the rest. 2) I had a Optima battery I'm using ( 6V) . Have the trickle charger on tonight3) I'm going tomorrow, to take a bulb out of my 48 sedanete, and test that with the bench test. I should know something tomorrow. Thanks, be in touchSandyFirst things first. Take the socket and bulb and connect directly to the battery and see if it lights up. If not, then center lead going to pigtail button is probably open and not connected. (could be the bulb center doesn't stick out far enough for connection. Other thing is the socket grounding the bulb. Since you have new socket I doubt the ground is the problem. Now one last thing. The test light will light when doing the test you mentioned because the bulb under test draws more current than the test light, making the test light have more voltage across it. If that does what you say, then the bulb is good, otherwise the test light wouldn't light. Bulb good, now check bulb/socket in a similar manner. Connect to socket metal and test light to pigtail and see if the test light lights. If not you should have a good idea as to what to look for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph P. Indusi Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 I agree with d2_willys. Put the test light aside and connect the bulb naked to 6 volts. If good, it should light. Now install into the socket and connect to 6 volts. If it lights you're OK; if not the problem is with the socket mounting, socket, or wiring to socket.Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest outlaw car man Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Worked ! Test light was causing a lot of problems. I moved forward cleaning up the grounds as I went. Got to the point where I bench tested the complete light with a multimeter , then the battery- worked perfect.Installed it on the car ( clean underside of fender for ground contact) and she lit right up. Thanks for the help and advice. Learned a lesson about using a test light too. I'll move forward with the car with this new knowledge now. Headlights, tail lights.....Sandy1933 Buick Series 901948 Buick 56S1972 Volvo p1800 ES1999 SL 500 M Benz2005 Muranoold Dodge farm truck I agree with d2_willys. Put the test light aside and connect the bulb naked to 6 volts. If good, it should light. Now install into the socket and connect to 6 volts. If it lights you're OK; if not the problem is with the socket mounting, socket, or wiring to socket.Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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