lights

[Paterson1961]

ford 8n , 12 volt conversion. Lighting is wired to battery
(positive terminal) then to seperate lighting switch then out to
the light other wire from light is grounded to the frame is
correct?

 

[souNdguy]

it will work, however it defeats a net charge / discharge scheme that your ammeter is showing.

ideally, your power to the lamp switch would be coming off the charge line from the alt. IE.. the same place the ignition switch gets it.

 

[Royse]

In addition to what SG said, I would make sure it was fused.

 

[Dell (WA)]

paterson1961........you do know lites don't care positive (+) or negative (-) ground, don't you? ...but... yer 12-volt alternator cares, NEGATIVE ground ONLY. Hassta due with the alternators internal solid state diodes and transistors.

Cheep BUBBA conversions like to string the 6-volt headlites in series ...ie... like Christmas lites (6+6=12volts)

What ever you do, do NOT wire yer headlites thru yer IGNITION switch.

As convenient as dash board mounted lite switch seems, the original lite switch is NOT WATERPROOF and quickly goes BAD. That is WHY many push-pull lite switches are mounted under the corner of the hood with the ignition switch outta the rain.

Fuses are good ...but... good GROUNDS are goodier ...er... BETTER? I use common zip-cord stranded copper 18ga (ie heavy duty) zip-cord. Run the zip-cord thru yer lite-necks and terminate to yer litebulb screw terminal with BLUE insulated squeeze sleeves. NO solder necessary. I then run the zip-cord along the inner edges of the hood back to the lite switch. And terminate the zip-cord appropriately to the lite switch and sheetmetal ground with star washers. ........delighted Dell

 

[js305]

Disclaimer: This is not an argument or a disagreement with what you say!

It's been my experience that the ammeter will show what's going and coming, no matter where it's connected to the same battery. Idle the machine up a bit so it's showing a positive needle position and take a headlight with clip leads and connect to the battery directly. The ammeter will show the discharge because it's coming out of the system, the ratio between what the generator and battery are putting out vs whatever is drawing from them. If the generator is working pretty good it will try and compensate by putting a little more out, but there is a limit that ain't very high.

I have thought about, but not done it, putting LED headlights on my 8N so I can have more electricity in other places.

 

[Kevin in MN]

(quoted from post at 11:44:13 11/16/14)

I have thought about, but not done it, putting LED headlights on my 8N so I can have more electricity in other places.

I want to also, have you found any lights that will work?

Kevin

 

[js305]

I haven't looked that hard, but I bet there are some made up that will look like the originals. I'll do a little googling and see what I come up with.

 

[souNdguy]

unfortunately your statement is incorrect and lacks basis in science.

if you have a center 0 ammeter, and a battery, and you place a load accross the battery , and that load is not in series with the ammeter... then the ammeter cannot register the current flow, as it is not in the circuit where the current flow is occuring.