I love electrical!!!

[Trader]

why is it that electrical stuff works just fine when you bench test it....and the wires feeding the install test out good....but then when you put it together nothing works!

 

Take it apart and bench test the light.....works

check the feed wires and ground....OK

 

put it back together....nothing works!

 

Not a real question....just venting!

 

Obviously SOMETHING is wrong.

 

[bongobobny]

Why yes there is!!!

[Wade 2000]

That's why they call em Gremlins. It's an evil force acting against you:bang head:

[djh3]

We use to have a sayin gin the Air Force about stuff like that. Called the sperm whale theroy. Goes something like the sperm whale is one of the largest creatures on earth, so why can it only open its mouth a couple inches? Because thats the way God wants it and there aint nothing you can do about it.

Electrical stuff baffles the hell out of me to. MAjic smike stuff is hard to follow. My best explaination is you need power and a ground and you dont want to be in between.

[Yammer Dan]

Sounds like the way most of my electrical projects go. If it works the 1st time I look for what is wrong.....

[Marcarl]

There's somethin that ain't workin!

[saddlebum]

When you say the wires test good are you testing them with just a digital volt meter or testing the individual wires for continuity with an Ohmmeter. Neither one is totally reliable. Try testing with a volt meter then while the volt meter is still connected add a test light to it and see how much the voltage drops. if it is only 1 to 1/2 a volt the wires are ok but if it drops to a few volts or more than there is a weak connection or a bad possibly corroded wire in the circuit.

[mbrood]

It's quite simple, really, you moved the part away from it's primary smoke generator... and electronics can be so fond of smoke.

 

Actually, Ben's approach is quite correct. With a multimeter, a frayed wire with only one strand still connected will read a short on a resistance check while hooking up a light power draw like a small bulb will amplify that type of problem by a larger than expected voltage drop.

[rbig1]

put a fuse on end of wire if it can blow it wire is good. you can test all wire pos or negitive. learned this fixing international dump trucks computer feed wires.

[saddlebum]

put a fuse on end of wire if it can blow it wire is good. you can test all wire pos or negitive. learned this fixing international dump trucks computer feed wires.

Wait a minute My experience with International truck wiring is they blow fuses anyway and let smoke out all over the place. We used to call them rolling bonfires waiting to happen

[bongobobny]

Does truck electricity work the same as motorcycle electricity???

[Trader]

There's somethin that ain't workin!

 

I read Yvette the reply's to my post....when I read yours she said....."very profound!"

 

Then she just walked away shaking her head.