Fuse types - my panel is too worn

[foothilltom 33]

Hey guys,

 

Man, there are times I want to pitch this car over a cliff. Today is one of those days. In trying to debug my non-working brake lights, I've decided to see if perhaps my fuses were bogus (per a suggestion in that thread). Several things happened:

 

* I managed to shatter one of the fuses trying to remove it and re-seat it.

* I took out all the fuses to see if they were good

* I nearly shattered my spine in the contorted shape my back took during this.

 

My problem is, my fuse panel looks like it spent 50 years in the Sahara. The markings are totally unreadable. I have no idea what size fuse goes where....especially the tiny little one in the middle (I shattered that one).

 

My Chilton manual tells me to refer to my fuse panel for fuse sizes. Catch-22.

 

If anybody has an actual description of the fuse sizes (no A/C on this car), I would be so grateful. I can't find any diagrams anywhere.

 

Grrrrr...it's been one of those days. Why do I spend my life retoring this car when it just breaks my heart?

 

Thanks!

Tom

[69RavenConv 286]

I'll try in ASCII, if this doesn't work I'll try a picture....

 

[==(1)==] [==(3)==]

--- [=(4)=]

|2|

| | [=(5)=]

---

[==(7)==] [=(6)=]

 

(1) 20A Turn signals, backup lts, ww washer, radio, prndl lite

(2) 20A Acc, st belt warn, door ajar, low fuel

(3) 14A heat/defrost (30A if A/C car)

(4) spare

(5) 4A instr cluster, radio, htr ctrl, clock, ashtray lite

(6) 14A courtesy, door, dome, map, glove box, trunk, lighter

(7) 20A emergency warning

Edited October 10, 2008 by 69RavenConv

[foothilltom 33]

Holy cow, that's awesome. Totally understandable. I'm printing this and taping it to the inside of my glove box. Thanks so much.

 

Now if I may followup with a question: when I had all the fuses out, I noted that the headlamp switch pulled to the first position still lit the marker lights, tail lights, and one or two courtesy lights in the car. Should this be possible if ALL fuses were out?

 

If I interpret things correctly, fuse #6 if out should have defeated those lights?

 

Perhaps a more pertinent question for me considering my brake light woes is: do *any* of these fuses happen to be in line with the Brake Light circuit?

 

Thanks for taking the time to respond and thanks in advance for any responses to this latest question.

 

Tom

[RogerC 136]

Tom,

 

Get yourself a wiring diagram, it lists them with a nice picture. I've found it very valuable. Enough so I copied the pages so I don't ruin the book. Sorry, they're not scanned.

[69RavenConv 286]

RacerX is right, a shop manual or a Chilton's-type book will have much nicer info than the chicken scratches here (I copied it out of the shop manual). Having said that...

 

To answer your question, I believe the "big" lights are handled by a circuit breaker in the light switch itself, which is why they still work with no fuses. (I'm not sure why any courtesy lights are on the same circuit, but I suppose it's possible, I can check my drawings this weekend.) The big lights draw way too much current for a little glass fuse.

 

Back in 1969, Ford routed all the current used by the lights through the harness, thru the light switch, down thru the dimmer switch, and back to the lights.Lots of costly, heavy wire, and very lossy, leading to dim lights. When the current went high, the breaker tripped, opening the circuit. Some owners have reported weak old switches that kill their headlights unexpectedly. then, when the switch cools off, the breaker resets, and the lights work again. Not good.

 

Modern cars use relays that go right from the battery to the lights. The switch in the passenger compartment just handles the tiny current necessary to pull the relays. There are kits to do this in older cars, I've converted my 69 over to that system myself.

 

Sorry for the long post, it still doesn't explain your brake lights..

[ETstang 10]

Hey Raven

Can you give us some resources for that conversion kit?

Thanks

[69RavenConv 286]

Well, the kits range from $30 to $400. Here's a link to a Mustang Monthly article using Reen's harness, which goes for about $325 but includes the bulbs. Looks real nice. (I think Painless makes one and there's another pricey one whose name eludes me right now)

 

http://www.mustangmonthly.com/howto/mump_0711_headlamp_conversion_classic_mustang/photo_02.html

 

I went with the APC harness at Summit but I don't think it's available any more:

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=AMC-509102&view=16383&N=700+

 

Here's what summit carries now:

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?N=700+115+4294841923

 

There's a self-proclaimed "headlight guru" somewhere on the web who insists that cheap harnesses like APC will fail and kill you and your children and make your dog run away so you must buy his high-priced kit. In reality, the only 2 failures possible are (1) one of the 2 relays fails, or (2) a connector corrodes/breaks. I've been an electrical engineer for about 30 years, and I was comfortable with the APC, but make your own call, please. (And carry a spare relay in the glove box)

 

MY BIGGEST PROBLEM: We need 4-light systems. It seems that most of these 4-light systems are designed thinking the lights are adjacent to each other, like a Fairlane. The wires were too short to run between the staggered lights on the stang. Again, I wsa comfortable splicing some 12 ga wire (use solder, not butt plugs!),but you may want to get the right lenght out of the box. Ask first. I also RTV-ed the snot out of the headlamp connectors to keep moisture and corrosion out. I mounted the relays in front of the battery and you can't even see them.

 

I've got pictures at home I can post if anyone wants

[mikem 13]

Pictures Please. Good idea on mount location.

[69RavenConv 286]

Will do. If you do a forum search on "headlights" there's been discussion on these harnesses before. Here's a link BNickel posted that's got a very reasonable harness...

 

http://www.modernvintageauto.com/ind...s/page0006.htm