H1 lowbeams blowing both fuses
 

I recently installed H1's - they were dusty barn find condition, but very much diamond's in the rough

I plugged them in w/ the JWest pigtail adapters (4prong harness to 3prong light) and they worked fine, maybe tad bit dim

disassembled them, cleaned them up and they turned out spectacular - just a simple dusting returned them to excellent condition

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-z...0/IMG_1729.JPG

I cleaned the contacts and plugged them in, and blew both 8amp fuses

high beams work fine

my hi/lo stalk had been wonky for years (copper contacts not touching right and lo's would turn off over bumps, despite my fiddling w/ them)

so we metered the harness yesterday and all was fine

connected each light to the battery and they lit up

swapped out the stalk yesterday (what a colossal arsefukk that was!) figuring it had to be that (tho not sure why suddenly as it'd worked in wonky mode for over a year)... blew both fuses

I'm pretty frustrated as this is now beyond my skill set (limited), and I depart Thurs for der 'PALOOZA and the thought of having to go running just fogs for lows sucks nads

can anyone please try to help me figure this out?

I figured it had to be a ground issue but like I said I cleaned them... and they weren't bad to begin with actually.

TIA all!...

In your pic, the upper copper strap is your Lo-Beam ground strap making contact with the coiled adjuster, you have to insure the adjuster coil is free from corrosion and that the adjuster screw also is cleanly making contact with the outer rim which via the hold down bottom screw makes a complete circuit to the chassis.

You can test this by rigging a wire to the strap then grounding it the chassis. I had to modify mine because my adjust coil snapped.

thanks for that tip - just pulled them and had a look... all's fine in there but I did scuff up all the grounds again just in case

however

instead of screwing the units back into the buckets w/ the mounting screw, I just hung them loosely and tested the lights

this resulted in one low working fine and it's high coming on dimly, and the other low coming on dimly, and that low coming on dimly

when I touched the unit, it made contact w/ the painted bucket 'catch' atop the fender there and made small sparks

I turned it all off, screwed them up, and hoped I'd solved it

nope

blew the fuses again

what is this telling me?

ugh - frustrating

thanks again for any insight here... I need the help as I depart for turboPALOOZA Thurs and hate to just run hi's / fogs..

Sounds like a polarity reversal. Maybe Draco knows how to check for this. Could it be reversed somehow at the switch?

Check the wiring. I can't follow the wiring through the black shroud but it looks like you have switched the low beam and ground. verify that they match the connector side. Here is what they should be.

http://www.speedyjim.net/schem/headlite.gif

thanks guys

I did not change any of the terminals / pins... worked before... then merely took H1's apart and reassembled... meaning... the only wire I took off was the ground.

the rest of the wires remained in their locations

just got in, my RF signal wasn't working so I pulled the lense - saw the filament glowing but not lighting up - followed the wire up to the bucket into the clear connectors and wiggled/pressed and it solved that

had hoped it was my issue

nope

signals fine / blew more fuses

awesome

gdammit!

Without switching headlamps on try measuring the resistance to ground at each of the terminals as shown in the excellent pictures above. Even if you have not changed the wiring of the H1s there must be a short to ground on the yellow wire. You need to work out what is causing that short. Once solved all should be good.

Cheers and good luck,

Neil

my multimeter's not working - awesome

so I tried thinking thru things I've touched (car was recently in a quadzillion pieces w/ motor out and FMOC install and I've yanked A/C and washer pump and rear wiper etc.)

still no lowbeams

relays didn't help, nor was it my washer pump spades grounding as I'd hoped they were - I'd forgotten they were there and to tape them up

Tomorrow I'm going to look @ my rear plate light wires - they're tucked up "in thar somewhere" from DoubleDMastectomy, maybe / hopefully I pinched something whilst reinstalling the bumper.

Racking mah feeble noggin here trying to think thru what I touched or what it could be. Already taped up the washer pump spades, oil cooler fan plug (not exposed tho), and rear wiper wire... hmmm, may be a leftover A/C wire back there too I can check. MSD unused wires too mebbe. Dunno.

ANNOYING

can anyone w/ a wiring diagram tell me what things are shared on that circuit that would cause this? Weird it's blowing both lights...

thanks guys, I appreciate it - electronics aren't my baaaag, baaaaby (actually, many / most things aren't some days it seems!)

Blown fuse = dead short. Somehow you have earthed the wire to the low beams, maybe the retaining clip is touching where it should not? This is why the fuse does not blow when the H1's are hanging free.

which retaining clip? The copper ground loop on the high beam up/down adjuster?

not sure how something would be touching each and ever time I've had the lights in / out (probably a dozen at this point now trying to resolve this)

I know I have a short... but how to locate?

thanks

got another multimeter

w/ both lo fuses installed and key / lights on - I've got 12v @ both low beam wires in the harness, and nothing @ ground

hooked up left light and dangled it there - low works fine

however

when switch to hi's, the low glows

grabbed the headlight, and went to set it into the bucket - ZAP... soon as it touched the car it blew the fuse

I've exhausted the possibility of it being any of the dangling wires I've left from stuff that's been previously removed - they're all sufficiently addressed

I looked in the bucket as I set the light in - nothing appears to be touching / grounding as it goes in

can someone please try to help? I've exhausted everything in my knowhow...

In my ongoing fashion of answering my own posts... I just solved it.

Jamie... you get HALF A COOKIE!

The H1 wires are unique, in that you cannot mess them up. Hi / Lo are differing lengths from the plug to the bulb so have to go 'that' way.

The ground is the ground, it's not a spade like Hi / Lo... it's a wide flat wire w/ a hole to screw thru.

So, nothing I did wrong there (or could).

But, you DID get me a wundrin'... so I went back out and looked @ my JWest pigtails (to convert 4 prong harness to 3 prong light)...

...and I find JWest kindly PINNED THEM WRONG.

How nice.

Swapped the Lo / ground pins, and Bob's mah uncle.

Thanks Jamie for steering me in the right direction...

all's swell now... and... now on to 80/130w muwhaahahahaa 8-)

(and turboPALOOZA tomorrow - yeeeeeeeeha!)

I have an issue with the right side H1 high beam bulb blowing out. This is now the second time. The first one blew soon, the second took a lot longer to blow. Could it be a ground issue? Fuses are fine, just the bulb blows the filament and the bulb turns gray.

stoopid question, but - are you sure your bulbs are clean (no finger prints) during install?

using name brand bulbs or Chinese crap? (no offense to any Chinamen)...

sorry, that's all I gots...

Outstanding! Congrats.

That is why I check all replacement / upgrade parts before installation even my non-"Chinamen" stuff. My OEM Light Switch from the Porsche Dealer failed right out of the box, same with my brand new Bosch Fuel Pump.

What are JWest pigtail adapters?

^oh crap^

I go them from our host, along with my relay kit... it was a few months back, and apparently I confused the source and WRONGLY ASSUMED they were both of your sourcing.

If so, a thousand public apologies! My bad. I was going from (limited and particularly damaged) memory.

So, correction!: my PELICAN SUPPLIED PIGTAIL ADAPTERS were wrongly pinned! NOT JWest.

this is them:

Porsche 911 (1974-1989) - Lights and Lenses - Page 4

http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/...irBothEnds.JPG

My JWest relay kit is installed and doing GREAT.

Very sorry for my oversight! And thanks for the correction...

No problem, had me a bit confused that maybe you found a problem with the headlight relays. The pigtail adapters are not my product.

Hella H1 bulb, I did not touch the glass when installing. Second one that blew.