Re: [MV] M211 Blowing headlamps: help!

From: chance wolf (chance_wolf@shaw.ca)
Date: Sat Feb 21 2004 - 09:57:44 PST


----- Original Message -----
From: "Caleb Pal, Network Operations" <sysop@spitfire.homelinux.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 8:57 PM
Subject: [MV] M211 Blowing headlamps: help!

> Hello all,
>
> Well in the last 2 days my M211 has blown the high beam and low beam on
one
> lamp, and the low beam on another lamp, both on the drivers side. I cant
> seem to find the problem. The light seems brighter than usual, like its
> getting more power, and the passenger side one seems sorta dim, but maybe
> its just me.

Probably bad ground. I think what it does is try to complete the circuit
through the filament of the section not in use (i.e., high beam filament if
you're using low-beam, etc.), and smokes the filament after awhile.
However, that said, I've had a run of bad surplus headlights in other
vehicles which is just Murphy's Law as opposed to anything wire-related, so
that may be a factor in your case too. If you're scrounging through a pile
of headlights trying to find good used ones, avoid any that look a little
'charcoal' or 'milky' - even the slightest hint of either. It usually means
they're gassed to some degree or otherwise contaminated, and even if the
filaments themselves are good...they soon won't be.

The other thing that might be happening is that your generator is running
wild. The dashboard guage is a very vague instrument, and I've had them
read nicely in the green while the generator was happily feeding the
batteries 32 volts (and GodKnowsWhat under spike conditions.) Something to
check anyway.



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