Electrical Relay Question

[jlgurr]

Excellent suggestions for me to look for.

This relay and wiring is all from a kit so wire gauge and loads should be ok.

The lights do not work at all this time so different failure mode too. After reading all this I am excited to dig into troubleshooting. Yes, I am odd to be excited about something like that. Stay tuned...

 

[k0ua]

Excellent suggestions for me to look for.

This relay and wiring is all from a kit so wire gauge and loads should be ok.

The lights do not work at all this time so different failure mode too. After reading all this I am excited to dig into troubleshooting. Yes, I am odd to be excited about something like that. Stay tuned...

Troubleshooting is good for the soul. Especially if you can finally solve the issue once and for all. You will feel like you are on top of Mt. Everest.

 

[dickfoster]

And just to throw more confusion and doubt into the mix, not all Original Equipment Manufacture's (OEM) engineers are competent. Just because you hold an electrical engineering degree that doesn't mean that you have a feel for real world applications.

Many long tenured technicians have a "whole lot more smarts" than some engineers. Circuits can be designed with minimum specifications or substitutions can be made during production that run too close to the edge of design spec's that can cause problems in the actual field application.

Long story short, the "thing" could be designed wrong from the get-go and never work reliably, and require total redesign or some sort of field expedient work around. Don't think I haven't fixed many engineers mistakes in my career first as a technician and later as an engineer myself.

If it has **** or wheels you are going to have trouble with it.

All true.

 

[jlgurr]

Well, jumped to conclusions. Since the relay failed the first time I just assumed it failed again. Turns out it is fine. Had a ground wire issue. Go figure.

Thank you everyone for the troubleshooting advice.

Jeff

 

[k0ua]

Well, jumped to conclusions. Since the relay failed the first time I just assumed it failed again. Turns out it is fine. Had a ground wire issue. Go figure.

Thank you everyone for the troubleshooting advice.

Jeff

Well, now that you have solved it, do you feel better?

 

[jlgurr]

You bet! Nice to have my work lights back too. With the day's getting shorter my mid week seat time is shrinking.

 

[dieselcrawler]

At what location did you find the faulty ground connection?

Glad you got it fixed.

 

[jlgurr]

I simply loosened a bolt underneath and slipped the wire under the washer. Should have made the effort to scrape off to bare metal and use a connector the FIRST time. Live and learn, eh.

 

[k0ua]

I simply loosened a bolt underneath and slipped the wire under the washer. Should have made the effort to scrape off to bare metal and use a connector the FIRST time. Live and learn, eh.

As an old timer, I always suggest scraping to bare metal and I always coat that bare metal with No-Ox-Id. I don't know that it is more magical than ordinary grease but in over 30 years of using it, nothing I have ever put it on has corroded. I have used it in all sorts of automotive and antenna and battery/ground applications.