Headlights too powerful??

[kt]

I notice that when i turn my headlights on,
the engine rpm lowers a bit.
When i turn the headlights off, the engine
increases a bit.
Is this normal??

I installed a new GM single wire 60 amp alternator, but
that didnt seem to help.

I'd like a strong spark ALL THE TIME, is this possible?
Maybe I need a better coil?? My current one still uses
a ballast resistor.

Thanks!,


btw, Hope to see you guys in Solvang!

[S Allen]

Okay, I will bite. As long as your lights are not dimming I would not worry about it. It could be the internal regulator kicking in and out doing its charging thing. Did you put a fusible link in where the battery power comes off of the starter to feed the electrical system? Did you put a voltage rmeter in or are you looking at a the amp meter to determine if you are indeed charging? Are either of those gauges doing anything out of the ordinary? I think you are fine. See you at Solvang.

Steve

[kt]

Hey Steve,
No, the lights do not dim.
Yes, the fuse is in place.
Yes, I also put in a volt meter.
When I switch the headlights on, running lights ON, step
on brake, The voltage drops from about 14.4 to 14.2,
which is still ok. So I'm dumbfounded as to what else
the problem could be.

Since installing the new alternator, and wiring it up
like the Tech Doc outlines,
The stock ammeter now only swings in one direction,
Negative drain.
Which brings up a totally different question:
Why hook up the Batt terminal of the alternator to the
battery? Why not use the original wire that ran to the
original alternator's Batt terminal?
Wouldn't the ammeter work as expected if we did this
instead?

I idle my engine well over 1100rpms, the combination
of Headlights ON, running lights ON, and stepping on the brakes pulls
almost 30 amps, and the engine loses spark power(guess),
and idle drops about 200rpms. This can't be normal.
No one else experiences this???

[DatsunBucky]

kt-

Do you have a high-windshield model? If not, the parking lights didn't come on with the headlights unless someone did some wiring on their own. Could be something there. If you do have the later model, then I'm not familiar them.

Personally, I hate electrical problems, they're so hard to find at times. But, if you've got the time, you can remove all the bulbs from the headlight circuit, for instance, unplug the wiring harness and then use a multi-meter to make sure you don't have a ground on any of the wires. Ditto with the brakes, and/or taillight circuits.

Make sure you've got a good ground on each circuit/bulb, bad grounds always seem to cause weird things as the electricity has to find another path back to the battery. I had a high-rpm miss that I chased for quite a while until I put the engine-block-to-chassis ground strap back on. Presto! No more miss.

Are the headlights new or old? Are each of the bulbs involved bright? Any corrosion on any of the wires or connectors that you can see?

For what it's worth, we have a '76 GMC Suburban with the 454. I put in 60w H4 headlights, and added two driving lights at 100w each, and two fog lights at 55w each. When I turned everything on at the same time, the ALTERNATOR(!) would drag the speed down briefly until the cruise control picked it back up. That's a 6000+ lb. vehicle at 65 mph with, I believe, about 380 lb ft of torque. And the drag on the alternator would drop the speed. Lights can put a tremendous drag on the alternator, so when you turn the lights off, the engine will have less drag, and therefore speed up. That parts sounds normal.

But, 30 amps at 14 volts is 420 watts. Sounds kinda high to me. The low beams should be about 55 watts each, the running lamps about 7 each for 28 watts, brake lights about 30 watts each (120 total), sidemarkers (if applicable) maybe 3 watts each (12w), total=270 watts. At 14 volts, that’s about 20 amps, way under what you’re measuring. Still sounds like a ground in the wiring somewhere.

Good luck!

Bucky

[S Allen]

I would say DastunBucky is right. A bad ground will cause you problems and could be the cause for drawing excessive amps.

As to running the single wire alternator through the old wiring harness. I would not do it. I suppose you could with a 30 Amp fuse on the hot side of the amp meter but I would still would not do it. One of the reasons for using a single wire self exciting is to get rid of many of the wires plus the voltage regulator. Running one wire to the battery makes it pretty easy to toubleshoot as well. I actually replaced my amp meter with a volt meter. That is one of the perks of the low windshield/flat dash cars. I simply soldered the two amp meter wires together and covered them with heat shrink and tape. Since the car will not run without that circuit being completed.

Look for a bad gound which will not be much fun.

Steve

[SLOroadster]

I have a single wire alternator in my car wired into the harness, works great. I haven't had any wierd things happen with it, the car starts (or in this case should start) without any fuss, the headlights don't dim, and the battery charges. I should put a fuse in just to be safe however.
Good luck,
Will

[DatsunBucky]

kt-

Did you ever find anything with the headlights, etc problem? I certainly hope so, because as I mentioned in a previous post, electrical problems can be a real...er...um...female dog!

Bucky

[kt]

No,
My ammeter still swings way over to the left,

If I add additional grounds to my lighting, that
that is, directly ground my 'black' wires to the
frame, that won't hurt me, would it?
If it is a poor ground problem, this should help,
rite??