Re: 1947 clipper electric tricks

Posted by HH56 On 2014/8/10 8:51:22

There is no adjustment procedure I can remember seeing. I didn't find specs for the 47 but 48-54 6v cars all list 30 amp protection for the head, tail, and parking lights. Since the light systems are almost identical having the same load and the added dash lights feeding off that breaker strip, that should be a good number for the 47.

Usually the cycling is caused by a shorted wire somewhere in the circuit so If you have verified no problems with the rewire, it is possible the breaker has lost capacity or is just too low for the added load in changing to your standards. If there was a known 30 amp load you might be able to adjust the screw to something approaching correct but that would be one of those "maybe it could be done and work reliably" things.

If you go with an external protection, I would use a 30 amp type I automatic reset circuit breaker rather than a fuse. That is what later cars with the breaker mounted on the switch used.

I don't know your total load but one other thing to consider is the age of the switches. If the load is higher than the old system you might want to consider adding a couple of relays to work the headlights. Several of us have done that even when using the original bulbs. The lowered stress taking the high current out of the switch plus the larger wire and shortened path supplying the voltage directly to relays gives a bit brighter lights.