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Joe;
When my '48 had the same symptom of the headlights cycling ON-OFF it was to be sure the circuit breaker. While I was researching the characteristics of a thermal circuit breaker I ran into some information.

First: I found a comment that once a circuit breaker begins thermal cycling, and the load is not removed, then subsequent cycling will degrade the point set and the cycling will occur at a lower current. Also that same source included a warning that the circuit breaker would have about a 50 cycle life with the overload condition.

Second: DelCity has replacement circuit breaker for the '48 design, and within their product offerings is a page of technical specifications. I've included a PDF file that contains those specification. There are two curves that describe the influence of the environmental temperature, and the time delay as a function of overcurrent.

Given the first comment perhaps you should ensure the contact set is free of oxidation, and if there is any some effort should be made to restore the cleanliness of the contact set. Also if you do find oxidation do not adjust until to prove the headlight load will cause a 'trip'. When you test that switch/circuit breaker try to replicate the same orientation as it would be in the car.

dp

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It would be nice if the 48 and later independent breakers would be an easy retrofit. Could be done with some work but mounting and current path would need to be figured out. Also would have to remove or bypass the existing breaker mechanism built into the switch to do it.

...or I could just send you a new one for test/evaluation at the least...DAF

If you put in a pair of these bulbs, I'd bet that your breaker would never trip again unless there is an actual short in the wiring! They're made for 6v positive ground but also available in 12v.

Thanks for this information, David P.
I appreciate the offer flackmaster (I have two old ones --with loose rivets on a couple terminals-- to play with)


1. I'm going to keep the charger on the battery, not start the car, turn on the lights on high beam and time how long it takes for them to go out. Let it cool.

2. Then I'll try it with both new heaters on with lights on and time that.

3. I'll cut off the battery and clean the contacts and retest the above.

4. Depending on results, I'll twist the screw (could be kind of rusty but I can try it on the broken light switches first). Then re-time 1 and 2.

5. I might drop $250 for the LED headlights, Don. Probably worth it to me anyway since I drive so much.

Thanks again

UNDERSEAT HEATER

I could not make the breaker relay open again. I ran headlights, heaters, fog lights for a half hour. More investigation in order. Running the engine may make a difference.

Some of this repeated earlier, but now it's all in one place. My original heater defroster motor had bad bushings and the rheostats on my paddle switch were shot. I acquired extra switches on eBay and sent them to Precision Power to be refurbished. I had the motor rebuilt locally at Auto Battery & Electric. Convertibles are cold and the windows fog up. Before the motor was fixed, the defroster couldn't quite keep up on some mornings. To get more heat, I started looking for a Dual Stream under-the-seat heater.

The Dual Stream under seat heater was first introduced on 1940 cars and positioned under the passenger seat. I found one for parts really cheap. I had the radiator component checked and it was good.

I had the whole thing de-rusted by soaking. Used primer filler on the top and painted it. I had the motor rebuilt at AB&E. The bottom pan was shot completely but I was able to use it for measurements to make a mechanical drawing in Adobe Illustrator (my turf in advertising) and convert it to an AutoCad file. A local steel fabricator laser cut the sheet metal from the file and another shop formed it to match the original. They reinforced the cup that the motor sits in with a metal wrap and reused it.

The heaters are set up in series. Included are pix of the hoses top side and where they run under the car.

When both heaters are on it is so toasty warm. The Dual Stream does blow heat forward and back. It really works. I will post pix next. I have to work on them.

UNDERSEAT HEATER

A video of it running:mktx.com/packard/underseat.MP4

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TWO ISSUES, Overdrive cable creep and Constant charge on the ammeter

Since moving to the East Coast in July, the Duchess has performed beautifully after some advice from Ross on adjusting the free travel on the clutch pedal. I had 5.5" and it should be 1-1.5", which it is now and shifting is perfect.

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day, sunny and 70s, so I took my first extended trip, an hour's drive to Annapolis.

CHARGING
Checking my gauges after getting on the 495 Beltway around Washington, I noticed the ammeter was still charging fully, almost all the way to the right.

Maybe 2 years ago I installed a small trickle charger under the seat and wired it to the batteries (2 Optima 6V). I lift the back of the front seat, pull out the cord and plug it into an extension cord in the garage. I noticed Before I left Portland that the last few times I checked the charger, it hadn't turned Green to indicate Fully Charged. The batteries were purchased in April of 2016, so that's 54 months. The warranty is for 36 months.

I suspected the batteries might be bad, so I tried to find replacements in Annapolis, but no one I could get had them in stock on a Sunday, so I drove back. The ammeter charged all the way.

I'm going to test battery output this morning with a multimeter. I hope I didn't burn up my generator, so I'll check the brushes also. I located 2 Optima batteries close by at Advanced Auto which they can get tomorrow morning.

The voltage regulator is relatively new, installed last year, and it's a Brillman, not cheap.

ANY suggestions or cautions in dealing with this electrical issue. The car did smell a little different when I got home.

CABLE CREEP
The overdrive is working well, but when I'm out of overdrive, the push rod starts creeping inward toward the firewall. I first noticed it driving around the neighborhood and heard this scraping sound. As soon as I pulled the cable knob toward me and fully out of overdrive, it stopped. But I have to watch it on the road because it wants to inch forward. I've been driving a lot in OD so I don't have to keep watching it to prevent anything destructive from happening.

HEARD of this before?

The batteries in parallel read 5.84V.

I disconnected them from each other to get individual reading, and they both independently read 5.84V. It could be they won't charge above 5.84 and so the voltage regulator keeps calling on the generator to provide more juice, but the batteries can't retain 6V. So I'm still. suspicious of these 4.5 year-old batteries.

My next step is to attach the trickle charge to each battery independently and see if they can hold a sufficient charge.

I'll check the generator as soon as I have the batteries hooked up to the car again.

I'm posting to the wind, but at least there's a record.

I reconnected the batteries. They appear to be charged to 7.2V but the light on the charger is still Red instead of changing to Green to indicate fully charged.

I made a jumper wire and connected it to the FLD terminal on the voltage regulator and to a grounding stud on the cowl. The ammeter did not show a discharge after starting and showed strong positive flow when I rev'd it. This indicates that the generator is working and the VR is suspect.

I had emailed John Ulrich who rebuilt the generator in 2018 and he thought 5,000 mi and 2 years is too soon for the generator brushes to need changing. The test suggests that, too. When I find some brushes for the GEA-4802-A generator, I'll get them for the future.

So now it looks like the Brillman VR is the problem. I will contact them today to find out what I can do to test it.

For years I just bought my 6V VR from Napa. I think it's spec'd for a Willys Jeep. But last year I sprang for a Brillman made to Packard specs and which cost about 3 times the price of the Napa version. So this VR is a year old. On close inspection of the two VRs, the way are positioned on the body, though the numbers are different, suggest both Vyou have any ideasRs are made by the same manufacturer. We will see. I left my spare parts in Oregon. I didn't take the VR I retired because I ASSUMED the Brillman would last me a while.

If you have any ideas on what else I could check or other advice, or opinion about the Optimas, anything, to explain constant charging during an hour's drive on the freeway, please Reply. Thanks.