Technical Rebel Wire Harness diagrams and wiring info

He who invented the rhyme committed the crime

 

What would cause the blinkers to blink really fast even if all the bulbs are working? I know that usually means a bulb is out but all of mine are blinking. 63 fairlane


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It can be a weak flasher. I've seen them flash fast if one has been left on for a long time, super heating that bi metallic strip inside the flasher, or just a random weak strip to begin with. Might try a new flasher, or even a heavy duty.

 

I don't use any, but I get a lot of calls on them, so somebody's buying them, lol

 

Thanks for a great post, the blue car has it, Never to old to learn, LOVE IT

 

I should have asked to be sure, just running 1157 bulbs all the way around an a old style 552 thermal flasher? If so, I'd try changing the flasher. If it's an electronic flasher it could be the other way around, where the amount of load slows it down

 

I don't remember if I posted this already, but here's a short video of using a set of ratcheting crimpers to put your terminals on. This would be for a terminal that locks into the body of a connector. Actually in the video, I'm replacing a Ford wiper power wire in the wiper switch connector. Doesn't matter, the principle stays the same for these type of terminals (that crimp around the conductor and insulation)

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2080724291939785

 

While I'm thinking about wiring tools, here's my favorite, Power Probe. I just use the Power Probe III, It does all I need. It's got a positive and negative clip to go to the battery, with a long lead (I've got an extension, but rarely need it) It displays voltage, can beep for continuity... It has a rocker switch on it that you can use to send a hot or ground to test things with (lights, gauges, check grounds), built in circuit breaker for protection, LED flash light for working in dark spaces... it has red and green LED's to show power or ground and a complete circuit, and a ground lead if you need one. I'm not selling these things guys, this is my favorite electrical tool. Sells for about $60 shipped, and well worth it. I use mine all the time. I don't do any electrical jobs without using it at least once. Almost makes my multimeter obsolete (almost)

 

what would cause my fuse (on the fuse panel to headlite switch) blow out when switching headlites to high beam,..could it be a bad ground on a headlite?
...or...should the feed to the headlite switch come from a 12 volt relay?

 

The headlight ground would be the first place I'd look. Just had a Shoebox Ford doing that, and it was a loose ground wire. Unless the bulbs are higher wattage, the fuse should be fine. Other than that, check the headlight bulb wiring and make sure that from the back of the bulb, where the wires go in, the ground is on the left, low beam at top, and high beam on the right (so that they're not wired differently from one another)


If you're using higher wattage headlights, you can relay it. You'd want to power the relays (one for high, and one for low usually) off of the battery, with an inline fuse (circuit breaker is better) and trigger the relays off of your dimmer switch.

If they're stock bulbs though, I'm betting it's a ground or crosswired at the bulbs. Let me know what you find.

 

^^^ thanks, my thots exactly, had this problem once before (if I remember correctly)
will check it out.

 

Help me out with this one....why would a bad ground cause a fuse to blow? Fuses blow because of too much current, a loose ground is either going to not work or have more resistance which will reduce current. Not trying to argue just wondering if I’m missing something here....


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I don't know if the loose ground and poor connection could be arcing between the wire (terminal) and actual ground, causing spikes... or if it's heat generated by the resistance...Some of the electrical engineers can chime in here and throw some math at it. I can always talk myself out of something if I overthink it, so I have to fix it quickly before I think too much, but I've seen it fix the problem. That's just my honest answer

 

Fair enough, thanks for the honest answer, I have never seen that happen but have also learned to never say never.

 

Me too, the days of "well that part is new, can't be that" are over. I hate to question everything but it's a must now

 

^^^ checked my headlight pigtail grounds and both were rusty, cleaned em up, re hooked and everything seems to be working now.

 

Great! Let me know if anything changes on it.

 

Dielectric grease helps some on those chronic rust areas to maintain the continuity longer.


Phil

 

This question isn’t about your harness, but it’s about how I need to install it. I have a freshly painted hot rod, frame and all. I neglected to think about grounding posts (at all, until now).

Goes without saying that I hate to scratch off too much paint. What’s your advice on where to install grounds,
what kind of posts to use, and how to minimize damage to my beautiful paint!! ??

Can I get away with one good ground on the frame (like on the passenger side near the battery) and then run ground straps from the engine block and from a body mount to it? I also realize that all lights and instruments need good grounds at their installation point, but if you have ideas how to keep that clean I’d like to hear it.

I’ve only wired one other car in my life, that was not a freshly painted car and I was replacing an old factory harness, just used existing grounds, no problem.





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There could be multiple reasons. Generally on a purely resistive circuit it will be either a too-small fuse, occasionally a capacitance effect causing spikes, or 'inrush' current lasting longer than normal. In inductive circuits (motor or things like solenoids that mechanically operate something), a poor ground can actually increase running current.

What most forget is that inrush current exists in virtually all circuits. Generally only worried about on inductive circuits (where it can be up to 1200% of running current), it's still present in all others. As an example, a 60W headlight draws 5 amps @ 12V. Purely a resistive load, Ohms law says that it has a 2.4 ohm resistance. But if you measure it cold with a meter, you'll find it reads much lower, probably around 1 ohm. When it heats up to shine, resistance goes up. So assuming a 1 ohm resistance when cold, initial current will be 12 amps, not the 5 amps when 'running'. In most cases the inrush falls off quickly enough that the fuse will hold the overcurrent for that brief moment.

 

Terrific thread! At our Fairvilla Garage, Rebel harnesses on the ‘50 Willy’s Jeepster and one on shelf for the ‘32 Hemi powered Ford Roadster.(winter project)
Have not read all 26 pages, but Jeremy did a fun interview with Ole Roy Boy, on the Chrome Pipes n Pinstripes podcast
Excuse me if already mentioned.
Actually recommend listening to all of his stories and interviews [emoji41][emoji471]

https://royboyproductions.com/2018/08/14/187-rebel-wire-chrome-pipes-and-pinstripes/


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This gizmo must be ok, nobody has mentioned that you should have a better one. Guess that correction will be posted after someone here goes out and buys one.

 

Thanks Steve, I was missing the change in resistance with the temperature of the bulb. Makes sense now! I was looking at from too much of a theory point of view and not a practical one. Thanks again.


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What do you think about using terminal strips or blocks and running ground wires to that (for gauges,lights, etc)? You'll definitely need the heavier grounds from the battery at the engine block (for senders, starter, alternator...) but you could run a main ground inside to a terminal strip, then bring your grounds inside of of that. Basically treating it like a fiberglass body. Depending on what kind of turn signal sockets you have, you could run a separate ground wire to them front and rear, changing everything around to where it doesn't ground in the body, but has it's own ground. Thoughts anyone?

 

Thanks! This is Jeremy, I've been doing the tech here at Rebel Wire for a while. I wasn't sure how the interview with Roy Boy would turn out. We did more rambling than anything, haha

 

Terminal ground strip for gages & under the dash purposes is the way I'm doing mine.

 

This makes a lot of sense. I’ve been reading on it this weekend and your thoughts are consistent with what others are saying to get the best grounds... ground cable being a better conductor than the frame.

**For taillights I have 1157s in a 37 Ford housing. I could retrofit a 3-wire socket, but don’t know of one (?). Or I can maybe solder a ground wire to the 1157 socket base?


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An effective ground post can be made by drilling and tapping, then installing a stud, locked down by a nut with a manufactured washer base. That style nut will give it more stability.

 

If it's a 2 wire self grounding socket in the housing, you could try to run a ground wire up inside the housing and attach with a ring terminal, or like you said retrofit a 3 wire socket, maybe check the hole size and get a universal 1157 socket with a ground (one with the tabs that spread out to hold it in place). Soldering a ground wire to the socket will also work. Any way to get that socket or housing grounded

 

I use mine all the time, but it only does what it's supposed to do, and you have to learn how to interpret what it's telling you. You can have the best tools out there and if you don't know how to use them, you're going to hate it and think it's junk. It's just a tool for gathering information