wiring tailights...keep burning out!

Light bulbs don't work that way. You cannot draw more power thru the filament than the filament draws by itself. A light bulb is a current limiting device.

 

Both filiments are energized when you have parking lights on and step on the brake. A short in the socket would blow the fuse not the lamp.

 

Yes, but it doesn't burn anything out.

 

Is the power for the tail lights attached to one of the auxiliary post on the headlight switch? HRP

 

Except the light filament is a fuse in essence. 5amp bulb vs the 20amp fuse. Once blown, circuit is dead.

Curious in how this turns out...

 

First, with a 12 volt battery and a 12 volt bulb, it cannot be blowing out due to voltage unless there is a serious problem with your charging system which I doubt. Therefore it can only blow out from too much current. A current overload can only be the result of the filament being placed in series with something else in the circuit, and that something else is drawing its current (seeking its ground) through the lightbulb.

Imagine placing a light bulb in series with your starter motor. The bulb would blow everytime you tried to start your engine, wouldn't it?


Remember, your running lights are on one circuit (left right front back are all controlled by your headlight light switch) but your turn signals are on six circuits controlled by your turn signal switch (Front L, Front R, Rear R, Rear L, plus Brake Left and Brake Right).

If you miswired one of the rear light sockets (swapped the running lights and turn/brake lights wires) then the turn signal system could be back feeding all four running lamps. I'd suspect that all the lights momentarily light right before your bulb blows.

 

Nope!!!

The bulb would light, and the starter would not do anything.

Try it.


Another thing to try: connect a light bulb to a battery.....think about what's going on here. The full current of the battery is "allowed" to go thru the light bulb, there are hundreds of amps available in a car battery. but the light lights up, and it draws an amp or two. That's all.

 

Try a couple jumper wires +/- with alligator clips from your batt. straight to the bulb, both sides, if the bulb does not blow the bulb is good, disconnect at your lights and test again with the wires feeding your tail lights, if it doesn't blow it's your socket, if it blows it's upstream some where. Just my 2 cents on how I'd isolate the problem.

 

Hell, I don't know what I was thinking. Made perfect sense at the time

 

If the bulbs are blowing running off a 12v batt its either a defective 12v bulb (filament not in a vacuum) or a mislabeled 6v bulb. Nothing else can cause that.. you can wire it anyway you like and the worst thing that will happen is you blow the fuse, not the bulb

 

Huh, guess I'm wrong here then. No big suprise

 

sure would be nice to find out what's going on with this....kinda left us all hanging

 

Bet he had bad grounds, if the socket or light ***y isn't grounded, it will ground thru the other filament if there is a ground somewhere in that circuit. Gives the appearance that low (taillight) filament is out because it is always the high filament (brake/turn) that glows.

 

Sorry to keep you guts hanging on a follow up to the problem.The problem was.....one of the contacts(tailight) in the socket would not seat with the contact on the bulb,it would twist when installing the bulb thus making contact(short) and burning the small filament in the bulbs.Thanks for all the help.should have my custom on the road in primer for a shake down run by the time the Mooneyes show in Dec.

 

Oh ya...I went ahead and replaced both sockets,now all is good.thanks again fellas