Electrical short: convoy light and weird covered toggle switch

Hi all,
Just very nearly had an electrical fire! Help appreciated.
I have a 1980 109, 2.25 Petrol, it was previously a radio vehicle (FFR).

In the centre, it has the convoy light nob and to the right a covered toggle switch. It had an unreadable sticker above it. After peeling it off, it revealed a label underneath reading 'Headlights Normal'.

What are these all about?

Last night, i lost brake lights and the toggle switch seemed to switch the headlights off.

Today, after washing it, i was flicking switches to get the brake lights to work and the things shorted out, it nearly caught on fire.

The toggle switch was down and the convoy light switch was over all the way to the left.

Behind the switches, its burnt the earth from the toggle switch and another wire from the toggle switch through to the harness.

Any help would be much appreciated. I am now guessing that there was a reason for the covered toggle being covered...

toggle switch would have been covered so it had to be used on purpose rather than just being flicked by mistake

convoy lights are generally a set of lights that emit a low level which is just high enough to follow for the car behind but not easy for the enemy to spot

trace the wires, replace the earths, replace the other which is probably the live from battery

What would have caused the short? Is this likely to happen again?

convoy switch ,is just a light switch that gives different options,ie only tail and side lights and convoy light ,no brake or just tail lights and convoy or all lights as normal etc

I traced the cable. It comes from the headlights normal switch, to a shared earth on the bulkhead as well as out of the bulkhead onto another earthing point in the engine bay.

I checked the convoy switch and it works fine, I dare not touch the other now.
Have rewired.

The lower position of the switch is for infra-red vision using dark red glass filters over the headlights & the driver uses night vision binoculars. In this position all lights are extinguished other than the headlights irrespective of the position of the main light switch.

The switch carried a high current & was prone to failure. There was a modification issued in 1982 to do away with the switch altogether.

I think its safe to say it malfunctioned.

fv1620 said:

The lower position of the switch is for infra-red vision using dark red glass filters over the headlights & the driver uses night vision binoculars. In this position all lights are extinguished other than the headlights irrespective of the position of the main light switch.

The switch carried a high current & was prone to failure. There was a modification issued in 1982 to do away with the switch altogether.

Click to expand...

Is there any links to the mod?

Nope but I can tell you it is in EMER WHEELED VEHICLES Q 027 Mod Instr No. 52 April 1974.

If anyone needs new labels for their switch there are some here:

LANDROVER / MILITARY INFRA RED / HEADLIGHT NORMAL STICKERS. | eBay

maybe of some help

fv1620 said:

Nope but I can tell you it is in EMER WHEELED VEHICLES Q 027 Mod Instr No. 52 April 1974.

Click to expand...

What I said was incorrect, that mod was to introduce the protective cover.

The mod I meant to refer to was on failure of the switch to either remove it from the circuit or if the IR facility was still required to fit a new switch to operate a relay.

It was no longer a 'modification' but a 'miscellaneous instruction'

EMER WHEELED VEHICLES Q 029/14 Misc Inst No.12 March 1982

The keen EMER observer will note that /14 applies to 3/4 Ton Trucks, but curiously it also details the conversion in 1/2 Ton Trucks.

Normally these would be suffixed for Rover 1 as /4 & Series 3 as /13. So really this misc instr should be non-suffixed & be listed in with the rest of Q 029

This EMER is 6 pages of A3. I can copy bits, so do you want to remove the IR facility or fit/replace the relay?

Thanks, yes saw that. Certainly on a journey of discovery
I have no idea what I want anymore.