Weird and Wonderful electrics

Well, having realised the decision to pay over the odds by buying from an 'expert' independent of 25 years standing was a bloody waste of hard-earned money (what's that groaning noise on the steering when gard over? - oh it'll because it's wet!), you'll see me popping up more and more on the site from now on!

I'm not going to be bitter and twisted as, to be fair to the £$%&, he did say 'bring in daaaaarn and I'll have a look at it' but then followed this up with the comment 'I know how to drive 'em' which I assume means I don't!

Wouldn't profess to be an expert as I've only been driving from the age of 12 (on the farm - you know, tractors, combines, 4-wheelers, ex-army, non-synchro etc) so can only offer 43 years unblemished record.

However, I digress.......(chance to top up the glass!!!)

Apart from everything else, I am a complete numptie with auto-electrics. I would happily re-wire the house but have a major blank spot when it comes to the motor.

First job is to wire up the spots (in place but wires cut behind the grill - must be a 25 year sales special!!) so done the reading up and bought the relay, decent cable (3mm), connectors, in-line (waterproof) fuse holder (going for 25 amp on 2 x 100W spots), heat shrink etc.

Took off the headlights etc expecting to see 3 cables - earth, main beam and full beam. There are 3 cables but someone has obviously had a bit of a play as there's a 4th cable sat hanging in mid-air. Thought this might have been power to previous spots but it dissapears into the conduit and I can't find a relay anywhere. When I look, the cable is coded the same as that supplying the main beam but, tracing that into the engine bay, have found the main beam coded cabing has a connector attached to some black cabling of unknown source (hence previous comment on someone having a play).

In addition, and it may be me, but there seems to be an inconsistent supply to both head lights but, having played around for a while - and having just put everything back on, it suddenly occured to me one of the bulbs could be standard and the other halogen,

Which brings me finally to the point of this long rambling, late Sunday, glass in hand message...

Having bought a LASER 3533 Digital Multi Meter from Halfords (I know, don't even start - £20 when I could have bought at half the price on flea bay), and having read the limited instructions, does anyone know how to use the damn thing and more to the point have I, in my ignorance even bought the right piece of kit to determine which cable is supplying what???

Happy to take the flack if my numptie-ness is to the fore here - won't be the first time nor, I can guarantee, the last!

Any help appreciated.

Christ, is that the time!!!!!

As you turn the dial you will find AC Volts, DC Volts DC Amps, Ohms, etc.

Your black probe needs to be in the hole marked Com, or Common. One of the other two will say A or Amps ... Do not use that one!! Use the red one in the one marked V+ or Volts.

There may be a setting which sounds a beeper if you get a dead short. That is known as a continuity check, and is good for tracing wiring.

Didn't you get a book of instructions with it??

I am going from memory here, so check the instruction book and if you don't have one, take it back and tell 'em that you want one!!

Number of spotlight wiring guides - might help

wiring spotlights - Google Search

Thanks guys.

There is a 'booklet' with the kit but it does nothing more than pad-out the abbreviations - doesn't actually tell you how to use it. I've emailed the manufacturer but the info' you've given is a good starting point so will give that a go.

Intending doing the job at the weekend so will let you know how I go on.

There is a really useful article in this months Practical Classics regarding multimeters. I also had the following email from the manufacturers in how to use their piece of kit that might help others:

Multimeters are very useful for testing and diagnosing problems within electrical circuits. 3533 will be helpful to you, but Multimeters don’t generally come with ‘step by step’ instructions for a particular problem.

Your Land Rover probably has standard H4 type bulbs (ie dipbeam and highbeam within the same bulb). These have 3 connections, ie +ve feed for low beam, +ve feed for high beam, and a common earth. These bulbs have a standard connector so the wires will be easy to identify. To check if a feed has 12V, then you will need to measure Voltage DC. Multimeters will have this section marked as DCV. Meter selector set to 20, so display will show range upto 20 volts dc.

Black lead goes in the socket marked ‘COM’ (earth)
Red lead goes into the socket above marked VΩmA.
Red probe is then touched on the live feed (ie wire suspected of being 12V), black probe goes to earth (ie battery –ve or a common earth point).

If the feed is live then the meter will see the voltage ie approx 12Volts. If the V is zero then the circuit is probably switched off.

The lighting circuit will include relays, so you will need to understand the circuits for your vehicle before deciding how to add additional lights.

An ‘Automotive Electrical Manual’ will give a good explanation of the theory and practice of vehicle wiring. Haynes do one.

3533 will have all the functions you are likely to need, and I am sure that you will find it useful on your vehicle.

All good and well ... But have you sorted it yet?? :5btoetap05::5btoetap05:

No garage so having to wait until the weekend. Happy to have a go at this now though - will report back at the weekend (assuming I haven't blown myself up!!).

Thanks for asking

Finally got around to looking at the spot lights at the weekend and, although took far longer than it should, we have a result!

Hooked the live feed from both spots together and than soldered on a connecting cable for the relay. Ignored trying to make sense of the existing wiring serving the lights as it was a bit of a dogs dinner in there so simply removed the connections to the head light in turn to identify which was the high beam feed. Struggled to find a clear fixing point for the relay in the engine bay that was reasonably weather protected so ended up putting behind the left hand head light mounting - fairly enclosed but will need to remove the head light to access. Removed a section of cover on the high beam cable and soldered on a feed to the relay.

Then ran a feed from the battery (with a 25 amp in-line fuse in battery compartment - 2 x 50 spots) to the relay behind the head light assembly.

Earthed the relay to its own fixing and earthed the 2 spots to the A bar mountings.

Fired everything up but - no lights!!!

And that's when the multimeter came into its own as I was able to check where I had power and how much, which ultimately led me to find that the spots earth on the mountings simply wasn't good enough. Bit of a pain as I'd cut the cable lengths to fit so had to strip the spots back to put a different length earth cable on each but having done that, and connected to the front grill mounting points, all works like a dream.

I still seem to have an issue with the 2 main beams seeming to be of different strengths but will be looking into that now I've a bit of confidence.

Probably raise a smile from those of you who are either willing to jump into jobs like these without a second thought or have some experience but I'm actually quite pleased I finally sorted the spots out. Recognise however it's down to everyone who took the trouble to post their own experiences (why I'm posting mine) and those who responded to my request for help - thanks again.

Now about the other 39 items on my list...[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

good on you - trust you cracked a beer or two afterwards

Well I might have had 1 or 2!!

Timothy Taylors Landlord will put a smile on your face!