Elcetrical Issue 55 Champion

[cycledog]

I just took my newly acquired 55 Champion for a little drive. It was dusk so I had the head lamps on. Car runs great. 6cyl.

I began to notice that the amp gauge started to go from normal to full charge at which time the lights would go out, then back to normal, lights back on. Gauge made a tinking sound when it would go to full charge and back again. Then it would go to complete discharge and back to normal. Well you get the picture.

This is my first Studebaker and am not familiar with the electrical system other than its basically the same as any other car, I would suppose.

Any one direction you can point me in?

Thanks in advance.

[41 Frank]

What you are experiencing is a short circuit in the lighting system somewhere. This in turn causes the circuit breaker to trip and your lights go out until said breaker cools and the lights come back on. Time to start looking at the wiring to see if it is damaged somewhereand touching metal.

If your amp gauge goes to full charge when this happens it would indicate to me the battery is hooked up wrong. Positve cable should go to ground as this is a positive ground system if it is still 6 volt.

[cycledog]

What you are experiencing is a short circuit in the lighting system somewhere. This in turn causes the circuit breaker to trip and your lights go out until said breaker cools and the lights come back on. Time to start looking at the wiring to see if it is damaged somewhereand touching metal.

If your amp gauge goes to full charge when this happens it would indicate to me the battery is hooked up wrong. Positve cable should go to ground as this is a positive ground system if it is still 6 volt.

That didn't even cross my mind. The guy I got it from had a new battery installed at Sears. Probably by someone who dosen't even know postive ground systems existed and wasn't paying attention.

[Jeff_H]

That clicking your hear is probably the headlight circuit breaker tripping. There is a short someplace in the lighting. Do ~all~ the bulbs actually light up before the breaker trips? Turn off the instrument lights to remove those from the circuit (they get power from the headlight sw I think) and see if it problem clears. That would help isolate where the short is. If one or more of the lights does not come on in the interval between the breaker tripping, there could be a short there or the wire going to it. A place to start.