[WAGON_R]

Dear Team-Bhpians,

i have put 100/90 bulbs on my wagonR. i have a pmp relay with it. what i observe is when i put my headlights on during night i feel the engine doesnt receive enough power at sparkplugs. is this due to relays?
how to determine whether the relay is working properly or not?

[headers]

Hi,

How do you say / know engine doesnt receive enough power at the spark plugs?

You will hear the click noise of the HL relay while switching between low and high beam..this is a rough measure to check the relay!

Is your battery GOOD enough?

Cheers

[WAGON_R]

my battery is new. i feel that engine looses power. even the idling is affected. the rpm falls. when i switch off the lights and during the day time i dont face any such problems.

[headers]

Check your earth connections, especially the main earth as well as the lighting earth connections!

[anupmathur]

Wagon_R, I suspect something wrong with the wiring.
Powerful headlamps will present extra load to the engine during idling, but if the alternator is not able to cope, the battery should take over.
Once you are a little more than idling rpm (like normal driving) there should not be any issues. You might feel a slight reduction in available engine power at slow speeds, but that is about it.

Please have the wiring connections checked thoroughly.
The relay has no part in this, unless wired up wrong.

[WAGON_R]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

Wagon_R, I suspect something wrong with the wiring.
Powerful headlamps will present extra load to the engine during idling, but if the alternator is not able to cope, the battery should take over.
Once you are a little more than idling rpm (like normal driving) there should not be any issues. You might feel a slight reduction in available engine power at slow speeds, but that is about it.

Please have the wiring connections checked thoroughly.
The relay has no part in this, unless wired up wrong.

spot on sir. it occurs at slow speed. but i believe the relay does the duty to hold on and distribute the extra power needed.

regarding the earthing, i think the lights wont work if earthing is wrong? correct me if wrong.
once i observed a funny thing. i shut down the engine, the headlights were still on. i thought i forgot to turn the headlight switch off. but to my shock the switch was off. then i again restarted the engine, put the switch on and again i put it off. it was then the lights gone off.
but this was only once till date. never again i observed this. what plays a role here?

[anupmathur]

Wagon_R, the relay merely saves the switchgear from having to handle the higher currents of the high wattage bulbs.
Please get the wiring verified from another electrician if possible.

Originally Posted by WAGON_R

once i observed a funny thing. i shut down the engine, the headlights were still on. i thought i forgot to turn the headlight switch off. but to my shock the switch was off. then i again restarted the engine, put the switch on and again i put it off. it was then the lights gone off.

Never heard of such a case! It could be an early warning of a switch that will fail later! Had you not started the engine and turned the switch ON, then OFF, it might have worked too.?

[WAGON_R]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

Wagon_R, the relay merely saves the switchgear from having to handle the higher currents of the high wattage bulbs.
Please get the wiring verified from another electrician if possible.



Never heard of such a case! It could be an early warning of a switch that will fail later! Had you not started the engine and turned the switch ON, then OFF, it might have worked too.?

no i didnt start the engine. i turned the switch on and off several times but it dint work. it was then i got into the car and switched on the engine. it was then the light got off after turning the switch to off.
this was a complete bouncer phenomenon for me.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by WAGON_R

no i didnt start the engine. i turned the switch on and off several times but it dint work. it was then i got into the car and switched on the engine. it was then the light got off after turning the switch to off.
this was a complete bouncer phenomenon for me.

This seems to be because of relay contacts getting stuck together. The solenoid that makes the contacts move was thus having no effect.
As long as it has been a one off event, there is not much to worry about, but remember that that relay has 'mis-behaved' once!
BTW, was this with the OEM relay or the new pmp one?

[WAGON_R]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

This seems to be because of relay contacts getting stuck together. The solenoid that makes the contacts move was thus having no effect.
As long as it has been a one off event, there is not much to worry about, but remember that that relay has 'mis-behaved' once!
BTW, was this with the OEM relay or the new pmp one?

yes after this i never faced any problem. i will replace the relay if this occurs again. it was a new pmp relay.