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License plate lights.
 Edmonton, AB, Canada
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This topic is about my 
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Aug 17, 2017 03:46 AM
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 Joined 10 years ago
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The overriders sit on the bumper with plastic strips inbetween, so isolation of the earthing is perfectly possible. Even the whole bumper may not earth correctly on the two larger bolts, guess how I know.
Adding an earthing wire with an eyelet crimped onto and mounting this on one of the two screws holding the license plate bulb housing works fine. In my case earthing one side was enough, the other side was connected via the bumper metal after all. To be extra sure I also loosened and retorqued the two nuts on the brackets holding the bumper to the car.
PS Since converting these and other lights (head bulbs excluded) to LED's, current levels have gone down on these circuits, so more dependable connections have become more important. One of which is the electrical bypass of these strange nuts holding and earthing the rearlight assemblies to the car body. Never understood why such a ineffective construction was chosen in the first place
Adding an earthing wire with an eyelet crimped onto and mounting this on one of the two screws holding the license plate bulb housing works fine. In my case earthing one side was enough, the other side was connected via the bumper metal after all. To be extra sure I also loosened and retorqued the two nuts on the brackets holding the bumper to the car.
PS Since converting these and other lights (head bulbs excluded) to LED's, current levels have gone down on these circuits, so more dependable connections have become more important. One of which is the electrical bypass of these strange nuts holding and earthing the rearlight assemblies to the car body. Never understood why such a ineffective construction was chosen in the first place
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Aug 17, 2017 04:06 AM
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Joined 10 years ago
13,336 Posts
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Yes they are, but even so oxydisation may intervene, as was the case for my strongly bolted suspension points for the whole bumper itself.
So two potential contact failure connections are in the earthing circuit in series, I just bridged both by a direct earthwire coming from a dependable earthing point behind my rear assemblies
PS There is even a third potential break in the earthing circuit between the bulb holder and its mounting shell (the one shielding the bulb at the rear).
As a precaution I already replaced all 4 screws and nuts holding both license plate lights by stainless steel ones many years ago, long before the bumper itself got isolated....
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-08-17 04:11 AM by Donthuis.
So two potential contact failure connections are in the earthing circuit in series, I just bridged both by a direct earthwire coming from a dependable earthing point behind my rear assemblies
PS There is even a third potential break in the earthing circuit between the bulb holder and its mounting shell (the one shielding the bulb at the rear).
As a precaution I already replaced all 4 screws and nuts holding both license plate lights by stainless steel ones many years ago, long before the bumper itself got isolated....
In reply to # 3574798 by mdubash
Don,
From memory, I thought the overriders were bolted to the bumper, which will be grounded. Is this not so?
From memory, I thought the overriders were bolted to the bumper, which will be grounded. Is this not so?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-08-17 04:11 AM by Donthuis.
 Dayton, OH, USA
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1968 MG MGB GT "Bart - Yellow And Naughty"
1977 MG MGB "Red Betty" 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara "Suzi Q" 2012 Jeep Liberty "Tommy The Tank" |
In reply to a post by Don
There is even a third potential break in the earthing circuit between the bulb holder and its mounting shell (the one shielding the bulb at the rear).
As a precaution I already replaced all 4 screws and nuts holding both license plate lights by stainless steel ones many years ago, long before the bumper itself got isolated....
As a precaution I already replaced all 4 screws and nuts holding both license plate lights by stainless steel ones many years ago, long before the bumper itself got isolated....
Good plan! I'll add it to the list (that I thought was getting shorter).
- If duct tape doesn't fix it - you haven't used enough duct tape
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Edmonton, AB, Canada
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Edmonton, AB, Canada
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