Possible issue with my (not J-West) Fuse board, intermittent short for one of the dash and fog lights circuit Options

[DRPHIL914]

I installed the upgraded fuse board about 10 years ago, maybe more, and had noticed this once or twice happen but had beena while , recently in the evening the other day it happened, i was able to isolate it to a specific location, so i dropped the board and testing the spades and the wires on the in and out sides, the wiring itself is tight to the spade on the board, no bad wires or connectors, but when moving those the spade coming out of the board seems to be loose or moving and i can then it looses contact and lights will go out then in, at this point i am sure its a bad connection inside the board. Withought pulling the whole board and taking it apart (might have to , or get a new one) i am wondering what it looks like on the inside, is it possible for it to separate or disconnect or crack loosing the internal continuity from the incoming side to the out going side? the fuse it tight to the socket that it slides into, but messing with it can cause the issue . i suppose im going to have to pull the board and get a look inside.
Anyone have a picture of the inside of the board? or anyone have one of these develop an issue over the years?

suggestions?

Phil

[maf914]

Phil,

In the past I've emailed questions to J-West about their products and received good responses. You may want to contact them with your questions. Good luck.

[PanelBilly]

I had one that developed a short

[porschetub]

I installed the upgraded fuse board about 10 years ago, maybe more, and had noticed this once or twice happen but had beena while , recently in the evening the other day it happened, i was able to isolate it to a specific location, so i dropped the board and testing the spades and the wires on the in and out sides, the wiring itself is tight to the spade on the board, no bad wires or connectors, but when moving those the spade coming out of the board seems to be loose or moving and i can then it looses contact and lights will go out then in, at this point i am sure its a bad connection inside the board. Withought pulling the whole board and taking it apart (might have to , or get a new one) i am wondering what it looks like on the inside, is it possible for it to separate or disconnect or crack loosing the internal continuity from the incoming side to the out going side? the fuse it tight to the socket that it slides into, but messing with it can cause the issue . i suppose im going to have to pull the board and get a look inside.
Anyone have a picture of the inside of the board? or anyone have one of these develop an issue over the years?

suggestions?

Phil

Phil ;
Not sure if this is related but did you use the instrument dimmer on these occasions by any chance ?,mine was not working properly then dimmer finally failed and popped the fuse so no instrument lighting ,pretty sure the foglight system will go out also but mine weren't wired up back then but think it there is a connection there not 100% sure.
I bought another light switch and that failed for the same reason,bypassed the dimmer as I had gone to LED lamps by then.
Don't think the board is @ fault these are robust units.
Cheers.

[JWest]

Phil contacted me and provided a picture of his panel. It turns out he had a different brand of board, not from JWest.

See picture below to tell the difference between JWest and the other brand. For anyone who does not know, the other company is gone, so I'm not disparaging an active competitor, just trying to identify the stuff I have made.

Panelbilly, I don't know how a short could happen. Maybe it got an open circuit? But was it mine? The one above is the 5th one from the other brand that I've heard about having an issue. If it was mine I'd like to see the issue and get you a replacement.

[DRPHIL914]

I had one that developed a short

I installed the upgraded fuse board about 10 years ago, maybe more, and had noticed this once or twice happen but had beena while , recently in the evening the other day it happened, i was able to isolate it to a specific location, so i dropped the board and testing the spades and the wires on the in and out sides, the wiring itself is tight to the spade on the board, no bad wires or connectors, but when moving those the spade coming out of the board seems to be loose or moving and i can then it looses contact and lights will go out then in, at this point i am sure its a bad connection inside the board. Withought pulling the whole board and taking it apart (might have to , or get a new one) i am wondering what it looks like on the inside, is it possible for it to separate or disconnect or crack loosing the internal continuity from the incoming side to the out going side? the fuse it tight to the socket that it slides into, but messing with it can cause the issue . i suppose im going to have to pull the board and get a look inside.
Anyone have a picture of the inside of the board? or anyone have one of these develop an issue over the years?

suggestions?

Phil

Phil ;
Not sure if this is related but did you use the instrument dimmer on these occasions by any chance ?,mine was not working properly then dimmer finally failed and popped the fuse so no instrument lighting ,pretty sure the foglight system will go out also but mine weren't wired up back then but think it there is a connection there not 100% sure.
I bought another light switch and that failed for the same reason,bypassed the dimmer as I had gone to LED lamps by then.
Don't think the board is @ fault these are robust units.
Cheers.

Phil contacted me and provided a picture of his panel. It turns out he had a different brand of board, not from JWest.

See picture below to tell the difference between JWest and the other brand. For anyone who does not know, the other company is gone, so I'm not disparaging an active competitor, just trying to identify the stuff I have made.

Panelbilly, I don't know how a short could happen. Maybe it got an open circuit? But was it mine? The one above is the 5th one from the other brand that I've heard about having an issue. If it was mine I'd like to see the issue and get you a replacement.

Hey update , i took your advice and contacted J-West, he immediately i mean right away emailed me after i sent a question off the website, as seen here it appears its not one of theirs but going above and beyond he offered to take a look and even repair it if needed!!! I want to say thanks for reaching out and making such an awesome offer!! But i think im going to buy the new J-west one and install it, and then have him take a look at it to see whats up. I probably installed that board 10 years ago, so putting a new one in will allow me to verify all my connections and wires too.

also about the dimmer, i have had issues in the past with one and i installed a new one a couple years ago, but worth taking a look at as well. I am fairly certain this issue is the board internally.

@JWest thanks for the awesome offer, ill be making an order for new board today.

Phil

EDIT - new board on order

[tygaboy]

Great to hear you're getting a quick resolution to the problem.
A suggestion to maybe update the main title of this thread to something that makes it clear to folks it wasn't a J-West product that had the issue?
Just my $0.02.

[SirAndy]

Great to hear you're getting a quick resolution to the problem.
A suggestion to maybe update the main title of this thread to something that makes it clear to folks it wasn't a J-West product that had the issue?
Just my $0.02.

I changed the title ...
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif)

[PanelBilly]

You’re right. I did have brand X.

[DRPHIL914]

Great to hear you're getting a quick resolution to the problem.
A suggestion to maybe update the main title of this thread to something that makes it clear to folks it wasn't a J-West product that had the issue?
Just my $0.02.

Great to hear you're getting a quick resolution to the problem.
A suggestion to maybe update the main title of this thread to something that makes it clear to folks it wasn't a J-West product that had the issue?
Just my $0.02.

I changed the title ...
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif)

agreed, good suggestion and thanks Sir Andy for the change. - NOT J-WEST aka: wish it had been but it will be soon!

[Geezer914]

Panelbilly, what happened to develop the short? I have a brand x board in my car.

[mepstein]

Engram (sp?) had a known problem with the panel shorting on the chassis. JWest didn’t have this issue.

[Geezer914]

So I should insulate the panel from the chassis with rubber grommets?

[mepstein]

So I should insulate the panel from the chassis with rubber grommets?

Something used to touch. I didn’t have one so I can’t tell you exactly but it was a common issue and easy to fix once you knew the problem.

[DRPHIL914]

Engram (sp?) had a known problem with the panel shorting on the chassis. JWest didn’t have this issue.

seem to remember the name was Egman of the "other" brand. i did isolate it to the second to last fuse bank on right so #11, and will dig in to it deeper to see exactly why that connection is not tight, but a new JWest one is on the way. I took the car for a drive last night and had the chance at dusk to play around with it , and when i lost the dash and fog lights i stopped in sams parking lot to get a better look and just moving the fuse brought them back. the fuse does fit tight but yet somehow internally its not keeping a tight connection to allow power out. its not shorting or blowing a fuse . when i pull the board to install the new one i'll open itup and see whats going on. Also since the car has had 5 owners in the past and i did have someone help go thru it once before because of setting off some fuses we found some funky wiring, part of which was due to an aftermarket radio install and something else not sure what, but those were removed, cleaned up etc i do have nice clean connectors. We did find at one time i was blowing the fuse due to a P>O having the fresh air fan wires crossed and then we found it was on the wrong circuit, so its time also to get the schematics out and make sure things are actually on the correct circuits where they belong. I do have the JWest Flasher Relay upgrade for the fog light circuit so they stay on with or without the low/high but also if lights are off i still can have the fogs on independntly which is nice.

[SirAndy]

seem to remember the name was Egman of the "other" brand.

Close, Engman was his handle here.
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showuser=475

His real name was Mark Bland, he died some 11 years ago. I've met him once or twice at events back in the day, nice guy, trying to make a few bucks selling parts for an old car.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[bdstone914]

So I should insulate the panel from the chassis with rubber grommets?

Something used to touch. I didn’t have one so I can’t tell you exactly but it was a common issue and easy to fix once you knew the problem.

@geezer914
@mepstein

I installed an Engman boards on a 72. That car had a
power buys very close to the left side the the fuse oanel. It immediatly shorted out. I moved the power buss to the side of the flange it mounted to and solved the problem. The board was also wired wrong for the first four fuses to the headlights. It would power one high beam and one low beam. Had to rewire it.

[DRPHIL914]

new board arrived yesterday.

Thanks J-West,

@jwest