Brown Wire Mod Suggestions

Red Bull 78

Red Bull 78

True Classic
Already done "Zonker's Mod" to Fuse A/1. Gauge reads from 10 to 16 V, normally in the center, 13 Volts +/-.

Yesterday, I got caught out in the rain. #1 Put on Targa lid, Roll up windows and turn on FAN. Meter drops about a Volt.

Raindrops on the windshield. Turn on wipers. Low barely moves, HIGH drops the Charge gauge to 10 V or below, AND I still have to turn on the Headlights to comply with state law. Just touch the Brakes and the needle drops another "Volt".

Which of the 5 Wires to the Motor do I jump, to see if it's the Motor or the wiring?

Then, if it's the wiring, which wires do I hook up to a Relay and a BWM terminal just waiting to help?
 
If you see my video here (with BWM installed) I tested the voltage with and without the wiper relay. It was very significant. My dash volt gauge dropped to nearly 10v. ...and I wasn't running the HVAC fan at the same time. So definitely worth installing a wiper relay.
http://xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/21415/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0Aa-NFMxIc

As for which wire? You'll find the proper wire at the harness connector for the wiper motor. I prefer the insertable version since it doesn't require hacking the OEM harness.
 
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Part of the problem is it "reading" the voltage relative to a source, in this case the wiring from the ignition switch. Changing the path and upgrading some of the systems will help all of this hugely.

Add the following relay sets (there are how to's here on XWeb, I am on my phone and doing searches on 1 bar of service is slooow so you need to have a look):

Wiper Relays - this can be a plug and play solution that can be changed back to stick with a direct feed from the battery. The stalk will work as it always has and has a notable effect on the speed of the wipers and take the load off the switch and the ignition switch.

Headlight relays- Bob Brown periodically makes a superlative kit for both a high and low beam set of relays which takes the load off the switch and the ignition switch. If you can't get Bob's kit there are lesser solution available from Vicks and AutoRicambi as well as EBay for this. A solution built for a Spider will work on an X.

Doing these upgrades and you will notice much less variation on your Volt meter and a huge performance improvement in your lighting and wipers
 
BBW

Before I did mine on the 79 I had similar issues if I was running headlights, wipers and blower at the same time, then hit the brakes or turns an meter would drop way down and everything slowed way down.

I did a thread on what I did for the conversion.

I added new hot terminate behind the glove box like Zonker's process, ran new heavy hot to it, then from that ran new brown wire lead to the fuse panel, I am thinking it was #11 terminal, not 100% sure on that from memory. I also ran a jumper to one other terminal, this puts new direct voltage to all the "on" circuits on the panel. If you do a little poking around on the fuse panel you will find that there are two terminals that feed the full time "on circuits". This are the ones that that are hot all the time on both sides of the fuses (I used a simple test light to figure that one out pretty quick). Also ran new larger ground wire to the chassis. Then I ran a new heavy lead to the ignition harness with an ignition relay set-up, thus adding new voltage there to take some of the load off the single brown wire. This lead will add new current back to the fuse panel via the original wires for all the circuits that are feed only via the ignition switch.

I also changed out the markers, parking, brake, back-up and license plate lights to LED bulbs as well (have not done turns yet as they sent the wrong flasher for the LED's, have it now but have not put it in yet).

If you are doing the tails and markers take the time to pull the assemblies out and check all the grounds and wires to the taillight units, more times then not you will find rodent damage on the wires between the lights, it is common as the little buggers love to get in that space and chomp on wires. They might still work without blowing fuses, but they can drain voltage, believe me I know.

I did not do the headlight or wiper relays as now I don't feel the need to do so, with everything running now, blower, wipers, headlights, turns and brake lights it never drops below 12-13 volts and quickly jumps to 14.9 after starting or after running all this stuff to recover.

Headlight and wiper relays will only make this better and decrease the load on the charging system.

Hope this helps.

PW
 
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