411 fuse boxes

[peter dowdle]

Thanks everyone for your help. I agree it wont be that hard to sort out which fuse serves which circuits but as mentioned its likely that all the white wires arnt power in circuits but simply a means of hooking into the ignition circuit.

I have just collected the car and will now commence the task of trying to work out where the white wires come from or go to.

Thanks again

[PEU186F]

Peter

While thinking things over you might also like to contemplate the total current that is being carried from the ignition switch on the white “in” wire. Think steady current but remember the switch on condition, particularly into inductive circuits such as motors where the surge current on switch on equates to the stall current, and marvel that the poor little ignition switch has survived for as long as it has. Switching off a dc inductive circuit also brings a host of potential nasties in terms of arcing across the switch contacts.

The use of a very heavy duty relay, sometimes called a contactor, actuated by the ignition switch, but switching current directly from the battery, e.g. from a big brown circuit, might come to mind.

My experience has been that an overloaded ignition switch fails relatively gracefully, initially by introducing a very short hiccup into ones stately progress rather akin to a very short misfire, then the hiccups get more frequent and eventually the whole thing comes to a halt for five minutes or so in apparently mysterious circumstances. And then goes again for a bit after the switch has cooled down. And then comes to a halt again.

My regards

Roger