Electrical Pop/crackle

[nbuuifx]

This morning when driving to work there was a sudden quite loud pop/crackle. At this point the headlights dimmed and the radio went off, the headlights then came back brightly and the radio came straight back on and started searching for my BT phone again.

Everything appeared to function correctly so I continued to work.

On the way home it did it again, I don't know if it was a coincidence but on the way home I had the headlights on full beam and it did it when I knocked them off. I think the noise this time came from the Speakers (no idea about the first time)

I thought it might also have been the heated front or rear screen turning off as it was about the time they go off in the journey and they were off after each crackle but I tried putting them on but there was no pop when they went off this time.

I do drive through a flood twice a day at the moment, it is there 90% of the time from October to Feb. It is about 20m or so long and I'd guess about a foot or so deep. Not sure if that could have affected anything?

I checked the voltage and the battery is at 14.5V with headlights on and engine running.

13.3V when engine is initially turned off.

It was around 13V with the heated screens on.

[pragmatix]

Water in the fuse box is my guess

[nbuuifx]

Thanks - would that not blow a fuse?

Any signs to look out for?

Unfortunately my other options to get to work aren't great. My journey is only a couple of miles. Takes me approx 7 minutes. I can avoid this road by driving up to the main road but this adds at least 20 minutes to the journey. There is also a little lane that skips past the flood, however this is a very narrow lane with deep ditches either side and few passing points, it is ok if empty but if you meet someone coming the other way then one of you has to reverse - seen far too many cars in the ditches.

[pragmatix]

Not in all cases the fuse box under the bonnet is prone to water getting in and corroding the various relays and fuse contacts,

[theredfox]

take the longer route I would to avoid possible water in electrics common sense not to drive through water :o

[nbuuifx]

It is a busy through fare road - lots of people still use it. It is hard to give up 40 minutes of my day every day in order to sit in a traffic jam :(

3 Hours and 20 minutes a week extra. I already work long hours.

That would probably be 50 hours extra each winter when the road floods.

What makes it worse is that my wife has to drive our other car through it every day too.

On the good side of things it hasn't done it again since. Everything appears to be functioning correctly including the heathed screens.

[pragmatix]

Well I think you can look forward to all sorts of electrical problems due to corrosion in the fuse box.

[BOF]

This morning when driving to work there was a sudden quite loud pop/crackle. At this point the headlights dimmed and the radio went off, the headlights then came back brightly and the radio came straight back on and started searching for my BT phone again.

Well, you've had a transient episode in which the voltage went (briefly) down to a low value. Really, the question is what caused it?

Not in all cases the fuse box under the bonnet is prone to water getting in and corroding the various relays and fuse contacts,

First question: is there actually any evidence of the fuse box getting wet? Or any other part of the electrical system, for that matter?

I've also had the case where the wiring had been a bit 'hacked' by a previous owner and that caused occasional electrical glitches, and water didn't seem to be anything to do with that (they had some extra electrical equipment fitted and just cut straight through the wiring, without insulating anything when they did it, which wasn't ideal).