Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 10:45:22 -0800
Reply-To: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Subject: Plug n Play headlight harness with relays - almost done
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Volks,
I have been working on a plug and play wiring harness for the Vanagon that
allows the use of fused relays to control the headlights.
The advantage of this is:
- Almost no current going thru the poorly designed Vanagon headlight switch
- Not as much voltage drop so you get more light
- Easy addition of auxiliary driving lights
The design I have been working with requires no cutting of any of the
Vanagon's wiring harness. All you would have to do is plug the harness
into the back of the lights, attach the cable to the battery and plug one
of the factory headlight connects into the harness (used to trigger the
relays).
The relays and fuses would be located under the passenger seat with a cable
that runs under the van to the headlight area. I am figuring the advantage
to having the fuses and relays inside the van would be they could keep dry
and be less prone to corrosion. The only disadvantage would be hearing a
click every time you go from low to high beam (doesn't bother me that much).
If you were to buy this kit, would you to (also in order of most to least
expensive):
- Have the relays housed inside of a 4"x4"x2" mountable box - muffling the
sound of the relays?
- Have the relays on a mountable socket.
- Have the relays "loose".
To keep with IASCA (car audio organization) standards the fuses (one for
high beams one for low beams) will be within 6" of the battery so in the
event of an accident that would crush the wires leading to the front of the
van, the fuses will pop instead of having an electrical fire.
The other issue is grounds for the lights. Ideally you would want to drill
a small hole into body and bolt the ground wire to that (keeping it as sort
as possible). Some people would rather not drill a hole into their van so
running the ground to the negative terminal of the battery (adding to the
expense) would be necessary.
Any suggestions or comments are welcomed.
-- David Marshall - - Quesnel, BC, Canada --
-- 78 VW Rabbit, 80 VW Caddy, 84 VW Westie, 85 VW Cabriolet --
-- 87 Audi 5000 Quattro, 88 2.0L VW Syncro Double Cab --
-- David's Volkswagen Home Page http://www.volkswagen.org --
-- Fast Forward Autobahn Sport Tuning http://www.fastforward.ca --
-- david@volkswagen.org (pmail) or vanagon@volkswagen.org (list) --
