Date:         Wed, 21 Mar 2001 11:28:58 -0500
Reply-To:     Bill Knight <bill.knight@USA.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Bill Knight <bill.knight@USA.NET>
Subject:      Switched Parking Lights
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

One of the things I've grown to like on my other cars, a Saab and a
Subaru Forester, is that if you switch off the ignition key, all of
the lights go off if the headlight switch is left in the "on" postion.
The Vanagon headlights go out, but the parking lights and dash lights
remain on.  I was studying the wiring diagram and noticed that the
headlight switch gets its power from the 30 track as well as the X
track.  The X track is switched power and is used for the headlights.
The remaining lights get their power from the non-switched 30 track.
Has anyone tried, or can offer any reason not to, connect the 30 pin
directly to the X pin to cause all lights to be powered from the X
track?  The only problem I see is that you would never be able to use
the parking lights without the key.  Where do you use parking lights
that the flashers would not suffice?  I suppose I could install a
little DPST switch to switch between the 30 track and the X track too.

Has anyone tried this?

Bill Knight
Raleigh, NC
84 Wolfsburg Westy
91 Vanagon Carat