Date:         Tue, 8 May 2001 19:11:13 -0500
Reply-To:     Alan Watts <alan@16color.com>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Alan Watts <alan@16color.com>
Subject:      Re: Solar question and electrical oddity
In-Reply-To:  <001501c0d819$ab6b6ca0$947c1a41@kc.rr.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

Unfortunately, there is no relation - except I am a fan of his work!
My parents didn't even know who he was when they named me either.
But in the end, I guess it doesn't matter.

So, upon further investigation of my blinker woes, I discovered that
when my headlights are on, both the left-front and left-rear parking
lights don't work.  They blink when the blinker is activated left,
but to the right, no blinker.  I went through the grounds, cleaned em
and resecured them but still no right blinky or left lighty.  I'll
dive into the spaghetti (a mess compared to my 71 beetle with about 8
total wires!) and see if there is anything suspicious.  Oh, and I
don't know what this has to do with, but I took off the door buzzer
box when I was getting at the fuses and there was a red wire that
appeared to be coming from over the steering wheel in the passenger
direction that was looped around pin 85 of the buzzer box....don't
know what it does, but it makes me wonder...

Alan





>Alan Watts?  Of "What Does it Matter" and all dem other Zen books fame?
>Hmmm...
>
>For solar, you may want to check out my Westy page (see link below).  I have
>a 50 watt Siemens solar system that I put in last summer.  Works like a
>champ.
>
>As far as the tail lights go, looks like possibly they're mis-wired and both
>the turn signal wire and the tail light circuit are connected to the same
>bulb.  Could also be that there's missing insulation in the cable and the
>two wires are touching.  In any case, that's what I'd check first.
>
>Dave in KC
>85 Westy
>http://members.fortunecity.com/davebaker1/westy/westy.htm
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Alan Watts <alan@16color.com>
>To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2001 3:59 PM
>Subject: Solar question and electrical oddity
>
>
>>  Hello all!
>>
>>  I am the new proud owner of an 85 Westy and noticed a small quirk.
>>  When the lights are on, the right blinker doesn't work (doesn't
>>  light, doesn't blink).  The left one works fine though.  If I turn
>>  the headlights off, everything works OK.  Anyone know what this might
>>  be?
>>
>>  Also, I am interested in installing a second battery and solar cells
>>  to power my laptop while on the road (well, not literally on the
>>  road, people talking on cellphones are bad enough).  I tried
>>  searching the lists, but everytime I do, it times out.  The link to
>>  the Solar Vanagon on vanagon.com is dead so I was wondering if anyone
>>  has any info on this procedure.  I've checked out MrSolar.com ,
>>  realgoods and other sites but none give much info on specifics...so
>  > any help would be appreciated!
>  >
>  > Thanks,
>  > Alan Watts