Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2004 13:34:44 -0500
Reply-To: tolga <tolga@MAC.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: tolga <tolga@MAC.COM>
Subject: Re: Wiring for inner headlights
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Thanks Joel! I appreciate the detailed response. I take it you made the
switch to the south african grill too?
I'm still curious how the OEM inner lights on the 4 headligh models (86
and up?) are wired if some late model owner could chime in.
>i would recommend NOT daisy chaining the inner lights. to do so would
>lessen the output of all four lights. it would be best to run new
>wires to the inner lights AND maybe (your choice) put a switch inline
>to them. so you can flip the switch and have both the high beam
>(outer) and the inner lights on ... or flip the switch the other way,
>and NOT have the inners come on with the high beam outers. just more
>choices. ;)
>
>and you DO want to run the inners on a relay if you decide to run them
>separately. just safer and you get better power to the lights.
>
>you can run the wires a couple of ways ... straight from the battery
>(a little harder to do, and you need to put a fuse inline as well), or
>get a voltmeter and nose around on the backside of the fuse box and
>find a power source amongst those unused connectors. what you want is
>a SWITCHED source ... the connector shows 12volts only if the ignition
>key is in the ignition switch and turned to the ON position (not
>START). this will mean the inner lights cannot be on if the ignition
>is not on, like the normal headlights.
>by contrast, the parking lights are UNSWITCHED ... you can turn them
>on anytime ... key or not.
>
>if you need to get wires outside, where the headlights are, from the
>inside, where the battery and fuse box are, there is the brake line
>grommet down by the driver's feet, and the speedometer cable grommet,
>up top behind the driver's side headlight. on the speedo grommet, it's
>a lot easier to feed the wire into the dash from the outside, but you
>have to remove the driver's headlight for best access.
>
>you can also do what i did on one bus: drill a new hole, over where
>the passengers feet go, in the vertical wall (behind the carpet) under
>the glove box. if you look from underneath the bus, you'll see an air
>space behind the headlight on that side, between the inner wall (by
>the feet) and the outer skin of the bus. just be sure to put a 'stop'
>on the drill bit (so you don't drill too far and puncture the outer
>skin) ... do this by wrapping some tape around the drill bit, about
>1/2 inch back from the tip. lots of tape. ;) this allows the bit to
>penetrate the metal but not push through too far. and also be sure to
>put a rubber grommet in the new hole to keep the wires from being cut.
>best to get the grommet first and see which size drill bit it needs. i
>used a 1/2 inch hole grommet. allowed me to run more wires to fog
>lights and driving lights.
>the carpet, when put back, will hide the wires and keep any cold air
>from reaching the feet, even though the hole isn't very big at all.
>and no water gets up that high when it's raining ... i never had any
>problem with wet carpet. but you could plug the hole in the grommet
>with silicon seal after running the wires, if you wanted to.
>
>hope it helps. good luck!
>joel
>> Got a South African grill recently and trying to hook the wiring
>> for the inner lights (I have an '84 that didn't have inner lights
>> originall) and wanted some help figuring out how to hook them up.
>> Do I daisy chain off the outer light wiring or do I need to run new
>> wires from the fuse/relay area in the dash? If anyone can offer
>> suggestions or perhaps webpages with more info I would really
>> appreciate
>> it.
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