Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 19:58:54 CDT
Reply-To: Joel Walker <JWALKER@UA1VM.UA.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Joel Walker <JWALKER@UA1VM.UA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Lights, lights, need more lights
In-Reply-To: <199805210425.VAA08900@glinda.oz.net>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
On Wed, 20 May 1998 21:04:31 -0700 you said:
>First off, I have an '85 westy. In the taillight housing, there is an extra
>socket for another light bulb. It is the spot just under the backup light.
>My idea was to use these sockets for rear fog lights like my porsche does.
>So I take the lens off and see the socket isn't ready to accept a bulb- no
>spring contact to hold the bulb in place or power it, but the "trace" on
>the housing is there. Is there a wire from the housing up to the front
>already in the wire harness? If so, where does it originate? Or will I have
no, i don't think so. the extra spot in the taillight is, i'm told, for
Sweden and Denmark (maybe norway and finland, too?) and is a rear fog light
... extra running light. and, as far as i can tell, there's no wire in our
harnesses. the connector, however, has a place for one! but since there is
NO reflector inside the housing, there's no sense in trying to put the
bulb holder/trace-thingie. :( i went through this a while back, and i couldn't
find a way to put a reflector in there, without tearing the red/yellow
plastic off the black housing. :( sure would be neat ... but the only way
i can figure is to get the housings from overseas. and that ain't gonna be
cheap.
>to run a wire myself? Also, there is no reflector in the lens, so I'd have
>to come up with something there. Any ideas?
i got a stand-alone red rear fog light and mounted it on the bumper, between
the left/driver taillight and the tag. works great ... truckers bitch at me
on the cb, but they SEE me in the fog. :)
>have the mag in front of me) lights. They are 7" or so round, they look
>black when they are off, but the article indicated that they worked very
>well. Has anyone had any experience with these lights or know what they
not the black ones, but i've got the Hella Vision Plus 7" round headlights
in my bus and camper ... and i LOVE them!! :) MUCH better light than the
sealed beams from Wal-Mart and K-Mart. only problem is, they are $42 EACH. :(
so figure about $90 for shipping and the two headlights. they use the H4
halogen bulbs (which come with the lights).
now, for the fog/driving lights, i'd stick with the non-black ones ... just
because of price. i think the black ones are like twice the cost of the
non-black ones. :(
on my 88 bus, i have 7" round fog lights and 7" round driving lights, from
Cibie. i LOVE 'em, and would get them again, but Cibie isn't sold over here
any more, so i guess i'll go with Hella Rallye 1000 or the Rally3 500. both
in fog and driving. the Cibie's were $80 EACH back then, i'd hate to think
what they'd be now. :( but they reach out to 9600 feet. :) the fogs are
super ... they reach out almost as far as the normal headlights, and REALLY
light up the sides of the road.
the order of things i'd suggest would be:
- round 7" Hella Vision Plus headlight replacements.
- then some fog lights. and it helps a LOT to put a clear fog light on the
bumper, with a separate switch on the dash, to use as a backup light. you
can actually SEE at night. why a separate switch? so i didn't have the
fog light coming on when i back up in the daytime. i'd also recommend the
red rear fog light (Hella Model 100) if you have a fair amount of fog in
your area.
- driving lights ... IF you have any straight 2-lane roads out in the
boondocks. i put mine on back when i used to drive to texas to visit
relatives. but they moved, so now i really have nowhere to use the driving
lights. :(
joel
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