ANY ELECTRICKERY EXPERTS ABOUT ?

An alchemy of sparks, copper wire and earth

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ELVIS
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Post by ELVIS »

YOU FLASH TW@! :lol: just like that ! :wink: as earlier , im a biff - when i find foglamp fuse will it be obvious where to stick the wire to the lights ? :oops:

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kevtherev
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Post by kevtherev »

Do you mean the routing or attaching?

cumbriankeith
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Post by cumbriankeith »

130 watters in H4 main headlights work really well - nice and bright in the country lane situation.... allegedly!
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Syncro G
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Post by Syncro G »

I'm just thinking, but if your running driving lamps rather than front fog lamps, is that a good idea from the foglamp switch, despite the convienence in wireing?

The fog switch will work as: OFF>FRONT ONLY>FRONT AND REAR

When in thick fog you will obveously want your rear foglamp on, but that'd mean you'd then have some powerful driving lamps on the front, dazzeling oncoming traffic and produicing so much backscatter (if they aren't proper fogs) you wouldn't see eather? The alternative would be to not use the rear fog, but then T3 tail lights aren't exactly cutting edge in brightness (though they aren't too bad if they are 10W like they are ment to be, I think some get replaced with 5W when they blow as no one notices).

If you don't drive in fog ofcourse thats not a problem, I know where I live in near the peak district it would be.

If you do use the front foglamp circuit, remember to fit relay number 7 to the fusebord, on british vans with dimdip (well mine at lest) you might need to swap a wire behind the fusebox to be able to use the relay as its not always conected. You can tell when its working as the foglamps will then work on the sidelamps as well as headlamps. Remember, front fogs will work without a relay but the wireing loom was designed for one to be fitted so just because it works doesn't mean its a good idea! (Thats my take on it anyway, I'm a bit anal about fuses and relays but the way I see it it saves melted wireing which isn't fun - trust me! My old Land-Rover was built with many unfused circuits and its scarry when they short and burn out, the wire melts over its full length damageing all others its next to, wireing things up properly takes less time than stripping out melted crap, followed by a rewire!)

Personly I'd wire it through a seperate switch and leave the foglamps be, despite the extra hassel involved. Useing a seperate foglamp [type] switch in the blank space, it could probubly be wired so the switch would work:

SPOTS OFF>ON WITH MAIN BEAM AUTOMATICLY>ON ALL THE TIME

That way you could use it with dipped beam as desired, or have it come on with main beam, and more importantly off with main so you only need to use 1 switch when you see an oncomming vehicle. Thats what I'd do anyway. It should be possable to use some of the (possubly already fitted, though possubly not complete) wireing for the front fogs (if you don't want them), and its relay, without much trouble. If you like the sound of this I'm sure with a bit of headscratching I could work out how to do it and draw a diagram. If your local I'd be happy to lend a hand. (toying with front fogs myself so I've prittymuch sussed out what hapens where already.
Glen Syncronaut: 113 - 1992 JX Syncro pannel van

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VWlewis
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Post by VWlewis »

Hey Elvis - you and me are both chasing the VW wiring for front fog lights! 8)

I have a 1988 Caravelle GL and so far I can trace the wire from the foglight switch 1st position to the fusebox and through fuse 6 - no relay is installed (position 7) and I can't find any wiring after the relay.

I have looked behind the grille but not found any non connected wires yet!

Have you found wires at the front? ... or coming out of the yellow plug at the back of the fusebox? (should be white/yellow as well).

Once we have sorted this I think it would be good to add to the WIKI! What do you think .. can you take some pics as you do it? .. I will too.

Cheers :D

VW Lewis
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VW Fan :D Learned to drive in a T2, then drove a T1, later a T4, then a T5 (and a few Audis and Passats)
Now a proud T3 Caravelle GL 2.1 DJ WBX owner: "Dora the Explorer" .. by my reckoning, a T15 Driver!
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ELVIS
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Post by ELVIS »

hi lewis . im not after putting in fog lights but driving lights using a second fog light switch! funnily enough i was out today playing in the rain!! :cry:
got the front driving/spot lights on ok . only real problem i had was finding decent earths as i was outside house and you try finding an earth close by where you need it!
as i have uprated the headlights

http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/forum ... =headlight

i just connected the driving light earths to the old headlight earth wiring that i had left in place.
i ran the 'live' wire in the same place as new headlight wiring enters van (in corner abpve passenger headlight thr the bulkhead/grommet) and across/behind dash to the instrument cluster.
i have got a new(secondhand) fog light switch and put it in top righthand side of cluster where there was a blank before.
the earth for the switch was easily sorted , ran a jumper into the existing fog light switch - its only an earth for a 1.2w bulb anyway!

my existing switch is factory " 3 way" (off/front/back and front) with a multi plug to match.(3 wires)
the replacement switch i have is a 3 way but the factory plug only has 2 wires , one pin is redundant/not wired .one wire i have connected to the wire i have run to the lights . the other wire i will run to either the battery or fuse 6 on the board.

i was hping it was a case of pull the fuse board off bulhead and connect to back!have not looked to see if relay is present. :cry: am not off til tuesday now so will let you know how i get on - unless you beat me to it or someone else does

cheers elvis

if you have a haynes it page/section 12-37 for wiring diagram/colours n stuff

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Syncro G
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Post by Syncro G »

VWlewis wrote:Hey Elvis - you and me are both chasing the VW wiring for front fog lights! 8)

I have a 1988 Caravelle GL and so far I can trace the wire from the foglight switch 1st position to the fusebox and through fuse 6 - no relay is installed (position 7) and I can't find any wiring after the relay.

I have looked behind the grille but not found any non connected wires yet!

Have you found wires at the front? ... or coming out of the yellow plug at the back of the fusebox? (should be white/yellow as well).

Once we have sorted this I think it would be good to add to the WIKI! What do you think .. can you take some pics as you do it? .. I will too.

Cheers :D

VW Lewis

I've been looking into front fogs on my van, and I suspect this is how they are usally done, or in some cases not, on blade fused vans...

There are 2 wireing looms used for front fogs, the dash wireing loom and the front wireing loom. To be able to just plug front fogs in without much wireing involved your van must have both looms wired for front fogs. Some might have one loom but not the other, some might have neather and if your lucky, you've got both already fitted! Posh vans like caravelles are probubly more likely to have them, mines a very late pannel van which luckally seems to have alot of wireing for the extras never fitted already in place. If your missing some wires, best just run an extra cable along where it should go.

If your dash loom is wired for front fogs you'll have 3 wires +earth comming out the fog switch, sounds right from what you describe - this is good!

Next up is to sort the power fead to the switch. If my van is anything to go by, British spec vans (with dimdip headlights) and ONLY rear fogs have the fog relay disconected (aswell as the relay not fitted). The fog switch is instead fed off the headlamp circuit, via [a grey/yellow wire to] terminal M1 on the back of the fusebox. IE the wireing to the foglamps goes...Headlamp circuit>switch>fuse>rear fog. For front fogs you want the switch fed from the relay rather than the headlight circuit (remember your going to be putting an extra 110W through the curcuit so this is important!), therefore it goes...fog relay>switch>fuses and lamps. Unplug this wire from M1 and conect it to the wire coming from pin B20 (should be the same colour), this wire should terminate very soon in a yellow blade conector behind the fusebox - the wire from M1 should plug streight in. Fit a standard 4 pin relay in socket 7 your fogs should now work through that, the rear fog will now work with the sidelamps aswell as headlamps, so long as the ignition is on.

This must be how british vans are wired if they were fitted with front fogs. If your van isn't british spec with dimdip headlamps (a british odity that envolves a different headlamp switch and wireing loom), ie its a LHD import, it looks like you might need do no more than fit relay 7 to convert the foglamp fead, the wireing should cope as standard, test to see if the rear fog works with the sidelights.

Check fuse 6 is fitted and works.

Now for the front loom, if its wired for front fogs there should be a white/yellow wire coming from pin C22 into the front loom, if you don't have this wire the loom isn't wired for front fogs and this is where you need to take your feed from, remember this comes from the switch after the fuse, not the relay! Behind the right hand headlamp there should be a 2 pin conector with White/yellow wire and brown earth wire just hanging there fairly blatently, just waiting for the right hand foglamp to be plugged in. There should be a simular conector behind the left hand headlight but I haven't found it on my van yet, probubly a bit more hidden but as the other side is there it must be somewhere. Remember these plugs will have been exposed for as long as the van has been graceing the salty roads so they could be a bit fured up! The earths will go back to the very popular earth point behind the fusebox - make sure they are clean for best performance (affects all front lights and most other dash electrics!).

Thats all I need to do to fit them anyway (just all that?!) Now all I need to do is find a pair of front foglamps! Tipically that nice pair of new Hella lamps I on ebay has been pulled just before it sold for a low price, "listing error" aparently - I bet it was! :roll:
Glen Syncronaut: 113 - 1992 JX Syncro pannel van

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VWlewis
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Post by VWlewis »

Thanks Elvis and Glen for the detailed descriptions ...

I have the dimdip resistor which I discovered fitting relays to my headlamps. I will have a further poke around in the front ... However, I am still trying to check for the C22 wire - I am not convinced that it is fitted There is a wire going into B16 which is live when I switch on the fog light (1st click). The fusebox must have internal wires connecting B16 to C22 which I also want to check.

The problem is if it isn't, I would like to use this connection to run the relay .. but which one is pin 22?!! None of the wiring diagrams I have seen show pin numbering on the plug connections at the back of the fusebox. Have you seen any?

Cheers :D

VW Lewis
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Now a proud T3 Caravelle GL 2.1 DJ WBX owner: "Dora the Explorer" .. by my reckoning, a T15 Driver!
Dr T15 Speaks!

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VWlewis
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Post by VWlewis »

Some photos and comments

I have spent the afternoon fitting the wiring for the fog lights from the fusebox to the lamps - will post some photos soon ... also fitted the wiring, replacement tank and water pipes for my headlight washers ... still need to fit relay and finish wiring in the fusebox.

..off for a cuppa now!

... back now ... here are the photos

Threading the wires out of the front wiring loom exit points through the crush panel behind the fusebox just under the windscreen - had to remove the fusebox to get good access.

[IMG:800:600]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n74/ ... ring01.jpg[/img]

Wires coming out of the exit point (looking from in front of vehicle with grille and left headlamp removed)

[IMG:800:600]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n74/ ... ngloom.jpg[/img]

Wires running alongside existing cables and tied to them - this si the middle rib about waist height just below the top grille.
[IMG:800:600]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n74/ ... gwires.jpg[/img]

Wires threaded into bumper - thread from behind and use a long screwdriver and pliers to catch the wire and pull through.
[IMG:800:600]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n74/ ... outing.jpg[/img]
These wires are the power and earth for the fog lights (I also fitted power and earth for the headlamp washers). The earths are run back to the multi-earth point next to the fusebox since the weather/spray would cause problems earthing under the T25 or behind the bumper. More detail later showing internal wiring through relays.

Hope this helps a few of you!

VW Lewis
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VW Fan :D Learned to drive in a T2, then drove a T1, later a T4, then a T5 (and a few Audis and Passats)
Now a proud T3 Caravelle GL 2.1 DJ WBX owner: "Dora the Explorer" .. by my reckoning, a T15 Driver!
Dr T15 Speaks!

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ELVIS
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Post by ELVIS »

lewis , got it finished today ! wired from spot lights to a second fog lamp switch that i placed in one of the blanking holes and then ran the wire back to the battery with an inline fuse . simple as that ! the earth for the switch bulb i wired into the existing fog light earth .
when you put the live feed/wire to lights onto the switch , you can put them the wrong way round (i found this out as the switch illuminating light stays on all the time if you do!!)
55w bulbs , 22A wire and 10A fuse BTW , can still upgrade to 100w bulbs safely just by changing fuse :)

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VWlewis
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Post by VWlewis »

Glad you got it finished Elvis! :D

Here is my addition to the WIKI as I spent some time working out the fusebox connectors. (The numbers are moulded into the plastic next to the pins but it is almost impossible to read these without taking out the fusebox completely ... so I got one for a few quid off eBAY to investigate.

https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/VW ... s_fuse_box

Hope this helps other wanna be electricians! :lol:
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VW Fan :D Learned to drive in a T2, then drove a T1, later a T4, then a T5 (and a few Audis and Passats)
Now a proud T3 Caravelle GL 2.1 DJ WBX owner: "Dora the Explorer" .. by my reckoning, a T15 Driver!
Dr T15 Speaks!

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ELVIS
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Post by ELVIS »

lewis ,now me spots are in and working i *might* go for some fogs aswell - gonna look proper chav :lol: have got a relay in #7 position and have the wiring going from my 3 way fog light switch to fuse box .
i am guessing i am running wire from C22 to the foglights and then earthing lights .
dont suppose you have a pics of the spare fusebox and where i can find 'C22' ?
im a bit worried at pulling fuseboard about - have undone the two securing bolts before but it didnt move a great deal - is it just a case of oull and be careful ? how do the wires connect to the C22 position ? female blade/bullet tec cheers elvis

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VWlewis
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Post by VWlewis »

Elvis - have another look at the WIKI .. I have put a photo up there now of the fusebox with some labels to show where C22 is located.

It is secured with one screw so I wonder if you have the earlier fusebox fitted?

To connect to C22, you need a similar female connector - you might get one from a breaker yard - or try http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/V ... mepage.php

Try these
http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/V ... o/mnl6.jpg

Let me know how you get on. :D
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VW Fan :D Learned to drive in a T2, then drove a T1, later a T4, then a T5 (and a few Audis and Passats)
Now a proud T3 Caravelle GL 2.1 DJ WBX owner: "Dora the Explorer" .. by my reckoning, a T15 Driver!
Dr T15 Speaks!

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