Thursday, June 19, 2014

'69 beetle and the turn signal indicator that wanted to be grounded

I found that the light bulb assembly for my turn signal indicator was wired in a non-standard way. Somebody in the past had soldered a wire to the metal jacket and hard wired it to ground. They also wrapped it in rubber insulation so that the assembly would not conduct through the socket in the speedometer. The generator and oil lights remain unmolested and work as the should. My inner picture-straightener took over, and I began to undo this - I want close to stock electrical and the assembly did not fit inside the socket very well anyway (which caused a dim turn signal indicator). With the light assembly returned to normal, the light no longer flashes with the turn signals (they work fine, by the way). I confirmed that there is good conductivity by testing with a DVM and swapping light assemblies. The generator light assembly, when moved as a whole into the socket for the turn signal, works as expected; the turn signal assembly, when moved to the generator's socket, does not work.

The wiring between the speedometer and the top of the fuse box seems to be correct, per Bentley. There is a single wire coming from all three indicator lights going into the left-most (front is front) two fuses.

My turn signals work as expected regardless of how the indicator light is wired.

The flasher is part  DNI 0214 S4. Here is a photo:

And here is a schematic:
http://www.dni.com.br/media/Manual_DNI_0412S4.pdf


I found this hint:
"NOTE! If the Turn Signal Indicator Bulb does not blink when the turn signals are on, move the wire from the KBL terminal to the 49a terminal (use a piggyback or jumper connection) with the Black/White/Green wire."
here:
http://www.jbugs.com/product/211953215C.html?Category_Code=vw-bug-switches-flashers-relays-1968-70

I hookled the light up to terminal 49a and it is working fine.


Here is a nice wiring diagram:
http://www.oldvolkshome.com/6870turnswitcht1_OVH.pdf

Glutamoto has a great explanation at:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/archive/index.php/o-t--t-508609--.html