I am trying to wire the marker lamps on the bull bar into the factory marker lamps. I was trying to figure out the polarity of the wires and here is what I found:
I found the feed and the ground for the turnsignal. The VOM showed a pulsing 5-6 volts every time it flashed. So I switched off the turn signals and switched on the parking lights without disconnecting the leads to the VOM. Well then the VOM pinned negative. Is this normal or am I missing something??
TIA,
Jay
You probably just had the meter leads reversed. On the ARB, is one side of the lights grounded ? I don't know what vehicle you are working on, but most newer side marker lights are isolated, although one conductor will return to frame ground. Turn the lights off, pull a bulb out and check each contact to frame ground. Use the grounded wire for ground on the ARB.
The way the factory side marker lights are wired is this: One lead goes to the parking light circuit and the other goes to the turn signal circuit. This way the bulb, when the headlights are on (with no trun signals) is grounded through the t/s bulbs. When you turn the t/s's on it provides voltage on both sides of the circuit(when the t/s's flash on) so the side markers go off when the turn signals come on. If you look at the side marker bulbs you'll notice they flash opposite of the front t/s bulbs. This is how they accomplish this. If you take the wires from your bull bar and wire them into the two wires going to the marker light, they should flash with the marker light. If the lights are not grounded to the bull bar, polarity makes no difference in this case.
-- Old Crow '82 Shovelhead FLT 92" 'Pearl' '95 Jeep YJ Rio Grande ASE Certified Master Auto Tech + L1 TOMKAT, BS#133, SENS, MAMBM, DOF#51
What he said and a warning for you.
Be very very careful fooling around with a VOM anywhere near your Jeep!
If you touch the wrong circuit with it you 'will' fry things like any of the computer modules or sensors, the expensive stuff eh.
A VOM puts way too much load on some of the circuits, like CMOS ones.
With modern electronics only a DMM (digital multi meter) should be anywhere near a vehicle these days.
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Look at it again with the headlights on. When the lights are off they should flash together, when the headlights are on, they should flash opposite. Either way, if there are two wires coming from the bull bar and the lights on it are not grounded to the frame, polarity shouldn't be an issue. A light bulb doesn't care which way the power runs through it, unless it's an LED, and then they are usually marked.
-- Old Crow '82 Shovelhead FLT 92" 'Pearl' '95 Jeep YJ Rio Grande ASE Certified Master Auto Tech + L1 TOMKAT, BS#133, SENS, MAMBM, DOF#51
You are correct sir. Thanks.
Jay
Old Crow wrote:
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.