Re: Brake wiring on buggy, Speedy Jim??

> Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. I'm wiring the brake lights > on my fiberglass buggy, and I'm confused about the existing wiring. > > The previous owner has 4 wires coming from the front to one side in the rear > of the buggy (lets say we're on the driver's side). > > There are also two separate brake lights on each side (2 on the drivers > side). > > Each brake light has one thick wire coming out of it (which is soldered > inside to the bulb housing) and 2 smaller wires that are hooked directly up > to the leads on the bulb housing (for a total of 3 wires). > > Each bulb has 2 prongs on it, that seat in the housing and touch the two > leads. From the buggy I hooked the 2 larger black wires (which I assume to > be ground...they look the same) to each of the thick wires on each light > (which are soldered to the housing inside). > > I then took one wire, which sends power when the parking lights are on, and > attached a wire from each brake light (so a wire from each light is attached > to this one wire from the car). This works and both lights light up when > hte parking lights are on. This leaves one wire inside the car. > > I then took this last wire, and hooked it up to the remaining wire on one of > the lights. This makes that light light up when the brake is pressed. > > The turn signal flashes the other light, which only has 2 wires hooked up to > it (one large one on what I think is supposed to be the ground, and one that > was attached with a wire from the other light to one of the wires from the > car). > > So, it seems to be working. Both lights are on when parking lights are on, > and one lights up when the brakes are pushed, and the other flashes with the > turn signal. However, the one that flashes w/ the turn signal has one wire > that is not hooked up to anything. I don't think I have this wired right. > Any thoughts on how to wire it? What could be wrong? Thanks. > -- > Steve G

If I'm understanding you correctly, the housings of both lights are grounded, the dim filaments of both lights are connected to the parking light circuit, the bright filament of one light is connected to the brake light circuit, and the bright filament of the other light is connected to the turn signal. so where's the dangly wire? I'm corn-fused.

Anyway, even if I ASSumed something wrong, I think what I described above should be how it ought to be hooked up.

nate

Reply to
Nathan Nagel
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oh yeah... if you only have 4 wires coming back I doubt one of them is ground. You ought to have left turn, right turn, parking lights, and stop lights. UNLESS you have a turn signal switch that works like older american cars (switches off brake lights when you signal a turn) in which case you might have left, right, park, and ground. Might be a good opportunty to get a helper and spend a little quality time with a test light and figger out exactly what you're working with.

nate

Reply to
Nathan Nagel

I have those exact lights I believe. I had them hooked up to where they work, but the confusing part is the one with the signal wire hooked up to it does not have one of its wires hooked up. I guess I need to take the tester and figure out what wires are what coming from the car. To clarify, there are 4 wires coming to each side of the rear of the car. I was explaining a scenario for just one side, where there are 4 wires.

Reply to
Steve Gift

These are Peterson lights out of Ohio state highway patrol cruisers rear windows that were hooked up to a wigwag. Some Petersons have two wires and some have one wire. My ground is the frame of the railbuggy so there is not a ground wire.

All you need to do is figure out which one is the lowbeam and which one is the highbeam. I used a long wire directly to the + post of the battery to see which was which.

Use the lowbeams on each for running/park lights. Use the highbeams on one for turn signals and on the other for brake lights.

Don't forget to fuse the circuit.

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FYI - I found different colors of 4 inch 3 hole lens' at the local truck stop as Peterson & Grote lights are found on the bigrigs too.

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scenario for just one side, where there are 4 wires.>
Reply to
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Thanks. Your explanations were very easy to follow. Now I just need to get some testing done to figure out what the existing wires on the buggy are doing. I assumed the two larger wires coming from the buggy were grounds for each of the lights, but that might have been the wrong assumption. Like I said, I hooked these up as grounds, and then that left me with 2 wires on the car side, and 4 total coming off the 2 lights. Thanks again.

Reply to
Steve Gift

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