Replacement for an Alt light? (and other questions)

ToRy 70 · Post by **ToRy 70** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 8:56 pm

Hey everybody,

I'm wiring up my car using the Watson's streetworks kit. So far, the kit is great.

I'm using a new VDO speedo in a fiberglass dash, so...

I need something to replace the stock alternator idiot light. If I went to Radio Shack what would I be looking for? The kit from watsons provides a diode circuit I can use if I don't use the light, but I figured the light is there for a reason.

Same for Hi-beam indicator.

Just need some small lights that are easily mounted anywhere in the dash.

I found a small silver box under my rear seat... is it the back-up light switch? (Yes, I already pitched the stock voltage regulator).

Also, I'm replacing my turn signal switch. It's aftermarket, says Made in Germany, and has absolutely no notation on the wire spades. I saw a diagram in here but nothing about the hi-beam switch. For the record, this is a '70.

Any help you guys can offer is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Post by **Marc** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:03 pm

The initial field flash for the alternator comes from the ignition through the warning lamp filament - without it the alternator might not kick in until the engine was rev'ed way up (if then). You could just rig any 12V light bulb between the positive terminal on the coil and the DF of the alternator, but IMO it's important to have it where it'll catch your eye in the event you toss a fanbelt.
How many wires and what color on the t'signal switch?
On the stock one, the input wire to the switch is black with both green & white stripes. The LH output is black/white stripe and the RH output is black/green stripe. A small brown/white stripe wire goes to the "S" trigger terminal of the hi/lo relay, and a solid brown to ground.
If your replacement switch has three additional wires (grey, grey/black, and grey/red usually) those are used for the Euro parking light system that lets you select only one side to stay on when you leave the car on the side of an unlit road, doubling the battery life. They have no function on a US-spec car, although there are a couple of possible creative uses for them.
The backup light switch screws into the nosecone of the transmission - it's completely an afterthought with no related wiring in the car's main harness. Other than the voltage regulator, the only "silver box" I can envision under your rear seat would be the relay for the rear window defogger.

Ol'fogasaurus · Post by **Ol'fogasaurus** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:08 pm

I use the diode. It is attached to the positive feed on the coil. It works well but there are some drawbacks. I also run a AMP gauge. That is how I tell if my system is charging. If I throw a belt, it would hard to tell. You also have to monitor the gauge quite a bit. With an idiot light, the light would come on as soon as the belt left the pulley.

We use to play hide and seek out on the dunes at night. You dfind a place to hide then shut down. If I used the CB to monitor if I was caught or not, the idiot light could give me away. If I wired the CB unswitched then left the CB on back at camp it would keep everyone awake at night (had others do that to us and so I was sensitive to that). That is why I went to the diode. We don't play hide and seek out on the dunes anymore so it is now a moot point.

If you do switch (no pun intended) to the diode, just make sure that the diode is hooked up in the proper direction as it is a gate and if it is in backward it won't work.

ToRy 70 · Post by **ToRy 70** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 11:03 pm

Thanks guys-

Marc- your description of the signal switch was spot on, every single wire was on there. I can't think of a reason to keep the euro wiring, so it'll probably be snipped off soon. Do you walk around with this stuff in your head? It must be huge.

For the light: assuming the warning light is used LIKE a diode (one-way street), is it critical which leads are connected, or do I just wire it in? I think I'll get some big LEDs from Watson's (diode is right in the name), I have some other stuff to order anyway.

It's been so long since I had the engine hooked up to ANY wiring, things are a bit fuzzy. Is the coil feed supposed to be a fairly small gauge wire? I think Watsons supplied a 16ga. For some reason it seems small to me. In any case, it's pink, so it's suspect, lol.

Also, just to be sure: my alt is a newer aftermarket Bosch. Big 12V battery wire goes to B+ (the big post-looking connection). Then the wire to the idiot light and fusebox comes from a spade connection (can't see the alphanumeric anywhere, is this DF?). Then there's a little screw into the body, not sure if that's some other kind of connection.

I'll be honest: I made every effort in conserving stock switches and relays, but that big nasty birds nest of wires covered in 35 years of dust HAD to come out NOW, to hell with sorting through them. I'm not sorry

. But it means I'm probably going to need some more pointers down the road. I'll use the search as much as I can, but advice will always be appreciated.

Post by **2088 bob** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:43 am

tory70 at least for the alt lite use use an incandescent as opposed to a LED bulb the circuit weighting is better with the incandescent

MNAirHead · Post by **MNAirHead** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:56 pm

If you don't want the light on your dash.. under the rear window is anohter simple place.. you can then see it in your rear view mirror.

T.

ToRy 70 · Post by **ToRy 70** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:00 am

Thanks for the ideas guys.

I am to understand that the LED doesn't have enough of a load to work here?

And using a 12V incandescent light- does it matter what leads go where? It's hard for me to picture in my head how this is supposed to work.

Post by **2088 bob** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:59 pm

ToRy 70 for that application an incandescent serves the basics of that circuit better hookup goes as follows a key on live 12v feed to one pin on the light and the other pin to the D+ pin on the alt

ToRy 70 · Post by **ToRy 70** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:12 am

Thanks for the info Bob. And Marc, thanks again for the info on the back-up switch. That thing was a royal PITA to get to... I had to loosen the nut to get at both prongs, but I got it in the end. I'm hoping polarity isn't an issue here, because I just guessed. Lol.

Also, I'm eventually gonna need help with my wiper motor. There are five prongs, one that looks like it says 31. Then there are 4 in a row. I didn't remove it from the car, it wasn't really in the way. Can someone help or point out a past post?

Thanks again, guys.

Post by **Marc** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:40 am

No polarity concern on the B/U switch (just be sure that if you power it from the ignition coil you tap off of the + Term 15 via a fuse).
31 is ground (brown wiring as a rule)
Your wiper motor must be pre`72, in which case the other 4 wires are:
53 (black)
53a (black/purple-stripe)
53b (black/yellow stripe)
31b (brown)

ToRy 70 · Post by **ToRy 70** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 12:22 pm

Thanks Marc. Unfortunately, I had already yanked the wires off the posts, the only post I can make out any notation on is the 31, which is offset from the 4 posts in a row. Would you happen to know the orientation from left to right? Two of them have a red and green wire soldered to them going to the motor. And do these correspond directly with the wiper switch (53a to 53a, etc.)? Watsons provides a wiper motor feed from their fusebox, I assume it goes to a post on the motor.

Also: now I'm wiring up the hazard switch... there's lots of goodies on this one.

31 (ground)
30
15
+
49a
L ( i assume to left batch of TS's)
R (i assume to right batch of TS's)

One more thing: Coming from the master brake cylinder are three wires ( I left these in because I figured I could patch into them without messing with the brake switch)

They are black, red, and black/red. One of them I assume went to the funny light-up brake checker button on the dash? I am not using it anymore.

Speedy Jim · Post by **Speedy Jim** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 2:55 pm

I wasn't up to speed on the wiper thread, so I'll ignore that

Pull up this page on my web site:
http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/htm/elec.htm

In the Brake/Tail Section:
Wiring of 3-prong brake light switches ('70 and later) with warning light connection.

Shows how the (2) 3-prong brake switches are wired on a dual circuit
master cylinder.

In the Miscellaneous Section:
3-terminal 12V flasher, simplified wiring diagram showing 4-Way Hazard switch: '72 and later.

Shows the very basics of the Hazard switch circuit.

Speedy Jim
http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/

ToRy 70 · Post by **ToRy 70** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:35 pm

Ok, I've pretty much worked out all the wiring in the car. The problem with the Watson's kit is that if you do it in the order described, you don't do clumps of wiring that go to each part of the car at a time: everything is will-nilly and you have to organize everything at the end if you don't want a bunch of add-on zip-ties. It took me the better part of this week to organize the dash wiring, but now at least I can look under the hood and my head doesn't explode.

I removed, cleaned, and repainted the wiper motor, finding the post labels in the process, so that's all taken care of

.

Now, the last elusive part of this setup: the hazard switch. With the watson's kit, the turn signal power and hazard power get their own seperate output on the fusebox. Not only that, but there's a relay and flasher for both built right in! Neato!

I can only assume that the power outputs "tick-tock" current to the TS and hazard switch, turning the bulbs on and off in turn, thus eliminating the need for my 4-prong flasher. I have 2 seperate dash indicators wired in basically like turn signal bulbs.

So the question is, what exactly do I need to hook up if I'm going to use my hazard switch this way? Can I just hook up juice to terminal 30 and be done with it? What is the purpose of terminal 15?
Here's a schematic of what I've hooked up so far:

ToRy 70 · Post by **ToRy 70** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 8:26 am

bump?

MNAirHead · Post by **MNAirHead** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:45 pm

highlighted the question for you.. for some reason longer notes receive longer wait times.