Wiring Harness.....

[jspbtown]

Sorry....brother-in-law was over, watching the Red Sox and having a few beverages....

The X is power in.

Either of the other two will be fine to use.

[CoryN]

No sweat I went to bed anyway. Got to thinking I'm using a stock beetle turn signal unit off the column. Are they normally grounded? Maybe that's the issue. I'll put a ground wire on it and try

[CoryN]

Went and got a much smaller flasher. Works now. I don't think I had enough resistance on the first one. Now to tackle the hazards

[jspbtown]

Thinking more clearly now..darn brother-in-law!

Blinkers and horns were the last things that clicked with me.

Believe it or not the ground actually comes through the bulbs. In the bulb itself the case is grounded. When you supply power to the bulb, the reaction between the + and - is the heating of the little coil in the bulb. This collision of + and - basically is a controlled short. It glows because that is how its designed.

But if you think for a moment that the - is traveling to the little coil, then it makes sense that when no power is supplied to the bulb, that the - power continues to travel through the little coil, into the wire that provides the + and all the way back to the switch. So, when you activate the switch, the - charge actually continues back towards the flasher.

Because the flasher has + to it from the fuse block, its waiting for a - charge to start working. Flip the blinker switch, the - charge races toward the flasher, it completes the circuit, transfers power briefly, and then in what is a controlled overload, breaks the connection for a second. A second later, it cools, and the connection is made again for a second, when it breaks agains. And so on, and so on.

This is where the flasher gets its - charge.

So in my clearer head this morning I bet that the - on the flasher goes toward the switch.


Ohh...one more thing. If you have an alternator are you making provisions for the alternator light? You need on.

[CoryN]

I've got a genny but I put a light on it under the dash in cafe I switch out

[CoryN]

Woo hoo everything works! Now I am turning my attention to the horn button. Here is my deal. My column is PVC pipe. I molded a PVC coupler in the dashboard and in the firewall back when I was in my fiberglass stage. When I mounted my hood I put a length of PVC pipe in between the two couplers so the steering shaft is totally enclosed inside the body. I cut off a section of oem metal column which incidentally fits exactly inside the pipe. I mounted a beetle turn signal on that and it slips on the end of the pipe. Just inside that is a bearing that has an outside diameter exactly the same size as the inside of the pipe and inside diameter the same as the shaft.

Long story short I have no place to run wires for the horn except down the inside of the shaft itself. Top end is no problem. Any ideas on midway down where I'll drill a hole and pull the wires out? Just leave plenty of slack? Not like it will be making complete revolutions.

[jspbtown]

I knew you could do it! Great job!

Horns are a nightmare...really they are.

I "think" I have an idea that will work for you. I will try my best to try to describe it.

Can you, from behind the dash, screw a short sheetmetal screw through the plastic pipe and tap into the original tube? Not the shaft, but the tube?

If so, then here is what I am thinking. This involves just a - charge.

Take a wire and attach it to a bolt on the steering coupler that is in contact with the steering box side. This is the start of the - charge's journey. Run that wire up the center of the steering shaft until it pops out near the steering column and horn.

In theory, that is now an isolated - power source. It won't get all twisted because the shaft turns with the box.

Attach that wire to the horn button. Take another wire that is attached to that screw that taps into the actual steering column (not the shaft) and run it to a coil tab on a relay (happy you got relays down now?).

Let's wire the relay now. You have one tab for the coil having a - charge (from the steering column) so bring + power to the other coil tab on the relay. Bring power to the 30 tab, and from the 87 tab run a wire to your horn. Make sure the horn is grounded (from either a wire or the chassis depending on what style you have.

So...lets follow the - electrons! They start off at the steering box since it is mounted on the chassis. They follow the wire up to the horn button through the center of the steering shaft. The column at this point is totally neutral since it has no + power source and is isolated from the chassis inside the PVC mounting tube and by the steering "donut".

So the - charge ends at the horn. When you install the horn button they usually have a tension clip on the underside. That clip touches the steering wheel, which in turn touches the steering shaft and steering column. The circuit remains broken until the horn button is depressed. When it is, the - charge races from the wire, through the horn button and basically floods the entire column with a - charge.

Thats when the little metal screw grabs the - charge and activates the coil relay causing the coil to transfer a + charge from the 30 tab, to the 87 tab, and into the horn.

Let me know if that works. The only thing that it might mess up is the blinkers...but I am 90% sure that it will not. Basically I am unsure if the - charge in the column will affect the internals of the switching mechanism on the column.

And sorry if the description is too long. I just think its easier if someone understands something versus just doing it blindly.

[CoryN]

Interesting. Let me think about that some