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Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:55 pm

on the rear tailight assembly,which wires are the backup lights? is there a seperate hot and ground? I tried my tester,but not sure if it's not working or I don't know what im doing.i'm leaning towards the latter.

Mon Mar 03, 2008 5:37 am

According to the Bentley, there is a BLACK/BLUE wire coming off of the back-up switch (located on the side of the transaxle) and runs to the light housings.

So, pull off the left (or right) tail light housing, un-snap the lens (left and right tabs), then pull back on the rubber boot that protects the wires and connectors to the "circuit board" of the tail lights. Find the Black/blue wire. Put the shifter in reverse, then put key in "on" position. This lead should be "hot".

All the bulbs share a common ground, so if the other bulbs are working (parking, brake), then the ground is good.

Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:20 pm

they all work. I was just wanting to wire some brighter backup lights into the existing ones.thanks bucko

Thu Aug 20, 2009 8:05 am

Excuse my ignorance here but this is my first time trying any type of electrical wiring on the van.

When wiring up backup lights, in my case 2 x35w Optilux lights http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=453
and I tap the vans BLACK/BLUE backup light wire, I assume I do this on both the L&R sides of the van's tail lights? or am I running both lights off one singular feed and daisy chaining it?

I assume I should wire the lights Blue wire to the BLACK/BLUE wire and the lights black wire on the light should just be grounded to the frame anywhere on the van?

Also do I need a relay of some kind? If so what kind and size? I assume I would get it at any auto store like autozone? or radioshack?

Thanks,
Robert

Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:13 am

Robert, I would suggest adding a relay. This will remove the load off of the stock reverse switch and wiring. You would use the power wire to the existing bulbs to energize the relay. Bosch makes a fog light relay that would be suitable with mounting bracket. There would be no advantage to wiring into both stock backup lights. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/VW-PORSCHE-FOG-LIGH...dZViewItem This is not me, only a reference to the relay I speak of.

Sat Sep 19, 2009 10:00 am

So this is my first wiring experience.

I bought a kit from Autozone that are normal aux driving lights, rectangle in design, small about 4" wide x 1 inch tall roughly.

I am going to mount them under the rear bumper.

The light has a white wire and black wire.

The kit comes with a toggle switch to turn them on and off, an included inline fuse that runs to the battery.

It shows in their instructions to run the red wire with the inline fuse to the battery, the other end goes to 3 pin switch, then it shows a green wire running to the lights connecting to the white connector on the light unit and the black wire is on the lights are not connected, though there is a black wire from the switch that is to be run to a ground.

Initially I was thinking of just wiring it up directly to the Black/Blue wire feeding the white connectors on the light housing with the inline fuse it came with and running a ground from the black wire on the light housings but is this correct? Do I need to even run power from the battery? I am just using them as back up lights so I can see when I backup.

I am a bit confused. I am trying to do this simply.

This is what they look like:
http://www.pilotautomotive.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=27166

Thanks,
Robert

Sat Sep 19, 2009 11:33 am

What rsxsr is suggesting is to use a relay instead of the switch from the kit. If you take the power to run the aux lights from the existing lights then you are subjecting the existing switch/fuse/wiring to more current than it was designed for. It may work OK or not.

A relay is an electric switch. It uses just a little current from the existing wiring to switch the main current (from the battery) to light your new lights. So, if you do not use the relay then the green(?) wire goes to the Black/Blue wire if you use the relay then the green(?) wire goes to the switched side of the relay and the relay is connected to the Black/Blue wire for switching and to the battery for power. There are a bunch of good writeups for adding relays for headlights and fog lights.

Eric

Sat Sep 19, 2009 11:45 am

Black/Blue wire goes to Green Wire with inline Fuse
This connects to the white wire on the Light
Black Wire from light goes to ground?

Is this right?