1982 vw beetle steering column electrical connectors

[Dehne]

Can somebody help me please. I have a 1982 vw Beetle made in Mexico. I am building a buggy and have the original steering column.
There are 4 connectors from the steering column
1. connector for the wipers. No issues
2. Connector for the Ignition and starter
3. Connector for the signals, emergency flasher
4. Connector that I have no idea what it runs
1 yellow wire
1 red wire
1 white wire with a black strip
1 white wire
Does anybody know what this is for?

[glutamodo]

Red, Yellow, White and White/Black are headlight terminal colors. Those are for the high/low beam switch.
_________________
Andy T.


IMAGE NOTE: It has been noted that Chrome based browsers may have issues in displaying my vast image library, which use non-secure links and are on an FTP server. Images should still be viewable if the link is clicked though.
I do not know how to fix this. All I can say is it all works fine for me with what I use, Firefox.

[Dehne]

Thanks Andy. So these cables then go to the headlight dimmer relay?

[glutamodo]

In the 70s VW Germany was using a relay. Not sure what Mexico had going in the 80s though. (by 1985, my USA made Golf was NOT using a relay, it has a column switch for high/low) I'm just used to white with black stripe being power out from the headlight switch, and solid yellow and solid white being low and high beams.
_________________
Andy T.


IMAGE NOTE: It has been noted that Chrome based browsers may have issues in displaying my vast image library, which use non-secure links and are on an FTP server. Images should still be viewable if the link is clicked though.
I do not know how to fix this. All I can say is it all works fine for me with what I use, Firefox.

[Dehne]

That’s the problem Andy that I have. My indicator is also on the steering column. But I am using the wiring kit from American Aurowire. It only goes to 1974. It has all the correct wire colors to the relay but no white wire with black strip. The red wire is there but shows it going to the light switch. What does the white wire with black strip connect to?

[glutamodo]

VW uses DIN standards for wiring, that means identification (and proper thickness of the wires, or at least so I assume) of the wires by color code.

The headlight switch should have a thick solid red Terminal 30 wire, that is unfused from the battery, and when you turn the lights on, power flows into a white wire with a black stripe (Terminal 56) which then goes to the switching mechanism for high and low beams. On old bugs that was the switch on the floor, starting in 1966 that meant a relay toggled by a ground contact button on the turn signal arm.

And, as I said above, in the water-cooled era was a physical switch, a protruding socket off the wiper switch that was triggered by rocking the turn switch against it. There was a 4-terminal connector separate from the wiper functions. Solid Yellow output was Terminal 56b, low beams. Solid White output was Terminal 56a, High Beams.

Why, then would there be another wire, solid-red, included? Well that was another terminal 30 wire, so you could "flash" your high beams at any time by pulling back on the turn switch stalk.

Now back to White/Black. That was power out from the headlight switch. It went to a relay, or floor switch early on, or column switch in the watercooled era, to send the power back over the fuse panel. It was there that it went to the fuse block via white and yellow wires, and from there to the actual bulbs in question.

This a description of DIN wiring. I said before, I don't know what VW of Mexico was up to in the early 80s, but I do know VW usually followed DIN standards.
_________________
Andy T.


IMAGE NOTE: It has been noted that Chrome based browsers may have issues in displaying my vast image library, which use non-secure links and are on an FTP server. Images should still be viewable if the link is clicked though.
I do not know how to fix this. All I can say is it all works fine for me with what I use, Firefox.

[Dehne]

That’s very clear now Andy. Only when you mention, now back to the White/Black and it went to a relay, what terminal does it connect to. I have added the drawing I am working with.
I don’t want to sound this nieve, only my electrical knowledge is very limited.

[glutamodo]

Going back to my first reply... you asked about a plug with those 4 colors. I know those colors as how the headlights were wired into the late 60s.

The X terminal is a load reduction circuit that started in the early 70s, it doesn't get power when you are cranking the engine, so the headlights shut off at that time. But that went to the headlight switch. The output from the headlight switch was still black/white and the output of the relay was still white and yellow to the fuses. No headlight flash on USA Beetles so no red wire to the high beam relay, just the three power leads and the activation grounding wire from the column switches. But Euro models had it, you can see all of this in the mid 70s 1200 diagram Item J on track 12.

_________________
Andy T.


IMAGE NOTE: It has been noted that Chrome based browsers may have issues in displaying my vast image library, which use non-secure links and are on an FTP server. Images should still be viewable if the link is clicked though.
I do not know how to fix this. All I can say is it all works fine for me with what I use, Firefox.

[Dehne]

Clear as a bell now Andy. Thank you so much for your guidance