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Thu Mar 07, 2019 10:23 am

Hello, I am curious about a feature I read about on SEbeetles.com. There seem to have existed a city light or parking light option. Meaning that when the car is parked, by pushing the turn signal lever to left, the side markers only on the left side would turn on permanently. That is, if I understood correctly. There was also a "city light" indicator in some speedometers, green light I think near "20" kph or mph, or at 12 o'clock (not sure).
I could not find either the bulb or figure out how this would work in any of the wiring diagrams.
Most of European cars nowadays have such an option, to turn on only the left side markers.
Does anybody know about this feature, and how it was wired? I think it would be a nice option.

Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:05 am

This was not a feature on U.S. cars but as you note very common in German and other Euro market cars then and now.

My '65 Type 3, which may have been a grey market import, has this setup from the factory. The parking lights are on the front fenders. People often think they are supposed to be turn signal repeaters, but they are not.

When the ignition is off, if the turn signal lever is moved to left or right position, the light on that side of the car will glow.

You can see how the wiring is done by looking at the '65 Type 3 wiring diagram here on the Samba.

In the diagram, the lights labeled as M3 and M4 are the parking lights.

You can see that it does require the correct turn signal switch which has the outputs to drive the parking lights.

My car also has a green light in the dash that turns on when the headlight switch is pulled out to the first stop - running lights only. I believe all Type 3s had this feature regardless of market.

In a Euro market car this would have lit a small white bulb inside the headlight housing (what you described as a city light) but in my car which had been converted to USA spec headlights, it lights the low-wattage filament of the dual-filament bulb in the front turn signal housing along with the taillights (what we in the US confusingly call "parking lights")

Thu Mar 07, 2019 12:03 pm

Very interesting, thank you. So it was a different turn signal switch and a different set of lights. I thought it would somehow turn on the blinker lights permanently on one side, or the parking lights on one side. I refer to parking lights as the 5W bulbs that light up at first push of lights button (i have 1303; second push would turn on low beam). The are called position lights in Europe sometimes.
I never heard of dual filament blinker bulbs. Or are you refering to tail light and brake bulb (5W/21W)?

Thu Mar 07, 2019 12:18 pm

tzepesh wrote: Very interesting, thank you. So it was a different turn signal switch and a different set of lights. I thought it would somehow turn on the blinker lights permanently on one side, or the parking lights on one side.

There's no reason it could not be made to operate that way. I had an '84 W123 Mercedes with this feature (even though it was a US spec car) and it would engage the taillight and front position light on that side of the car.

You would not want it to use the turn signal bulbs though, as the wattage is too high (21W) leading to faster battery drain. You'd want to use the position lights and taillights (5W) for less power consumption.

Quote:
I refer to parking lights as the 5W bulbs that light up at first push of lights button (i have 1303; second push would turn on low beam). The are called position lights in Europe sometimes.
I never heard of dual filament blinker bulbs. Or are you refering to tail light and brake bulb (5W/21W)?

In US spec cars the front turn signal bulb is generally a dual-filament bulb. The 21W filament is used for the turn signal, and the 5W filament is used for the position light, as you call it.

For a long time the US required sealed beam headlamps so US cars did not have city lights. But US required a position light, or marker light, and this was generally incorporated into the turn signal bulb housing (probably because it was cheap and easy to do) resulting in most US cars having amber-colored position lights up front and dual filament bulbs for that purpose.

If you look at the wiring diagram for the '66 Type 3, US spec, you see the parking lights on the sides are gone + there is no city light in the headlamp + the bulbs in the front turn signal housings are dual filament - position light + turn signal.

Sat Oct 26, 2019 12:29 am

To add to the conversation, I have a 1972 Super Beetle built for the European (German) market. I was trying to figure out where the parking lights were on the front of my car. I discovered the bulb and connecting wire (gray) when I removed the headlights to check on a poor ground.
My headlights are the European version designed to take an H4 bulb and a BA9S bulb sticking through the reflector and placed just under the main bulb. On the left side of the speedometer directly across from the high beam indicator is the green indicator for the city/parking lights. The story I have found online is that the city light was originally used in the city where you usually had more than sufficient lighting to drive without the headlights on.
Today you can replace the 4W bulbs with LEDs that are significantly brighter but don't draw as much current as the original bulbs. In fact they are so bright that I have driven short distances in Houston with only these on and I don't blind oncoming drivers. Streets are very well lit for the most part in the city.
When you read "dual filament" people are referring to 1157 12V dual contact bayonet bulbs; parking light and stop light. These are also available in an LED that has a whiter light or can be had in red.
I will post a picture where you can see the bulb through the lens and one from the back.

Sat Oct 26, 2019 1:02 am

I forgot to mention that if you look in the wiring diagrams here on TheSamba there is one that is almost identical to my European Super Beetle. It is the diagram for the 1968-69 Non-US Beetle wiring diagram. It shows the directional light on the fender and the marker/position light in the headlight reflector. This is the diagram that got me searching for the position/side-marker light. Since I have an almost all original German SB, I figured it had to be there some where.
My car was in storage from 1975 or 1976 until it was purchased in 2012 by an American Serviceman stationed in Germany. When he got it the odometer reading was less than it is now. I was driving it a couple of days ago and the odometer turned over to 53,040 kilometers. That is roughly 33,150 miles. That is the true odometer reading.

Sat Oct 26, 2019 1:03 am

tzepesh wrote: Very interesting, thank you. So it was a different turn signal switch and a different set of lights. I thought it would somehow turn on the blinker lights permanently on one side, or the parking lights on one side. I refer to parking lights as the 5W bulbs that light up at first push of lights button (i have 1303; second push would turn on low beam). The are called position lights in Europe sometimes.

If you want to use the parking light function (like it was installed in German Type 3 from '72-'73 and many other later VWs) in a European 1303 you have to re-wire some things and (if the parts are still factory installed) replace blinker switch and ignition switch. Spare parts normally are equipped with the required contacts.

On European 1303 the front parking lights L and R are wired together to one fuse. This has to be split up and each front light has to be connected to the fuse of the corresponding tail light. Additionally you have to separate the license plate light from the taillight and give it an own wire to the fuse box. After that the parking light wiring between ignition switch, blinker switch and fuse box has to be made.

You can refer to the wiring diagram of a '73 type 3 or an early Golf Mk1.
I made this update on my '75 1303 some decades ago.

Sat Oct 26, 2019 5:23 am

My Mexican Beetle, which was originally sold new in Germany had the headlights converted to use City lights. In this set up, the second bulb mentioned earlier was connected to the first setting on the headlight switch.

The City light is a second bulb mounted within the housing of the Hella H4 headlights that are installed. The City lights glow with an almost amber colour and are used at dusk and dawn. It is a lighting requirement in almost (every?) European country.

Originally the first setting turned on the parking lights (second filament in the turn signals), the importer simply used that connection for the City lights (and disconnected the second filament).

This photo (of my old speedo from my '71 Super I scrapped years ago) shows the green indicator for the City lights. The green light is between the 20 and 30 mph on the left side. On that car, there was no bulb installed but a 'delete' plug instead.

This link shows a nice look at the headlights with the second bulb (not my car):
http://1600i.de/1600i-mechanik/scheinwerfer/scheinwerfer.html

Sat Oct 26, 2019 10:03 am

I have a '68 Euro-spec Beetle (here in the US) and found the fourth grey wire leading from the fusebox to the headlight from when the car originally had Euro-style headlights. At some point it was converted to sealed beam headlights...they grey wire was disconnected at the headlight but left connected at the fusebox. :roll: That's now been corrected.

Part of me wants to find a pair of '68 US-spec turn signal bulb holders that have the dual-filament socket so I could have front running lights on the car. Not that I drive much at night but if I did, it's an added safety feature in case a headlight fails. '68s front bulb holders seem to be a rare beast though.

Sat Oct 26, 2019 1:41 pm

hopkin wrote: ...

This photo (of my old speedo from my '71 Super I scrapped years ago) shows the green indicator for the City lights. The green light is between the 20 and 30 mph on the left side. On that car, there was no bulb installed but a 'delete' plug instead.

...

Correction, I think the green light was used for the rear fog light.

Sat Oct 26, 2019 4:29 pm

hopkin wrote:
This photo (of my old speedo from my '71 Super I scrapped years ago) shows the green indicator for the City lights. The green light is between the 20 and 30 mph on the left side. On that car, there was no bulb installed but a 'delete' plug instead.

This light is for Italy models.