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adel14
Samba Member
Joined: September 12, 2015
Posts: 5
Location: El Centro
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 Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2025 4:00 am Post subject: Mysterious lonely cables Vanagon Westfalia 1982 |
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Hi, there.
I took out the Dash to fix the heat core, meanwhile I found a 3 cable loom going from the dash, going up the A pilar, and back to rear cabinet area. Seems to me they were courtesy light? Does someone have any knowledge about them? Where should I connect them?
I would appreciate any help, thank you!
Adel
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MarkWard
Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2005
Posts: 18692
Location: Retired South Florida
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| Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2025 4:34 am Post subject: Re: Mysterious lonely cables Vanagon Westfalia 1982 |
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| 97% those are rear speaker wires. |
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ALIKA T3
Samba Member
Joined: July 30, 2009
Posts: 7164
Location: Honolulu,Hawaii and France
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jlrftype7
Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018
Posts: 4515
Location: Chicago
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| Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2025 12:31 pm Post subject: Re: Mysterious lonely cables Vanagon Westfalia 1982 |
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Don’t disregard those wires- for a low amperage circuit, you can repurpose that cable to power LED lighting. or maybe a microfan.
I used ours to power up two LED pod lights in the Cargo area as work lights when needed.
_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto |
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adel14
Samba Member
Joined: September 12, 2015
Posts: 5
Location: El Centro
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| Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2025 5:26 pm Post subject: Re: Mysterious lonely cables Vanagon Westfalia 1982 |
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| MarkWard wrote: |
| 97% those are rear speaker wires. |
Seriously? 
Mark, huge thanks! I was braking my head trying to figure out what they were for. Never went through my mind that they could be speaker wires but now that you mention it, makes a lot of sense; distance, position. Etc
I appreciate it! |
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adel14
Samba Member
Joined: September 12, 2015
Posts: 5
Location: El Centro
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| Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2025 5:28 pm Post subject: Re: Mysterious lonely cables Vanagon Westfalia 1982 |
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| ALIKA T3 wrote: |
| MarkWard wrote: |
| 97% those are rear speaker wires. |
100% right you are! |
Thank you! I was having zero idea.
I really thought they were courtesy lights. Just on time for the new stereo installation. |
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adel14
Samba Member
Joined: September 12, 2015
Posts: 5
Location: El Centro
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| Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2025 5:33 pm Post subject: Re: Mysterious lonely cables Vanagon Westfalia 1982 |
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| jlrftype7 wrote: |
| Don’t disregard those wires- for a low amperage circuit, you can repurpose that cable to power LED lighting. or maybe a microfan. |
Those LED Spot Lights in warm color are amazing! Great idea. We figured out they were speaker wires. I’ll let them for the speakers , but I will add 2 or 3 more wires for a future illumination or ventilation as you said. Thanks for the idea! |
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MarkWard
Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2005
Posts: 18692
Location: Retired South Florida
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| Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2025 5:36 pm Post subject: Re: Mysterious lonely cables Vanagon Westfalia 1982 |
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| I’m not a stereo person, but VW originally shared the ground between both rear speakers, hence only 3. My understanding and newer stereo heads use separate grounds for L and R. There are ground splitters I recall reading, but running new good quality speaker wire now would be easy. |
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adel14
Samba Member
Joined: September 12, 2015
Posts: 5
Location: El Centro
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| Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2025 5:48 pm Post subject: Re: Mysterious lonely cables Vanagon Westfalia 1982 |
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| MarkWard wrote: |
| I’m not a stereo person, but VW originally shared the ground between both rear speakers, hence only 3. My understanding and newer stereo heads use separate grounds for L and R. There are ground splitters I recall reading, but running new good quality speaker wire now would be easy. |
Very interesting, I wasn’t aware that is better to have separate grounds for speakers.
As you, I have never given much interest in stereos or music, but since my wife loves music; I rather give the extra mile, add new cables and let those ones for extra illustration.
I ordered a cheap stereo with rear camera, my first motivation was the parking camera haha. |
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ALIKA T3
Samba Member
Joined: July 30, 2009
Posts: 7164
Location: Honolulu,Hawaii and France
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jlrftype7
Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018
Posts: 4515
Location: Chicago
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| Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2025 4:10 pm Post subject: Re: Mysterious lonely cables Vanagon Westfalia 1982 |
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| adel14 wrote: |
| jlrftype7 wrote: |
| Don’t disregard those wires- for a low amperage circuit, you can repurpose that cable to power LED lighting. or maybe a microfan. |
Those LED Spot Lights in warm color are amazing! Great idea. We figured out they were speaker wires. I’ll let them for the speakers , but I will add 2 or 3 more wires for a future illumination or ventilation as you said. Thanks for the idea! |
. In the far right of my picture, you can see the switch pack for them. This is a Dimmer on the left, and On/Off on the right, so we don’t have to live with full brightness at night if we don’t want to. Seem to remember it’s an Amazon purchase that was fairly compact and unobtrusive.
It was probably this one.
https://a.co/d/63RWRgw
_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto |
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