Door light switch wiring help needed

[pomfritz]

Turning now to another area a P.O. destroyed the wiring...

I am in the process of installing VanagonLEDs door kit. Normally a quick and simple project except this is what my wiring looks like:

Driver side

Passenger Side

Driver side has two terminals. One side has two brown with white stripe wires connected together. I take it these are ground and one if these ties into the passenger side which is also brown with white stripe.

The other side of the driver side switch has a single white wire.

I assume the white is power but what would be avoid place to hook this up to?

Where would I connect the other BR/W wire to?

Just have a feeling there was probably more wiring between the two switches. I’ve looked at the Bentley and can sort of see part of the wiring pattern but this not an area I am well grounded in. (Yuk yuk)

I am not using the above door lamp.

On the I get this figured out the LEDs connect by tapping into the passenger ground wire and the positive wire on the lighter.

Looking forward to some light in the van finally

Thanks!
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83.5 233K. GW 2.3, SS exhaust, My German Frau named her Stefi

[crazyvwvanman]

No, that other wire is also a ground. It is for the key-in warning buzzer. It tells the warning buzzer module that the driver door is open.

Mark

[Gnarlodious]

...and also if the lights are on, assuming your relays are intact.
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Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[pomfritz]

I don’t think my year had any buzzers for door open/key in.

I need to rewire this in a basic way so that I can get the lights installed and turn on when either door is open. I don’t need it back to original. Any suggestions as to how to wire it?

Thanks
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83.5 233K. GW 2.3, SS exhaust, My German Frau named her Stefi

[crazyvwvanman]

The Bentley diagrams show all Vanagons with the key in buzzer, every year. Some people remove them, I don't.

The driver side door switch is special, with 2 places for wires that both go to ground only when door open but separated from each other when door closed.

If you don't have or want the buzzer you can leave the grey wire off the switch, but taped up so it doesn't touch any metal.

It doesn't matter which spot on the driver side switch gets the brown or gray.

Mark

[pomfritz]

So it sounds like on the driver side I ignore the grey wire. One brown wire connects to the passenger side switch.

The other driver side brown is grounded to the tree?

The lights are powered by tapping into the lighter and the ground side is tapped into the switch brown wire. (Per instructions).

So if this is the case, when either door opens the switch closes and the ground is complete?
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83.5 233K. GW 2.3, SS exhaust, My German Frau named her Stefi

[Gnarlodious]

The interior lights are powered through fuse #8 (counting from left), an 8 amp fuse. A red 20 gauge wire runs up the A pillar and all lights have constant power-on through this wire. You should first check to ensure that this wire is powered up.

The light goes on when an individual switch completes the circuit to the brown wire. The brown wire is grounded to the frame, see diagram circuit #81. You should see 12v across the red wire and the brown wire, even when the key is off. This should help you diagnose the problem.

The light switches are 3-position switches. CENTER is OFF, UP is ON, and DOWN is AUTOMATIC. Some vans may have the lights installed upsidedown and so are reverse from mine. AUTOMATIC setting means the lights are centrally controlled from a door switch. This is what the striped grounding wire is for, it grounds the lights through one of three door switches. These switches may be corroded and the contacts need cleaning with fine sandpaper or a wire brush. Also make sure you have metal to metal contact between the switch holddown screw and the threads of the doorpost. I use a spot of “Dielectric grease” on all connections to prevent corrosion.

You can ground a brown side terminal of any light against the metal to test the circuit, but don't ground the red wire or it will spark and burn your fuse. A cool mod: Add a switch anywhere to ground the striped wire and it will light up the whole van, assuming all lights are set to AUTOMATIC.
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Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[pomfritz]

Thanks for that. Part of my problem is that the upper dome light is not being used. I covered it up with my new headliner. The light wasn’t working before and it was not a bad bulb. I decided to forget about it and use the LEDs I am now trying to install.

I’ll check my relays, but pretty sure they are intact.
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83.5 233K. GW 2.3, SS exhaust, My German Frau named her Stefi

[Gnarlodious]

The alert relays are unrelated to the interior lighting. If your priority is getting lights for winter use, delay messing with any relays until convenient.

I have alerts in place for key-in slot, lights on and door open, each has a different chime. You can get later relays from a Jetta with a more appealing chime. Its a little work though to get it wired in, especially if a PO sabotaged the system.
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Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[pomfritz]

So any recommendation of how to wire up my three little wires together the basic light setup. Going to need to leave out any wiring to the dome just operate it on the door switches.
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83.5 233K. GW 2.3, SS exhaust, My German Frau named her Stefi

[pomfritz]

So any recommendation of how to wire up my three little wires together the basic light setup. Going to need to leave out any wiring to the dome just operate it on the door switches.
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83.5 233K. GW 2.3, SS exhaust, My German Frau named her Stefi

[lucianosanchez]

My wiring was in the exact same shape. The PO cut the wires and some rodents got to the rest. I ended up redoing the whole thing which didn't end up being too bad of a job.

Take the headliner off (makes the job a lot easier IMO). Run 3 wires down the driver side A pillar.
1. ground
2. constant ground (used to turn the light on at any time)
3. power (I got mine from my BlueSea Fuse box)

On the driver side dome light you plug in the power to the single prong side of the light. The other two cables; grounds, connect to the other side of the light on the separate prongs.

The passenger side switch has only one wire going to it, a ground cable. This guy runs from the passenger door all the way to the other door switch on the driver side. Connect the non constant ground to the passenger door switch. I also ran a light that goes to the sliding door. I need to wire up a switch for the sliding door since right now that light only turns on when the front doors open not when the passenger door opens. Hope this helps.
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1983.5 Aussan Brown Westfalia | 2016 to 2020
1983.5 Beige Westfalia | 2019 to Current

[pomfritz]

Thanks,

So how can you tell which one is which on the two ground cables? They are both the same color markings?

I’ve got three wires to hook up. Is the grey one by itself on the driver switch for power? Seems like it should be.

One brown goes to the other side and the other brown is grounded?
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83.5 233K. GW 2.3, SS exhaust, My German Frau named her Stefi

[lucianosanchez]

I guess an easy way to tell is with a continuity test. With all doors closed one of of the tester on the end of the cable and the other end on the ground star. If there is continuity on the wire then you have the "constant ground" wire. If you don't have continuity, open the door; if you get continuity, then you have the other ground wire.
I think the red wire is the power on the light. I also don't think they have the same markings. Basically, whatever color cable is coming from the passenger side, that is the "variable groud" cable that turns the light on when the door opens. Then you have power which is red I think. And finally you have the constant ground.
As I mentioned, I had to redo all of my dome light wiring so I do not have the same colors cables you are seein; just going off memory.

Since your cables were cut similar to mine, don't you have to run new wires also? How are you going to get the wire from inside the A pillar?
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1983.5 Aussan Brown Westfalia | 2016 to 2020
1983.5 Beige Westfalia | 2019 to Current

[crazyvwvanman]

You are not understanding. The switch is a grounding switch. When the door opens any wire plugged into any part of the switch gets immediately connected to the body ground, through the screw that holds the switch to the body. It is not a switch like most other switches you know. It is a grounding switch. It does not get a direct power wire, ever.

The gray wire is from the key-in buzzer relay. When you open the door the switch grounds the gray wire to the body and makes the buzzer make noise, if the key is in the ignition so you don't forget the key.

Mark

[pomfritz]

Mark

Okay I think I got what you’re saying. The grey I will ignore. One brown goes to the Passenger side switch. Where does the remaining brown on the driver side get attached?

If I ground it directly it defeats the purpose of the switches. Maybe for my case I also ignore it as it may have been for the dome light which I am not using
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83.5 233K. GW 2.3, SS exhaust, My German Frau named her Stefi

[pomfritz]

Got my LEDs installed and it is such an improvement to not open the door into a pitch black van.

The wiring was solved by “just” running one wire between the two switches. I couldn’t figure out how to run them without taking out headliner and going up the A pillars. Instead I cut a notch near the top corner of each switch to provide some room for the wire to come back out the switch hole and then under the dash. Looks fine and don’t think it will cut through the wire insulation.

The switch screws are the ground so closed door creates an open ground, open door is a closed ground. Ran a power wire from the aux battery and all good. Spice rack lighting is next.
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83.5 233K. GW 2.3, SS exhaust, My German Frau named her Stefi

[Wildthings]

Learning to read the DIN Current Track style wiring diagrams is very important if you own one of these vehicles. All the dome light wiring is shown on Page 26, current tracks #77-83 of this diagram.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/1985_...agrams.pdf