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Charge light and brake warn light
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av8shunmeckaneck
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Joined: July 26, 2013
Posts: 133
Location: Pasadena
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 14, 2020 11:22 am    Post subject: Charge light and brake warn light Reply with quote

Not sure if this will apply to the VW alternator too but I think it will. As you may know from 'Thingaru' I removed the stock speedo gauge cluster so no more charging light. I installed an LED battery indicator and retained the Brake Warning Light incandescent bulb. This worked fine to 'start' the Subaru alternator until yesterday. My colorblindness finally got me. I had the right brake light wire and ground wire swapped at the tail light connector. This had the right brake light wire going straight to ground and blowing fuse S2 as soon as I pressed the brake pedal. I don't how it didn't cause an issue for the past couple weeks until just yesterday but I think the wire I had going to ground had disconnected itself before I even hit the road. While I was troubleshooting I found the brake warn lite was a little melty so I removed it. The alternator wouldn't start with just the LED charge light connected. I reconnected just the Blue and Black wires back to the Brake Warn Lite which is enough to excite the alternator.
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mondshine
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Joined: October 27, 2006
Posts: 2765
Location: The World's Motor Capital
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 14, 2020 12:29 pm    Post subject: Re: Charge light and brake warn light Reply with quote

Just FYI...
I have seen where people use a diode and 100 Ohm resistor to substitute an LED for the incandescent charging light.
Like this:
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Good luck, Mondshine
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av8shunmeckaneck
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Joined: July 26, 2013
Posts: 133
Location: Pasadena
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 19, 2020 12:55 am    Post subject: Re: Charge light and brake warn light Reply with quote

mondshine wrote:
Just FYI...
I have seen where people use a diode and 100 Ohm resistor to substitute an LED for the incandescent charging light.
Like this:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Good luck, Mondshine


Thanks for the info. If I go back to the LED I'll use that circuit.

The alternator worked for a while with the Battery LED and only the blue and black wires connected to 15 and 61 on the 'Brake Warn' lite. That is, until the 'Brake Warn' bulb burned out after a couple of short trips around the neighborhood. Weirdest thing though, charge lite stayed ON but the volt meter in my Tunerstudio dash said it was charging even though the charge lite was on. That too only lasted a couple of trips and it stopped charging.

Ended up Jimmy rigging one of the bulb sockets from the VW speedo to fit in place of the LED in my charge light indicator.

BTW, the bulb wouldn't come out if the 'Brake Warn' indicator so I took my little Knipex flush cuts to it and chopped it apart. It was too melty to take it apart another way. The were dust remnants of a diode and transistor in there but too charred to identify. Chucked it all in the bin and zip-tied the wires out of the way.
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