78 Westy Rear Side Lights

[brainwash]

I need to wire up the rear side lights (what's the real name for these?) on my 78 Westfalia, but am not sure how. I've looked at the wire diagrams but can't figure it out from them

[aeromech]

Looks like all you need to do is put a wire to ground on the bottom spade for the light assembly.

Cool battery tray. Where did that come from?
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[brainwash]

Thanks, Aeormech. So just run a wire to ground solo? It's not part of a harness or set of wires somehow?

The tray is for Optima batteries.
http://www.optimatrays.com/
Got one in each battery bay. Following your posts on the wiring up a spare battery with the Blue Sea Systems stuff, BTW. Thanks for those!

[telford dorr]

OK, so ignore the diagram and just use logic:

- There is a wiring harness going to each taillight assembly (left and right).

- Most of the wires in the harness have 1/4" female terminals on them. We're not interested in any of them.

- Two of the wires have 0.110" (small) female terminals on them.

- One of these two wires will be brown. This is the ground wire.

- The other wire will not be brown. This is the 'hot' wire.

- These two wires go to the side marker light assembly The ground wire goes to the shell of the bulb and the 'hot' wire goes to the bulb's center contact. Inspect the lampholder to determine which contact goes where. Now connect the two wires.

- Pull out the headlight switch knob one click and verify that the side marker lamps illuminate. If not, check the terminals with a voltmeter to verify power is getting there.
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[brainwash]

Great, thanks for detailing it out, really appreciate it!