Turn signal indicators. Are they rgt & lft

[malcolm2]

OK, probably a stupid question and I will find out the answer one day. I have never driven a bus. Had a couple bugs in the 80's and currently have a 75 915.

The bugs and the 75 914 have a single turn signal indicator. I back dated my 914 gauge to a silver dot from a 72 914 and they have individual blinker lights. I like the look of the silver dot, plus the 75 mph gauge was 150 and the silver dot is 120. Never gonna drive that fast....

I had to rewire the blinkers thru the hazard switch to work separately. I need to find my drawing on that.

I took out the gauges of my 72 bus this weekend and noticed that it has separate rgt & lft indicators but there is a single Blue/Red wire feeding both bulbs.

So can the blinker stalk make them work individually? Not an electrician but know enough to be dangerous (and ask stupid questions).

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My Toys: '75 Porsche 914, '92 Ski Nautique and now a 1972 VW Transporter Deluxe (punch list fixing)

[sjbartnik]

No.

Both indicator bulbs blink together. They are for all purposes the same as the single indicator bulb in a Beetle but for some reason VW decided to use two bulbs in a Bus.
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[SGKent]

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/type2.php
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[Wildthings]

It is my understanding that VW went with a right and a left bulb when they designed the dash but never upgraded the wiring to match. It would be easy enough to do I would think, just tie into the wiring for the front turn signal bulbs.

[sjbartnik]

It would be doable but a little more involved than just connecting to the front turn signal wiring.

The turn signal indicator is kind of a weird reverse-polarity thing. The indicator bulbs are powered all the time the ignition is on via the same internal bus that powers the other warning light bulbs.

They get ground from the flasher relay intermittently as the turn signals flash, so they flash opposite from the external bulbs. When the external bulbs are lit, the indicator is off and vice versa.

If you just removed the wires to the indicator bulbs and connected them up to the front turn signal bulb, you'd basically have 12v to both sides of the bulbs (1 steady 12v source and one intermittent source) and no ground path - so the indicator bulbs either may not flash at all or may try to ground through the other warning lights making your oil/gen lights flash and your fuel gauge swing around. Could be interesting.
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[OB Bus]

Someone on here a long time ago published a schematic on building a small black box to get separate lights. Could not find it on a quick search.
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Larry in OB
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!
69 Westfalia and 2002 Eurovan Camper.

[malcolm2]

[Wildthings]

[telford dorr]

The easiest way to blink the indicators individually is to use (small) 12 volt relays. Wire one end of a relay coil to each front turn lamp. Ground the other end of each coil. Use the relay contacts to ground the terminal on the dash indicator.

(You can use small mosfet transistors in place of the relays, but that would involve circuit fabrication.)
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'71 panel, now with FI
'Experience' is the ability to recognize a mistake when you're making it again - Franklin P. Jones
In theory, theory works in practice; in practice, it doesn't - William T. Harbaugh
When you're dead, you don't know you're dead. The pain is only felt by others.
Same thing happens when you're stupid. - Philippe Geluck
More VW electrical at http://telforddorr.com/ (available 9am to 9pm PST)

[malcolm2]

Found my pix... and the 914world post. http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=248604&hl=silver

As mentioned above, I had to get a bulb holder with 2 connections and loop the ground together. Then I used the correct wire from the hazard switch and ran it to the correct bulb. Used some "fancy" connectors and it worked.

I guess I will tinker with the bus set-up and see if it is similar enough for me to figure out.

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My Toys: '75 Porsche 914, '92 Ski Nautique and now a 1972 VW Transporter Deluxe (punch list fixing)

[kreemoweet]