Speedo and lights question

[rhubarbray]

Ok, a little background. Wife and I are out for a short drive, start to hear an intermittent squeaking. Some troubleshooting later it's the speedo. Ok, no problem, I see someone else had the same issue, I can do that. Speedo out, lube the cable and the speedo drive, no more squeaking.
Reassembled the speedo wires, ( accidentally labeled two of the same, small bout of panicking as my wires are spliced with whatever the PO had laying around and do not match the OEM colour codes.)
Now, everything went back together well but now it seems I have my high beam light on all the time, even with the lights off.
I took a look at the 1973 wiring diagram on this forum ( mine's a '74 ) and if I read that right, the wire goes directly from the fuse to the bulb, and then through the housing to ground I'm assuming. That doesn't make sense. I would have thought it to go through the high beam switch on the column?
When I cleaned all the terminals did I unknowingly give the light a ground it's been trying to find?

[glutamodo]

The high beam light only gets power when the circuit is energized, and the relay is what does that work. The high beam switch just toggles the relay. Also, the fusebox is usually an easier source to tap for a wire connection.

With the lights off and the ignition on, any power coming into the speedometer will only be two Terminal 15 connections. Originally a solid black wire. One goes the gang connection at the bottom of the speedometer that works the charging, oil pressure and turn signal indicators. The other is the power going up to the voltage stabilizer for the fuel gauge.

This is a 68 Bug Speedometer but the locations of everything would be the same on a 74.

_________________
Andy T.

"What is Glutamodo, Horror of Toyko, besides total, fiendish, quality-a-you brain!"

[rhubarbray]

Ah! Now I see. Power comes from the relay via two different wires to that power distribution strip and then to either the low or high beam in each bulb. Looking at the diagram I thought it was another fuse strip but I was wondering why I didn't see fuse values.

Another issue I just had was I wish I had seen your diagram before Thursday.

I'm used to working on Japanese motorcycles where each light has a power wire to the centre pin on the bulb and the housing is used as a ground. The housings are usually wired together for a common ground.

I thought this was a ground!PO had an unused wire terminal I thought I had forgotten to label.

Let's just say I accidentally let the smoke out of the wire!

All fixed.

[glutamodo]

Yep, those three warning lights at the bottom are "bass-ackwards" but only those three. The high beam and the night lights do have grounded sockets. That bottom gang, it's built on a plastic isolation block.
_________________
Andy T.

"What is Glutamodo, Horror of Toyko, besides total, fiendish, quality-a-you brain!"