Headlight upgrade and Q about the marker lights

[johnshenry]

I am upgrading the headlights in my US spec '69 280.  I am installing 7" Cibie E-Codes from Daniel Stern Lighting.  I spent FOUR HOURS last night running wires, making relay mount bracket, soldering connectors, etc.  I'll post up some pics on this thread later.

The E-Codes have the small "city light" in the reflector.  I used to use these on my old VW Cabriolets I used to drive, love the look at dusk.  I assumed that I could piggyback of the lower bulb contacts in the "door", but I realized at about 11pm last night, after I soldered the wires on, that that is the turn signal.

I am somewhat perplexed by the three filaments/bulbs below the headlight and need to wrap up this project tonight.

The upper yellow light is a dual filament bulb, and the lower smaller light a single filament that I discovered is the turn signal.  So I assume that the upper light is the parking and "side" lights.  Is this correct?  I looked in my owners manual and assume that given the explanation of the switch operation (have only had this car since last Nov) and the wiring diagram.  It does not show a photo of the front of the car and ID the lights.

I find it surprising that they don't use the higher wattage filament in the upper bulb for the turn signal and that is usually the bulb you want the brightest.  And I assume the "side" light is the R or L light you leave on when curb parked, and it should be a pretty low watt one.

I want the city lights on the parking light circuit.  Does that light stay on when the headlights are on?  Now that I think of it, I may disconnect the yellow parking light wire and just have the city lights operate as the parking lights alone.

I of course could have probably figured all of this out last night, but I was tired and made myself "walk away" from the project and get to bed....

JH

[al_lieffring]

Painters are the worlds worst electritians.

When these cars get repainted the wiring at the plugs get crossed up all the time. Your conclusions are correct, in the dual filiment blb the higher wattage should be the turn signal, the lower watt, the marker lamps (the one you want to tap into) and the small peanut bulb it's for euro style parking lamps that come on one side or the other.
First remove all the connectors from the female plug, start by reconnecting the ground wire (brown) and then activate each circuit individualy and connect that wire to the pin that works the proper lamp. I find it is quicker this way than looking up a diagram.

[johnshenry]

Painters are the worlds worst electritians.

When these cars get repainted the wiring at the plugs get crossed up all the time. Your conclusions are correct, in the dual filiment blb the higher wattage should be the turn signal, the lower watt, the marker lamps (the one you want to tap into) and the small peanut bulb it's for euro style parking lamps that come on one side or the other.
First remove all the connectors from the female plug, start by reconnecting the ground wire (brown) and then activate each circuit individualy and connect that wire to the pin that works the proper lamp. I find it is quicker this way than looking up a diagram.

Thanks, I didn't know you could move the pins (sockets) around on the plug.  Makes sense though as I'd guess you can have the ends on when you are pulling the harness through the conduits. 

[johnshenry]

Ok, my suppositions/observations were wrong.  The upper light is not a dual filament bulb, but rather two BA9 sockets with 4 watt bulbs in them. One is the parking, the other is the "side" light.  The lower light is a BA15 single filament 18 watt bulb and is the turn signal.

I wired the city lights on the parking light circuit and simply removed the 4 watt parking light bulb.