924Board.org

[skemcin]

So I finally pulled off the stock rectangular Bosch fog lamps and replaced them with small Hella lamps. Of course I threw out the box last night as I worked on this which is why I am posting this question.

The stock lamps have a single black wire from each lamp that are plugging into a little relay on the inside, drive side (U.S.) wheel well. The new lights, of course, have a white and black wire from each lamp. I plan to use the exisiting wire that was run for the Bosch lamps, I snipped them down at the base of the lamp so I don't have to run the wire again. So what do I do with the white wire - ground it?

Sorry no pictures right now - but I can take some tonight if they are needed.

Thanks in advance.

Oh, and I have a multimeter - what is the setting for an automobile - first time transitioning from home electric to auto.
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924.org (no time to complete)
9249206346 - 89k – new shifter bushings, belts, running well.
9249206347 - 8k – waiting its resurrection, no power at the fuel pump and fuse #7 blows w/power

[Smoothie]

Other than Porsche wiring where the grounds are brown, normally ground wires are black. -So those instructions most likely said to ground the black and attach white to 12v+ (your relay). -But they should work either way (unless the new lights have some goofy arrangement for instance the black wire's also grounded to a metal part of the foglight housing - but that shouldn't be the case anyway). Long story short, they'd intend for white to be 12v+ and black as ground, but they're only filament light bulbs (not LEDs, right?), so they'll work either way as long as one is attached to 12v+ and the other is grounded.

For voltage readings set the meter to DC and the lowest range that includes 12 volts (on my own meter that setting is 30v).
Ohms settings can be used for continuity and resistance checking. For resistance, the range setting will depend on the resistance you're reading (it shouldn't hurt the meter to switch settings while reading to find the one that gives the most accuracy). For continuity, any range will do normally - look for a zero reading for full continuity. The lowest ranges on a digital meter might give a non-zero reading (mine shows a 0.1 or 0.2 ohm reading for a closed circuit (full continuity) at the 2 lowest settings). Some meters provide a continuity setting with audible beep - use that if you have it and disregard the reading if you like.
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"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."


'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

[JakeFrame]

Sounds like smoothie has it right.
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1976 924 Automatic- Body Only
1977 924 4 spd Red~For Sale~
1977 924 4 spd Yellow~For Sale~
1977 924 4 spd
1992 Mercedes 300e 4MATIC

[skemcin]

thanks for the feedback - the fact that they had only a black wire threw me off (white being hot and black being ground). So, the stock black was their hot because there was no "standard" to have a ground wire (I'm assuming).

In any case, I just don't want my son (the next owner) to post here in 12 years ranting about the previous owner not having a clue how to wire!


Thanks - white is hot, black is ground!

Oh, and thanks for the multimeter info - saves me from an exhaustive search online for the pdf user manual

_________________
924.org (no time to complete)
9249206346 - 89k – new shifter bushings, belts, running well.
9249206347 - 8k – waiting its resurrection, no power at the fuel pump and fuse #7 blows w/power

[Joes924Racer]

Jake frame send me a pic of your car..
JoeDanka@comcast.net or you could pm me some links or
whatever that thing looks pretty cool.
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1979 porsche 924 Na
1980 porsche Turbo 931GT Replica
Have u ever driven a turbo.

[Joes924Racer]

Jake frame send me a pic of your car..
JoeDanka@comcast.net or you could pm me some links or
whatever that thing looks pretty cool.
_________________
1979 porsche 924 Na
1980 porsche Turbo 931GT Replica
Have u ever driven a turbo.

[Smoothie]

Back to the white/black issue (with a bit of yellow thrown in too)... I just wired-up my driving lights today and wouldn't ya know - this particular manufacturer uses black for the 12v+ power supply connection. It's a long black wire with an in-line fuse holder - that runs from the 12v source to the switch, then they use a white with yellow stripe wire from the switch to the lights (white/yellow happens to be the same color Porsche used from their foglight relay to the foglights - mere coincidence?) -Anyway the switch also has a ground - a black wire) and the lights themselves have a black wire hanging off for ground and white/yellow for connection to the 12v+ white/yellow wire from the switch.
-So, if one of your black wires had an in-line fuse in it, it would have been for connection to the 12v+ supply. Still doesn't matter for the operation, but it's always good to have the fuse closer to the 12v+ supply.

Instead of following the quick-easy instructions that came with my el-cheapo $20 driving lights, I wired them according to the flow diagram on Haynes pg.270, current tracks 1-4 - except that I didn't have a relay with built-in diode as shown there, so just ran a brown wire from relay terminal 85 to ground instead of to "G8". -Even found and used the original white/yellow wire that's gone unused for ~24 years. Of course it took all day, but amazingly worked on the first try. Wired this way, they can only be switched on when the main lights are on, (either just parking and side markers or all including headlights).
_________________
"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."


'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox