Wiring for Reverse lights

[froggy]

I'm in the process of changing the rear corners on the bay and although there are reverse lights fitted they dont work.
There is 1 wire going to each light (2 wires to the left light but 1 of these crosses over to the other light) but no earth / neutral wire.
Are they earthed through the light casing?
I have tried the lights and they dont light up, does anyone have a clue as to how they are / should be wired?

 

[58herbie]

they should earth out through the housing,

the wiring should go live from the coil, down to the gear box via a in line fuse, then back up to the rear lights right handside, then split to the left, but it may be the lights are not earthing through the case any more or that the switch is working or that you have a live feed.

1st thing to check is look at coil check see if wire is connected on term 15.
2nd check fuse. then see if live at gearbox...
3rd check to see if live at right rear light.(this checks switch out)
if you have live's then try putting another earth to ligths straight from batt neg to screw on lights and see if they work when van in rev and ign on but not running..if so then you need to install another artificial earth as original is not working.

hope this makes sence

jon

 

[froggy]

Yeah it all makes sense, i'm pretty sure though that there is only 1 wire on the coil positive side so will have to try and trace wire to see where its terminated

 

[58herbie]

froggy,

1 wire from the coil on term 15 (+) should go to ign switch via fuse box and he other would be the rev feed wire, yours has prob been disconnected at some point and never reconnected .. switch is at back of gear box towards chassis at the nosecone..

jon

 

[froggy]

Had a quick look at coil and i can confirm that i have 1 wire on terminal 15 (live to fuse box) and 1 wire on other side of coil coming from the Dizzy (points).
Will check gearbox tomorow for switch, presume its there as someone must have done something to make reverse lights work when they were fitted.
I was gonna just disconnect them and not bother refitting them once i've changed the rear corners but the wife would be happier with them fitted so...

 

[58herbie]

Froggy,

somebody may of dropped the engine recently and you have to disconnect the reverse light feed wire and just forgot to reconnect not knowing what it was ...
have a good look to see if you have a stray wire if not easy to rewire it back up

jon

 

[froggy]

Sorry to bring up an old thread but i am now at the point of refitting the reversing lights, i have had a look at the gearbox and i cant locate the so called switch, where should it be? Is there another place that the switch might be fitted to?
Do i need reverse lights for MOT as i might leave them off for the time being, get it MOT'd then worry about them afterwards

 

[Araon]

Not required, and its fitted on the nose cone 10mm allen may be there at the mo, remove that and screw it in

 

[ProfessorWheeto]

Sorry to bring up an old thread but i am now at the point of refitting the reversing lights, i have had a look at the gearbox and i cant locate the so called switch, where should it be? Is there another place that the switch might be fitted to?
Do i need reverse lights for MOT as i might leave them off for the time being, get it MOT'd then worry about them afterwards

Nope, http://www.motuk.co.uk

Your other option if you can't get it to work off the gearbox is to take a 12V+ feed off the fusebox and have a switch on the dash to turn them on and off.

 

[Araon]

or micro switch to gear stick

 

[froggy]

Sorry to bring up an old thread but i am now at the point of refitting the reversing lights, i have had a look at the gearbox and i cant locate the so called switch, where should it be? Is there another place that the switch might be fitted to?
Do i need reverse lights for MOT as i might leave them off for the time being, get it MOT'd then worry about them afterwards

Nope, http://www.motuk.co.uk

Your other option if you can't get it to work off the gearbox is to take a 12V+ feed off the fusebox and have a switch on the dash to turn them on and off.

Was having a play today trying to tidy up some old wiring and the reverse lights are wired exactly as above, a live feed from the fuse box to a switch (or in this case a bulb holder) then direct to lights.
Might just leave them off for the time being but wire a switch in liine with the bulb that way i'll know when the lights are on

 

[froggy]

Trying to get things ready for an MOT (maybe next month) is this the switch i need

http://shop.justkampers.com/product_info.php/products_id/10122

 

[Araon]

if all you need is the switch save yourself 3 quid and see the item below...

Yes thatswhat your after...