I am trying to wire the marker lamps on the bull bar into the factory
marker lamps. I was trying to figure out the polarity of the wires and
here is what I found:

I found the feed and the ground for the turnsignal. The VOM showed a
pulsing 5-6 volts every time it flashed. So I switched off the turn
signals and switched on the parking lights without disconnecting the
leads to the VOM. Well then the VOM pinned negative. Is this normal or
am I missing something??

TIA,

Jay

 

You probably just had the meter leads reversed. On the ARB, is one side of
the lights grounded ? I don't know what vehicle you are working on, but
most newer side marker lights are isolated, although one conductor will
return to frame ground. Turn the lights off, pull a bulb out and check each
contact to frame ground. Use the grounded wire for ground on the ARB.

--
JimG
80' CJ-7, 258 CID
35" BFG MT's on 15x10 Centerlines
4.56 D30-D44 SOA
D300 w/4:1 & Currie twin sticks
Warn 8000i w/dual batteries
LockRight F&R



"Jay" <shady360@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote in message
news:QGCKb.1139$eF2.458@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
> I am trying to wire the marker lamps on the bull bar into the factory
> marker lamps. I was trying to figure out the polarity of the wires and
> here is what I found:
>
> I found the feed and the ground for the turnsignal. The VOM showed a
> pulsing 5-6 volts every time it flashed. So I switched off the turn
> signals and switched on the parking lights without disconnecting the
> leads to the VOM. Well then the VOM pinned negative. Is this normal or
> am I missing something??
>
> TIA,
>
> Jay
>

 

You probably just had the meter leads reversed. On the ARB, is one side of
the lights grounded ? I don't know what vehicle you are working on, but
most newer side marker lights are isolated, although one conductor will
return to frame ground. Turn the lights off, pull a bulb out and check each
contact to frame ground. Use the grounded wire for ground on the ARB.

--
JimG
80' CJ-7, 258 CID
35" BFG MT's on 15x10 Centerlines
4.56 D30-D44 SOA
D300 w/4:1 & Currie twin sticks
Warn 8000i w/dual batteries
LockRight F&R



"Jay" <shady360@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote in message
news:QGCKb.1139$eF2.458@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
> I am trying to wire the marker lamps on the bull bar into the factory
> marker lamps. I was trying to figure out the polarity of the wires and
> here is what I found:
>
> I found the feed and the ground for the turnsignal. The VOM showed a
> pulsing 5-6 volts every time it flashed. So I switched off the turn
> signals and switched on the parking lights without disconnecting the
> leads to the VOM. Well then the VOM pinned negative. Is this normal or
> am I missing something??
>
> TIA,
>
> Jay
>

 

You probably just had the meter leads reversed. On the ARB, is one side of
the lights grounded ? I don't know what vehicle you are working on, but
most newer side marker lights are isolated, although one conductor will
return to frame ground. Turn the lights off, pull a bulb out and check each
contact to frame ground. Use the grounded wire for ground on the ARB.

--
JimG
80' CJ-7, 258 CID
35" BFG MT's on 15x10 Centerlines
4.56 D30-D44 SOA
D300 w/4:1 & Currie twin sticks
Warn 8000i w/dual batteries
LockRight F&R



"Jay" <shady360@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote in message
news:QGCKb.1139$eF2.458@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
> I am trying to wire the marker lamps on the bull bar into the factory
> marker lamps. I was trying to figure out the polarity of the wires and
> here is what I found:
>
> I found the feed and the ground for the turnsignal. The VOM showed a
> pulsing 5-6 volts every time it flashed. So I switched off the turn
> signals and switched on the parking lights without disconnecting the
> leads to the VOM. Well then the VOM pinned negative. Is this normal or
> am I missing something??
>
> TIA,
>
> Jay
>

 

Sorry, let me clarify. First, no nothing is grounded on the ARB. There
are simply two wires about 3-4 feet long coming from each light assembly
(i.e., left and right side assemblies), and they aren't connected to
anything yet. Second, the vehicle is an '04 Rubicon. I pulled one of
the OEM sidemarker bulbs out and measured the voltage there. With the
turnsignal on I got positive pulsing voltage. However, when I switched
off the turn signals and switched on the parking lights without
disconnecting the leads to the VOM the VOM pinned negative.

JimG wrote:

> You probably just had the meter leads reversed. On the ARB, is one side of
> the lights grounded ? I don't know what vehicle you are working on, but
> most newer side marker lights are isolated, although one conductor will
> return to frame ground. Turn the lights off, pull a bulb out and check each
> contact to frame ground. Use the grounded wire for ground on the ARB.
>

 

Sorry, let me clarify. First, no nothing is grounded on the ARB. There
are simply two wires about 3-4 feet long coming from each light assembly
(i.e., left and right side assemblies), and they aren't connected to
anything yet. Second, the vehicle is an '04 Rubicon. I pulled one of
the OEM sidemarker bulbs out and measured the voltage there. With the
turnsignal on I got positive pulsing voltage. However, when I switched
off the turn signals and switched on the parking lights without
disconnecting the leads to the VOM the VOM pinned negative.

JimG wrote:

> You probably just had the meter leads reversed. On the ARB, is one side of
> the lights grounded ? I don't know what vehicle you are working on, but
> most newer side marker lights are isolated, although one conductor will
> return to frame ground. Turn the lights off, pull a bulb out and check each
> contact to frame ground. Use the grounded wire for ground on the ARB.
>

 

Sorry, let me clarify. First, no nothing is grounded on the ARB. There
are simply two wires about 3-4 feet long coming from each light assembly
(i.e., left and right side assemblies), and they aren't connected to
anything yet. Second, the vehicle is an '04 Rubicon. I pulled one of
the OEM sidemarker bulbs out and measured the voltage there. With the
turnsignal on I got positive pulsing voltage. However, when I switched
off the turn signals and switched on the parking lights without
disconnecting the leads to the VOM the VOM pinned negative.

JimG wrote:

> You probably just had the meter leads reversed. On the ARB, is one side of
> the lights grounded ? I don't know what vehicle you are working on, but
> most newer side marker lights are isolated, although one conductor will
> return to frame ground. Turn the lights off, pull a bulb out and check each
> contact to frame ground. Use the grounded wire for ground on the ARB.
>

 

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:58:08 GMT, Jay <shady360@NOSPAMoptonline.net>
wrote:

>I am trying to wire the marker lamps on the bull bar into the factory
>marker lamps. I was trying to figure out the polarity of the wires and
>here is what I found:
>
>I found the feed and the ground for the turnsignal. The VOM showed a
>pulsing 5-6 volts every time it flashed. So I switched off the turn
>signals and switched on the parking lights without disconnecting the
>leads to the VOM. Well then the VOM pinned negative. Is this normal or
>am I missing something??
>

The way the factory side marker lights are wired is this:
One lead goes to the parking light circuit and the other goes to the
turn signal circuit.
This way the bulb, when the headlights are on (with no trun signals)
is grounded through the t/s bulbs. When you turn the t/s's on it
provides voltage on both sides of the circuit(when the t/s's flash on)
so the side markers go off when the turn signals come on. If you look
at the side marker bulbs you'll notice they flash opposite of the
front t/s bulbs. This is how they accomplish this.
If you take the wires from your bull bar and wire them into the two
wires going to the marker light, they should flash with the marker
light. If the lights are not grounded to the bull bar, polarity makes
no difference in this case.
--
Old Crow
'82 Shovelhead FLT 92" 'Pearl'
'95 Jeep YJ Rio Grande
ASE Certified Master Auto Tech + L1
TOMKAT, BS#133, SENS, MAMBM, DOF#51

 

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:58:08 GMT, Jay <shady360@NOSPAMoptonline.net>
wrote:

>I am trying to wire the marker lamps on the bull bar into the factory
>marker lamps. I was trying to figure out the polarity of the wires and
>here is what I found:
>
>I found the feed and the ground for the turnsignal. The VOM showed a
>pulsing 5-6 volts every time it flashed. So I switched off the turn
>signals and switched on the parking lights without disconnecting the
>leads to the VOM. Well then the VOM pinned negative. Is this normal or
>am I missing something??
>

The way the factory side marker lights are wired is this:
One lead goes to the parking light circuit and the other goes to the
turn signal circuit.
This way the bulb, when the headlights are on (with no trun signals)
is grounded through the t/s bulbs. When you turn the t/s's on it
provides voltage on both sides of the circuit(when the t/s's flash on)
so the side markers go off when the turn signals come on. If you look
at the side marker bulbs you'll notice they flash opposite of the
front t/s bulbs. This is how they accomplish this.
If you take the wires from your bull bar and wire them into the two
wires going to the marker light, they should flash with the marker
light. If the lights are not grounded to the bull bar, polarity makes
no difference in this case.
--
Old Crow
'82 Shovelhead FLT 92" 'Pearl'
'95 Jeep YJ Rio Grande
ASE Certified Master Auto Tech + L1
TOMKAT, BS#133, SENS, MAMBM, DOF#51

 

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:58:08 GMT, Jay <shady360@NOSPAMoptonline.net>
wrote:

>I am trying to wire the marker lamps on the bull bar into the factory
>marker lamps. I was trying to figure out the polarity of the wires and
>here is what I found:
>
>I found the feed and the ground for the turnsignal. The VOM showed a
>pulsing 5-6 volts every time it flashed. So I switched off the turn
>signals and switched on the parking lights without disconnecting the
>leads to the VOM. Well then the VOM pinned negative. Is this normal or
>am I missing something??
>

The way the factory side marker lights are wired is this:
One lead goes to the parking light circuit and the other goes to the
turn signal circuit.
This way the bulb, when the headlights are on (with no trun signals)
is grounded through the t/s bulbs. When you turn the t/s's on it
provides voltage on both sides of the circuit(when the t/s's flash on)
so the side markers go off when the turn signals come on. If you look
at the side marker bulbs you'll notice they flash opposite of the
front t/s bulbs. This is how they accomplish this.
If you take the wires from your bull bar and wire them into the two
wires going to the marker light, they should flash with the marker
light. If the lights are not grounded to the bull bar, polarity makes
no difference in this case.
--
Old Crow
'82 Shovelhead FLT 92" 'Pearl'
'95 Jeep YJ Rio Grande
ASE Certified Master Auto Tech + L1
TOMKAT, BS#133, SENS, MAMBM, DOF#51