March 21, 2007

• Van Update

  Today I spent way too much time replacing the interior light fixtures of the van. Two had crumbled when I took them out to change the bulb, so I ordered some more.

  The time was mostly spent figuring out which wire goes where, because VW doesn’t wire things the way I think they should. All switched ground leads are supposed to be brown with a white stripe, not just some of them.

  Anyway. It all works fine now except for the passenger front door. I hope my passengers don’t need to see anything when they get in. I didn’t wire it because the lead is so short it barely comes out the hole in the roof, so there’s no way to get it onto the little connector on the fixture. O well.

  Also: Yesterday I finally installed the headlight upgrade relay kit. The Vanagon headlights are wired through the switch on the dashboard, so their brightness is limited to the resistance of the switch, making them notoriously dim. And if you put brighter bulbs in, you end up with a burned-out switch. Van-cafe to the rescue, with a couple of FETs you wire in-line with the switch. It’s a really simple kit, if you know anything at all about wiring stuff up. If you can install a stereo in your car, you can do this. The only trouble I had was not following the directions. I mixed up the two yellow wires.

  I haven’t had much opportunity to drive around at night, so I can’t say it’s a night-and-day difference or anything, but maybe I’ll make it a point to cruise around somewhere tonight.

  I had just been putting all this off because of rain. Which is a real lame excuse in Seattle.

  Update: The lights are *much* brighter. As to where I went: I went to get Chinese food at the Black Pearl (highly recommended, quick, cheap, they deliver), Half Price Books (‘Idiotocracy’ on DVD), and the grocery store.

  • 9:45 pm
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