Lights on for safety.

Call me a prude but I like to drive all the time with my lights on. Yeah I have to replace my bulbs twice as often as everyone else but I have never had an accident because I stand out in the traffic with the headlights on.

We have a Forester and the light stay on whenever the ignition is turned on. Turn the ignition off and the light go off although the switch is still on.

Question:
Is there some way of wiring the Drop Bear (71 Baja) so when the ignition is on the lights are on?
I don't want to come back to a dead battery for trying to be safe but also forgetful.


Note: Yes I know that starting a car with the lights on is hard on the harness but I have upgraded it. Some cars actually cutout the lights as the car starts. The autosparky did not have time to frig around with it so I'll try it myself.

Thanks in advance.

Bronze and The Drop Bear.

[ Edited on 20-10-2006 by The_Bronze. ]

heres a little article on how to make it so your headlights only stay on when the ignition is on:thumb
http://www.flatfour.org/images/fourm/newsltrs/may05/may05_4.jpg

Excellent!

Thanks pod. Much appreciated. I knew there would have to be a link / article somewhere but all the search strings I tried came up with crap.

Thats a great article, easy too.

Bronze.

Hi Bronze,
The VW ignition switch doesn't have an accessory position
so starting the engine with the lights on....
with the headlamps on isn't good in My books either...
I just turn My lights on when driving...
Yes, I've always drove with My lights on too...
and only blow bulbs every few years... they probably wouldn't blow if i didn't run with them on during the daytime...
I've always thought [from the 70s] that having My headlights on may have saved My life many times over the years in country driving....
When a car is going to overtake coming towards you, when they see your headlights they think twice about pulling out....

Maybe the simpler thing to do, is connect up a small buzzer that can be purchased from any dick smith store,
very inexpensive too...
I connected one to My Sons Girlfriends car but the noise drove them crazy.... so its disconnected...
I had that one connected to the door switch , so they wouldn't leave the door open with the interior light on.....
there are a couple of different ones available...
they are multi voltage - 6 - 14v and I think i used the Piezo flat one on My sons girlfriends car....
It may be easier to hook one of those up to a door switch which earths out when you open the door and the power from the headlamps being ON....
so every time you open the drivers door with the headlamps on, it will buzz...
if its connected to the headlamps on wire or fuse, it won't buzz with the parkers on....
connect to tail lamps fuse for any lights on...
put the buzzer behind the dash so you can hear it with any noise... and they are buzzy....
but better than a flat battery...

cheers

Lee

http://community.webshots.com/user/vw68autobug

[ Edited on 21-10-2006 by 68AutoBug ]

tee it up to zap u on the door handle ha ha

why dont you take the feed from your dynamo / alternator, when this produces 12V the relay switches on and your lights are on, when its off, (not running) the lights are off! so if you leave your ignition on or the alt / dyno fails the lights wont chew the battery! easy lads!!

if its a 71 it should have the headlight off feature anyway
the headlights go out with the igniton off and also go out when u start however the parkers do stay on tho

my 2/71 superbug had that and so did the 1/71 superbug parts bug, i did help cut up a 12/70 1500 that didnt have it tho so i guess thats when it started

so if ur car doesnt have this it may be easier to get an igntion switch from a 71 onwards car

-Joel