Working on another 02 mystery: On-street parking lights

[John76]

7 hours ago, visionaut said:

parking-light function MIGHT work??

Did you connect a wire from the ignition switch "P" to the turn signal "P"?

Flasher should not interfere when ignition is "OFF".

I'm going to try this on my '76.

John

[visionaut]

6 minutes ago, John76 said:

Did you connect a wire from the ignition switch "P" to the turn signal "P"?

Nope. I’m not interested in having this feature, John. Just sharing 76er info.

 

I will say I’m slightly confused. Our cars have Parking/Running lights - 5W up front and the 5-10W tails. But this feature doesn’t use them. It uses the Turn Signals -  21W up front and 21W rear. At full power ??

 

lol — even more of a battery drain than I originally thought…

does it make sense that’d last about the same as just leaving the hazards on? (4 signals on 1/2 the time = 2 signals on all the time).

[Mike Self]

11 hours ago, visionaut said:

I will say I’m slightly confused. Our cars have Parking/Running lights - 5W up front and the 5-10W tails. But this feature doesn’t use them. It uses the Turn Signals -  21W up front and 21W rear. At full power ??

The on-street parking feature uses the 5 watt parking and tail light bulbs, not the turn signals.  Inside the turn signal stalk on the steering column there's a second set of contacts that are connected to the left and right parking/tail light bulbs, fed by a second set of wires.  Remember that the turn signal bulbs' wiring runs through the flasher relay, so if those were used as on-street parking lights, besides running your battery down and melting the lenses, they'd blink all night, probably killing your flasher relay, not to mention pissing off every neighbor whose bedroom window faces the street...  

 

mike

[FunElan]

my 2/68 1600 does not have this feature

 

My dad's 5/69 Cabriolet does, but it's not the front parking lamp that illuminates, it's the headlight that does

[visionaut]

8 hours ago, Mike Self said:

The on-street parking feature uses the 5 watt parking and tail light bulbs, not the turn signals.  Inside the turn signal stalk on the steering column there's a second set of contacts that are connected to the left and right parking/tail light bulbs, fed by a second set of wires. 

Huh, okay - that’s sounds better.  Thanks Mike.  I didn’t know the turn signal stalk could in any way activate the parking lights!
(I wonder how many electrical gremlins have bitten folks because of that. Are these extra lighting connections in the wiring diagrams?)

 

[jimk]

American terminology is bas ackwards.  Parking lights are on when you drive but off when you park.  People drive on parkways and park on driveways ??? 

Truckers call them clearance lights.

Seems like the left hand light is the only parking light (reference the above discussion.)

@ray_, you are needed to clear this up.

Edited February 6 by jimk

[Mike Self]

On 2/6/2024 at 2:43 AM, FunElan said:

 

My dad's 5/69 Cabriolet does, but it's not the front parking lamp that illuminates, it's the headlight that does

That's because the cabrio is a Euro car with non-sealed beam headlights, and the "parking" or "town lights" are a separate, 5 watt bulb mounted just  below the main headlight bulb, dimly lighting the headlight reflector.

 

mike

[ray_]

5 hours ago, jimk said:

American terminology is bas ackwards.  Parking lights are on when you drive but off when you park.  People drive on parkways and park on driveways ??? 

Truckers call them clearance lights.

Seems like the left hand light is the only parking light (reference the above discussion.)

@ray_, you are needed to clear this up.

And why is it a pair of panties but only one bra?

 

😁

[Son of Marty]

4 hours ago, ray_ said:

And why is it a pair of panties but only one bra?

 

Ray the mystery is way deeper than that, everything below the belt comes in pairs like underwear and pants and everything above is singular like a shirt or a hat and the exception that proves the rule would be a pair of suspenders. These are the kind of questions that would melt Spocks mind. 

Edited February 7 by Son of Marty

[visionaut]

Neat article on Parking Lights…

 

https://jalopnik.com/youre-using-your-parking-lights-wrong-1822884831

[ray_]

On 2/6/2024 at 4:43 PM, Son of Marty said:

Ray the mystery is way deeper than that, everything below the belt comes in pairs like underwear and pants and everything above is singular like a shirt or a hat and the exception that proves the rule would be a pair of suspenders. These are the kind of questions that would melt Spocks mind. 

Well it's a pair of glasses. And heads are above the belt. Unless you're a congressman.

 

😁

[02Les]

On 2/6/2024 at 1:43 AM, FunElan said:

my 2/68 1600 does not have this feature

 

My dad's 5/69 Cabriolet does, but it's not the front parking lamp that illuminates, it's the headlight that does

That 5w bulb in the Euro headlight bucket is called a 'sidelight' when both are on (used in low light before dark) when driving and called a 'parking light' when one ( say left) is on plus the left tail light whilst parked on a dark street. It was the law in the UK if parked on a street with no lighting.

Running these overnight will not run your battery down if you had a 'back in the day' Euro battery that would happily last a good 15+ years.

[dlhoovler]

1678338 has the feature. It's a US-spec 6-fuse early '71 built about Nov. 30, 1970.

[Mike Self]

15 hours ago, dlhoovler said:

1678338 has the feature. It's a US-spec 6-fuse early '71 built about Nov. 30, 1970.

Thanks for the heads up, Dave.  Yours is the first 166/7XXXX US spec car I've heard of with the feature.  Are there others out there? 

 

I was under the (apparently wrong) impression that no six fuse US spec cars were so equipped, the factory started fitting that feature with the modell 71 (257/8/9XXXX) cars, and then discontinued it with the squarelight introduction at the 74 model year.  

 

Can you take a picture of your fuse sticker?  I want to compare it with the one on my '69, as I'm betting that fuses 1, 2 and 3 are configured differently from those on my Feb 69 car.  The way mine are set up, the feature wouldn't work properly.

 

mike

[dlhoovler]

Mike, 

 

The car is in winter storage in a county fairgrounds barn. The best two pictures I can find of the fuse sticker are attached - but to the relevant point, I can tell that the left parking lights are on fuse 1, and the right side on fuse 3. I recall the wiring is a combination of diagrams I have of US and Euro 6-fuse cars, not identical to either one, which makes electrical troubleshooting more interesting.