Help with Electrickery Please.

[Hamish71]

I confess, this is the wifes subaru, and not my disco but help appreciated all the same.

Fitting steel bar to forester, all good. Have made cut outs and installed some simple Narva front indicators. They cost me $8 eack. They are p/n 87280 here: Front Direction Indicator - Products - Narva (http://www.narva.com.au/products/browse/front-direction-indicator)

So far wiring them in has cost me $80 in subaru fuses and relays!

There is one globe, two poles inside the lamp. One pole is insulated, and appears to be connected to the centre contact of the bulb. The other pole does not appear insulated and appears to make contact with the sleeve of the bulb.

I had thought I could tap into the two wires going to the indicator, take the earth (blacK) to the outside pole, and the power (blue green) to the inside pole, and all would be well. That is exactly how I wired the leds to the rear bar. That does not appear to be working and so far I have busted numerous simple fuses to the indicator circuit, and some hybrid subari fuses for the power windows which cost a fortune. What am I doing wrong?

I have a multimeter, but am not exactly skilled in its use.

[bee utey]

Wire colour does not always give a good indication of earth connections. Use your multimeter on volts and connect the negative probe to battery negative or a body earth, then probe each indicator wire with the positive probe while the indicators are flashing. (disconnect all extra wires first!) The one that will go to the extra globe centre will cause a fluctuating voltage reading. Actually a test light is better and simpler for this kind of thing, but the meter will suffice.
The earth wire of your extra indicator should go to the other wire providing it is actually an earth. Body earth is safer. Also you should either fit only a 5 watt globe or a LED indicator to not overload the flasher.

[Jock The Rock]

Another way to check you definitely have an earth is to turn you multimeter to continuity

Multimeter Tutorial - Learning about continuity (http://www.ladyada.net/library/metertut/continuity.html)

Double check your multimeter works by touching the two probes together, then place one on the chassis or even better the negative terminal and probe your wires until you have found the earth

[Hamish71]

thanks guys,,,i had checked the wiring diagram, and black is earth.
confirming that i could ( is recommended)take the earth on the globe to thebody instead of the black wire?

[thedrover]

Another check to do, when confirming earth:

When measuring for earth, turn on the parkers and other lights. Sometimes you get something that looks like earth, but isn't when the lights go on.



Tipsy-tap