Headlights/ Parking lights warning buzzer

On modern car, usually a buzzer warns you when you leave your lights on while leaving your car.
Unfortunately on our oldies, such devices were not always available.
That could result in a discharged battery...

After having left a couple of time the lights on (but been lucky enough to not have a completely flat battery when returning some hours later), I have decided to install a warning buzzer.

Theory:
I am using the wiring diagrams from Advance Auto-Wire (document here).
My MGB GT is a 75 UK model. The correct wiring diagram is the one on sheet 31 (page 32 of the pdf file).

We want to add a buzzer that detects the parking lights are on when the door is opened.
That means we need to connect a buzzer between the parking light feeding wire and the door switch.

The parking lights feeding wire is a red & green (RG) starting at the "HEADLIGHT SWITCH", the door switch wires are the purple & white (PW) "COURTESY LAMP & DOOR SWITCHES".





As the car headlights cannot be switched on without the parking lights been switched on previously due to the switch, we do not need any additional wire:

Basically, the bill of material is as follow:
- buzzer (x1) (electronic buzzer dc 6-15v for example, with 2 wires, for a price of 2.5£ maximum),
- diode (x2) (general purpose diode type 1N4001 will do the job. see here for details about diodes, around 2£ for 25U/N)


- solder sleeves (x2) (for connection of diodes to the buzzer)
And we will use the existing connections of the headlight switch and door switch.

See you soon for the installation on the car!
Location: Burnham, Slough, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wiper motor removal, stripping down and reassembly

Image
For the past couple of weeks, I had trouble with the window wipers on the MGB. Once switched on, they were moving slowly, and after some time they were stopping halfway, stuck on the windscreen... Not very safe when it's raining! And no other possibility to restart them than park, get out of the car and help by hand the wipers to go back to their storage position. So, I have decided to have closer look. The motor and mechanism were encountering mechanical resistance somewhere. The first idea was to extract the motor and the gears attached on top, and open them to check inside. How to remove the motor and gears: The motor is under the dashboard on the right side of the car. It is attached to the car with a metallic strap and 2 bolts. Undo the bolts and disengage the motor from the strap. Once this is done, you should be able to have access to the electrical connector located at the back of the motor. The mechanism (cable) that goes to the wiper arms is connected to the
Read more

Changing cooling hoses

Image
Last Friday, I had my first issue with the MG... Coming home from work, the engine temperature has suddenly started to get really hot, close to the overheating. 😨 I just had time to park the car at home, and seen after opening the bonnet small bubbles and vapour on the hose going from the heater valve to the heater: Of course, there was not enough liquid remaining in the radiator :s Oh c**p! 😨😨 So no choice but to change all the cooling hose, as the other ones were probably in the same state than the perished hose and could split at any time. I have ordered silicone cooling hoses from mgocspares.co.uk ( here ). Similar kits are available at Moss: Those  s ilicone hoses are more resistant than the rubber ones to hardening, cracking, ageing and to chemicals. Yes, they are more expensive too! Regarding installation, no real magic trick: drain the old coolant, remove the perished hoses, fit the new silicone ones, fill in with new coolant, start the engine and
Read more

A new one to the family

Image
As you may (or not, but you will really soon), I have been living and working in UK since September 2015. Yes, the 2CV project is nearly completed (I need to upload everything), but kind of on hold for now... I have been driving my RX8 in UK for one year and, well, in order to comply with regulation, I had to choose between register my car (left hand drive) and insure it or buy another car... After checking the price of the insurance, I've quickly chosen to buy a car! Oo' And, as there are a lot of affordable classic cars, I've gone for a MGB GT fron 1975. Bought on ebay from a nice guy who kept and maintained the car for roughly 30 years and who even provided all the maintenance history (with bills, MOT certificates, MG Owner Club evaluations, etc). After a trip to Nottingham, and back to Burnham (west of London) without any breakdown 😄, here it is: Welcome to my new daily! :)
Read more