Author Topic: Negative wires for indicators  (Read 286 times)

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Offline Luciano1985

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Negative wires for indicators
« on: Wednesday,July 15, 2020, 04:25:49 PM »
hello friends
Does anybody happen to have a picture of the way the wires from the headlights turn signals indicator and Lucas connect toghether?
I tried the colored scheme from the catalog but stil no luck
I have two black ground wire witch i cant remember where they use to go.....they come from the indicators and in the end they are round so they used to be under a bolt/screw  probaly to get a negative warth from the chassis!
I would atach a picture but the site does not alow the size
My flashes work but not the dim light
My lucas stay on and they dont fliker when you signal!
Indicators dont work at all

Offline Sandyman

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Re: Negative wires for indicators
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday,July 15, 2020, 04:48:10 PM »
Luciano1985, :Welcome: If you look on forum page there are 3 pages that will help. First there is the production dates and numbers page. Then there is the wiring diagrams for the different models. Third there is a page telling us how to resize photos to "thumbnail" size so they will fit. I have a 1970 with the 1.5 L engine also known as a wedge engine. Next came the 1.6 L crossflow headed Renault engine block followed by the 2 variants of the twin cams. I am also being challenged by the wiring. A majority of the electrical issues are either bad ground/earth issues or poor contacts where wires join or plug into things. A test light is your friend. Good luck with your car.
Sandyman

Offline jbcollier

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Re: Negative wires for indicators
« Reply #2 on: Wednesday,July 15, 2020, 04:50:57 PM »
All the front light grounds have bullet connectors and connect together near each light.  The LH light ground goes to the RH connections.  From there they go to the rad fan relay mounting bolt.  Lastly they end up attaching to the chassis at the dash brace inside the car -- I think the RH side.  It's all shown in the wiring diagrams that can be found here:

http://www.lotus-europa.com/manuals/index.htm

Lots of connections!  And each one needs to be clean and tight. 

Offline dakazman

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Re: Negative wires for indicators
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday,July 15, 2020, 04:58:18 PM »

Offline BDA

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Re: Negative wires for indicators
« Reply #4 on: Wednesday,July 15, 2020, 06:07:32 PM »
Here is the page Sandyman referred to for resizing your pictures: http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=1379.0

I attached a pretty big wire on the front of the frame and ran it to a bolt in the radiator area (beneath the front trunk in the fiberglass) and I think I have attached all the grounds in that area of the car to that bolt. What I didn't do, but what I might try is to clamp the bolt to the fiberglass with a thin nut like a jam nut, then put my grounds over the bolt and then tighten it all down with a nyloc nut. That way, I hope won't need to access the bolt from the back when mess with any of those grounds. Another idea is to do all that in an accessible place in the first place.

Offline 4129R

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Re: Negative wires for indicators
« Reply #5 on: Thursday,July 16, 2020, 01:15:12 AM »
As far as  remember, the radiator side has black earth wires which go into the wiring harness/loom, and earth through the L bracket which holds the base of the wooden dashboard, which is bolted into the metal chassis. So all of that side go to -ve via the ring connection attached to the L bracket bolt.

The lights on the other side have black wires that connect to a ring connection that is bolted to one of the 3 bolts which hold the chassis closer plate at the front, to the underside of the fibreglass body. So that then earths through the chassis closer plate (which rusts badly being exposed directly to a wet road), and then onto the chassis via the 3 x 1/4" bolts which hold the rear of the chassis closer plate to the chassis main front box section.

I ran another thick black wire from the ring on the bolt on the front chassis closer plate through to join the ring connection to the L bracket as I thought an internal earth connection to the chassis would not rust up and lose connection. Lotus -ve earthing is notoriously unreliable, presumably down to corrosion at the connections, so I thought I would try to reduce that problem with the front lights wiring.

The new black earth wire is quite easy to thread through where your feet go, from the front ring connector to the L bracket connection to the chassis at the base of the wooden dash, about where the ashtray goes, if you are lucky enough to have one.

I have a large collection of ashtrays undergoing cleaning and restoration. I will post a picture soon of them all together so you can all drool over them with great envy.