I need to know which wires attach to the interior light in the back-pad. Fairly certain the double brown but, coming off the wiring harness in the same location, roughly the same length is a brown with white (not the handbrake wire) and a black and red??

I'm going with a felt wall and installing a 911 rocker in the double walled area above the tunnel.

The one wire is the 12v hot, and the two brown wires are both grounds. One is a solid ground to allow you to turn the light on at any time, and the other is switched through the door opening switch to turn on the light when the door is opened.

I don't have a wiring diagram with me, but I'm 99% sure that's what my memory tells me.

Thanks,

Forgot to add... there's two spades on the back of the light. I thought the 914 light was the same way but I don't have one here to verify.

Brown is the ground.

Brown with white goes to the door switches, and then to ground.

Black with red is the power.

Look at the back of the light. There will be one contact that goes directly to the bulb. That is where the black with red wire connects. The other two are interchangeable. The only thing swapping them would do is to change the position of the switch when the light is on all the time vs when the light turns on with the door.

The 914 has three spades. One for power, one for constant ground, and one for "ground only when the door is open". The switch on the 914 light picks between no ground (light off), full-time ground (light always on), and part-time ground (light on when door open).

The colors connecting to the 914 light should be:
Black (unswitched +12V, may also have a black/red wire crimped in)
Brown (ground)
Brown/White (ground when door is open)

Not sure how the 911 handles the door-open thing.

--DD

Neat trick, Eric.

I thought about doing something like that, but I have the upholstered armrest going back in my car ... so, back to the drawing board

The black with red is positive and goes on the one side, the two browns one with a yellow stripe go on the other side. That way you have permanent power going to one side and permanent ground or switched ground going to the other side.




you will never guess where I stole the answer

oh, is that mood lighting down so low ??

I think the 911 light may have gotten it's constant ground through part of the clamp that it uses to "snap" into the opening. One end is plastic and the other is metal, where it would ground.

Has to be that because the 911 light worked the same. The lens was a rocker instead of the switch on the 914 light so, depending upon the position of the lens, the light would either be 1) off, 2) on when the doors open or 3) on while you're cruising down the road, etc.

Big thanks for the replies. I'll shoot the backside of it tomorrow and get opinions.

Yeah, not perfect down there but it should be enough.

So... put a double spade on the ground side and put them all there? Wouldn't that negate the door opening thingy?

Ralph told you last week that I was going to post this tonight and... he prepped you.

No.

- Put solid brown to the metal frame of the light or leave it off and use the sheetmetal as ground to the frame.

- Put brown/white to the ground tab on the light.

- Put black/red to the + tab on the light.


Basically, the 911 does not need the solid brown wire like the 914 because it has basic ground through the metal frame. Either leave the solid brown off or find a way to connect it to the metal frame.
If you were to use the 911 light in the 914 backpad, you would have to add the solid brown wire to the metal frame for normal operation.

Thank you.

That coincides with the visual clues from the back of the light. On one side the mount is plastic and on the other it is metal, grounding the frame. I'm thinking of riveting a tab to the inside of the back wall and attaching the wire there and leaving the felt off that edge so the contact will ground there.

Anyone see any problems there? I'm an electrical idiot.

Why? You'd be attaching a constant ground wire to ... ground. On both ends!

Just tape it up and leave it hanging with the other wires.

So the body is grounded there. OK... told ya I'm an electrical idiot.

OK... folding it back and taping it.

Brown and white to ground on the light.
Black and red to hot.
Make sure the side of the opening that has the metal tab is exposed (no felt).

Danke.

For the electrically challenged

Left side (black/red) is the hot wire (12V)
The brown one is GND and brown/white is from the door switch.

Click to view attachment

Thanks. I'll shoot the back of the 911 switch so you guys can see the metal tab. Sounds like we've got it.

FYI the 85-89 jettas had a curcit board the leaves te light on for 10-15 sec. after the door is closed. Adding a little modern feel to the oldys. looks just like stock.


jcl

All of the metal parts of the body "should" be grounded. There would be a few (like the headlight eyebrows) that would be isolated, but anything with a metal-to-metal connection would be grounded. Which means as far as the electrons are concerned, the whole body of the car is the same as the battery ground post. At least, when everything is clean and not corroded.

--DD

Here's the backside. Thanks guys. Pretty sure this is sussed. Now to find an LED replacement bulb

Hot lead (black and red) with the plastic clip
Click to view attachment

Brown and white switched ground with the ground latch that will rest against the body.(ooops, crappy pic, sorry)
Click to view attachment

Came out perfect... thanks again.

Keep on going like this and your washer pump might actually work

I'll be calling you...