> Message text written by "R. Ashford Little II"
> >OK, here's a dumb one for everyone. I've replaced several tail lamp
> sockets on my TR6. The newer sockets for the running/brake lights have
> three tabs instead of the original two tabs.
>
> Two of the three tabs are bronze in color, with the remaining tab being
> stainless in color. How do you know which wires to hook up where?
> <
Dave Massey replied :
> The third terminal is most likely a ground connection.
That's right.
> At some point in the future you can wire up a ground
> wire to thes tabs and improve the reliability of your lamps, but for the
> time being you can just leave it alone.
The sockets I got both from TRF and from James Paddock (in the UK) no longer
have the bulb ground connected to the clip like the old ones do, so if you
don't ground the ground terminal, the lights won't work properly.
If you compare terminal positions, you'll see that two of the terminals are
in the same location as the old ones on opposite sides of the holder; they
serve the same functions as the matching old ones. The added terminal is
the ground. On mine, the turn signal connection is silver-colored; the
ground connection is in the center (easy to see if you look inside the
socket) and the third one is the tail light connection.
> Which wire goes on which terminal? I don't know but if you hook them up
> any old way you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right.
With 3 terminals, the odds of getting it right at random are only 1 in 6 ...
and if you accidentally interchange the ground and turn connections,
everything will appear to work but your taillights won't be as bright as
they should be.
Randall
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