City Light Wiring

bavbob

Well-Known Member
Site Donor
Messages
3,354
Reaction score
1,568
Location
Boston, Ma
I was able to find Cibies for my 73 Euro and the low beam has the city light but I see no wiring (and there are separate spades for it). I found no cut wires and the old lights were Cibies as well but no city light. I also have the Euro turn signals with one spade and a ground wire. Deciding if I should bother with the city light and if so, how to wire them. Of course I may have no choice if a front "parking" light is needed to pass inspection.
 

bavbob

Well-Known Member
Site Donor
Messages
3,354
Reaction score
1,568
Location
Boston, Ma
But my turn signals are euro so they have no parking component and only flash when making a turn, wouldn't I get a flashing city light? I cannot hook p to the existing low beam cause they would be on when the low beams are on. Somehow I need to link them to the rear parking lights, no?
 

sfdon

Well-Known Member
Site Donor
Site Donor $$
Messages
8,150
Reaction score
4,472
Location
sfbay area
Running lights are sided on coupes
follow the euro lighting schematic
gray/white and gray/yellow.
fuse 1 and 3
 

bavbob

Well-Known Member
Site Donor
Messages
3,354
Reaction score
1,568
Location
Boston, Ma
Well, I cannot find the wires. But putting on the parking lights only , the new Cibie low beam with the city light comes on. The city light as stated, has separate spades and not hooked up so does not light. I thought when park lights are on, only the city light is suppose to be on, not the low beam. Stalk of light switch out all the way changes nothing wrt low beams but does allow for high beams to be placed on or flashed. When high beams are on, low beams are still on as should be (?) since highs are monofilament.

Also, I was not aware that light buckets differ. The first image shows a bucket that will accommodate the tabs on the low beam only. I believe the second image shows the bucket for the high beam and I think I need to rotate it 90 degrees clockwise so there is a notch at 6 oclock to accommodate the city light spades.

IMG_1004.JPG



IMG_1007-1.JPG
 

HB Chris

Well-Known Member
Site Donor $$
Messages
19,418
Reaction score
8,757
Location
Huntington Beach, CA
Well, your wiring is messed up as they say. Parking light switch should turn on city light only. I have Hella euro lamps but Cibie would be the same, H1 lo and H1 hi beams. I did not have to rotate anything to fit my bucket. With a euro stalk, and euro lamps with single filaments, both are on with hi selected. US stalks are different and need to be modified to use euro lamps. Could you have a euro H4 for lo beam? That would explain things.
 

Bmachine

Well-Known Member
Site Donor $
Site Donor $$
Messages
3,525
Reaction score
1,779
Location
Northern California coast
Also, I was not aware that light buckets differ. The first image shows a bucket that will accommodate the tabs on the low beam only. I believe the second image shows the bucket for the high beam and I think I need to rotate it 90 degrees clockwise so there is a notch at 6 oclock to accommodate the city light spades.
Yes. I noticed that too. It is a real pain bc if, after taking the whole thing apart to refinish it for example, you accidentally install the outside bucket inside and vice versa on the black metal frame (they look exactly the same except for that tiny detail) it is a real bitch to remove them and swap positions.
 
Last edited:

bavbob

Well-Known Member
Site Donor
Messages
3,354
Reaction score
1,568
Location
Boston, Ma
Well Chris, if I am ever in HB Ca, I owe you a beverage of choice ( wife's uncle lives there, we got his 67 Mustang...prisitne). Yes, My lo beams are H4 and not H1. I replaced them with what as originally in the car when I got it ( and found a set of four Cibies for 150 bucks shipped on Ebay so had to buy them). More than likely, someone in th US did some form of conversion. My stalk is a Euro stalk, especially since I bought it from Zeb and it was identical to the one I had in there. My main goal is to pass MA inspection so I need some form of front park light and I guess the H4 low beam will do. I do still have 3 wires cutting from the left to right of the car across the radiator but these get power on park and when the stalk is pulled out all the way so cannot be for the city lights. There is a connector on the left which also has power with park lights but also when the stalk is all the way out so that is not for the city lights either. I stared at the electrical diagram and as Don said, Gray white and Gray yellow but no such wires anywhere. I AM OFFICIALLY NAMING THIS CAR MURPHY.
 

HB Chris

Well-Known Member
Site Donor $$
Messages
19,418
Reaction score
8,757
Location
Huntington Beach, CA
Then you have two wires going to your H4 where you only need one. White is Hi on the H4 (not needed), yellow is low, the third is for your city light Hopefully it is a different color. Plus ground is brown of course.
 

bavbob

Well-Known Member
Site Donor
Messages
3,354
Reaction score
1,568
Location
Boston, Ma
Do the city lights stay on when you pull the light switch stalk from 1/2 way to completely out? It looks like there is a yellow, brown and gray wire in a single harness. Gray with power with stalk 1/2 way out, yellow AND gray with power with stalk all the way out. I assume then the gray is city light as per Don and diagram but it still has power when stalk is all the way out, thus my question.

Also, I cannot find an H1 low beam housing anywhere.
 
Last edited:

bavbob

Well-Known Member
Site Donor
Messages
3,354
Reaction score
1,568
Location
Boston, Ma
That was my plan if city lights stay on with low beams. So the wiring is there it is just that H1 lows have a 3 pronged connector which runs both the city light and low beams while in the H4, low beams and city lights require a separate connector. I have to Dremel the holders to fit the city light but no big deal....................awesome. I bought this for the turn signal upgrade, I can cut out the terminals the other way for the lights.

IMG_1008.JPG
 

Drew Gregg

Well-Known Member
Site Donor
Messages
1,565
Reaction score
1,201
Location
Ft. Lauderdale
That was my plan if city lights stay on with low beams. So the wiring is there it is just that H1 lows have a 3 pronged connector which runs both the city light and low beams while in the H4, low beams and city lights require a separate connector. I have to Dremel the holders to fit the city light but no big deal....................awesome. I bought this for the turn signal upgrade, I can cut out the terminals the other way for the lights.

View attachment 91907
Rob- I finally have my Hella H4 lamps powered up with 20-watt city lights. That was the suggestion so they can be used as daytime running lights. The outer hi/lo beam buckets were cut to allow the city light terminals to fit in the galv. bucket. The city light was wired to my green fog light switch that was already in the underside of the dash. My car doesn't have the rear red fog light. I can turn the city lights on at any time. No other lights need to be on. It turns out they are very bright and will overpower the H4 cut-off beam if on with the low beams. The 5-watt regular bulb must not be that bright and can be on with the low beams. The German wiring is different than the 3 spade USA H4 bulb.
Here are pics of the project: The last 2 pics are just the city light and then all 4 lights on High Beam.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1663(1).jpg
    IMG_1663(1).jpg
    346.4 KB · Views: 103
  • IMG_1674(1).jpg
    IMG_1674(1).jpg
    280.1 KB · Views: 105
  • IMG_1692(1).jpg
    IMG_1692(1).jpg
    302.4 KB · Views: 102
  • IMG_1707(1).jpg
    IMG_1707(1).jpg
    330.3 KB · Views: 112
  • IMG_1711(1).jpg
    IMG_1711(1).jpg
    421.5 KB · Views: 103
  • IMG_1712(1).jpg
    IMG_1712(1).jpg
    266.5 KB · Views: 95
  • IMG_1714(1).jpg
    IMG_1714(1).jpg
    344.7 KB · Views: 96

adawil2002

Well-Known Member
Site Donor $$
Messages
5,183
Reaction score
3,045
Location
Brunswick, Maine
There should be 2 detents on the headlight switch. First should be the small 5w "City Light". Second turns of the small bulb and should be the low beam. Switching to high beams should be all 4 lights. My fog lights are on a separate switch.

City and Fog Lights.jpg
 

bavbob

Well-Known Member
Site Donor
Messages
3,354
Reaction score
1,568
Location
Boston, Ma
Drew, congrads on breaking the will of the E9 to finally give you what you want. Your turn signal lens has me confused. Clear in one image, Italian 1/2 amber in another. Is it all clear, amber bulb or did you swap out the lenses for Italian ones.
 

Luis A.

Well-Known Member
Site Donor
Messages
1,529
Reaction score
357
Location
Wisconsin
The original city light is really a light left on when parked on side of road and controlled by turn signal stalk.
Although it does function for that purpose, they are primarily for use in the city where you don’t need so much to illuminate your way, but to just be seen. In some vintage Citroens the light stalk has “V” for Ville, or village, for city lights only, and “R” for Route, or road, for the main lights.
 

Drew Gregg

Well-Known Member
Site Donor
Messages
1,565
Reaction score
1,201
Location
Ft. Lauderdale
Drew, congrads on breaking the will of the E9 to finally give you what you want. Your turn signal lens has me confused. Clear in one image, Italian 1/2 amber in another. Is it all clear, amber bulb or did you swap out the lenses for Italian ones.
Rob--I bought clear "Euro" lenses for the running lights. I found the Sylvania Silverstar 1157A is a twin filament bulb with a blue tint chrome glass that turns amber when powered up. They act as running lights with the USA light switch turned on and then both filaments are on for turn signals. I also had them in my 2001 X5 front and back doing the same function. We wired the Hella H4 city lights on a fog lamp switch to use as a daytime running light. The 20 watt bulbs are very bright and will only be used in the daytime.
 
Top