Adding Emergency Flashers to 66 Beetle Baja Bug

It has really been bugging me that my beetle does not have emergency flashers. A month or two back I installed Baja Designs rock lights on my rack to run as dust lights or flashers. And that sort of solved the problem. Plus I run them as dust lights all the time. However I felt like not using the turn signal lights was a missed opportunity. Now, my beetle has been modified over the years, so there is not an easy drop in solution. But I have an sPod which makes adding anything electrical easy.

When I installed the new turn signal lever last month, I noticed the wiring was straight forward and it seemed easy enough to add a flasher circuit in. The nerd in me said use a relay and a 555 IC as a timer. But again, sPod. I wanted to electrically isolate both the turn signal lever and the sPod. One more the nerd in me said use a diode, but then I’d have to put the 555 and the diode, etc in a project box. Ever since RadioShack closed, it has been getting harder to buy project boxes. Instead I found a part from Roadmaster for trailer wiring that would work. A Roadmaster 792 Hy Power Diode . This allows the wires from the turn signal lever and the wire from the sPod to connect and be isolated from each other.

I would run one wire from the sPod to the diodes and then connect that to the turn signal Y-connector.

While prepping for this, my friend Fred Williams mentioned a pair of NAPA wire strippers and crimpers that he loved. I got them and I have to agree, these are really nice. Smaller than I would expected, which actually makes them better, they are easier to maneuver.

The install was really easy, I just had to find a spot to mount the little diodes, which I had behind the speaker cover I put in months ago. Then you just make a few jumper wires and you are good to go.