Military U1300L Blackout Switch Functions

[greg.potter]

Looking for an explanation of the positions on the blackout light switch.

My 1982 ex German army troop carrier U1300L has two light switches, as detailed on the attached photos. The fellow that I bought it from didn't have a good handle on what they did - he had simply messed around till he figured out how to get the lights to work. I had not gotten round to figuring this all out, and am now am having problems with my lights. Neither my Operating Manual or Workshop manual have an explanation of the function of either of the switches.

From what I have been able to find through searching various Unimog forums I believe that the top switch is an on/off switch for Infrared lights. When in the IR lights "ON" position, all other lights are turned off. Can anyone confirm that?

The bottom switch is quite a bit more complicated. The switch has 7 positions. The positions are labelled (clockwise starting from about the 2 oclock position):
S3 / S2 / S1 / 0 / Tag / 1 / 2

A sliding mechanism within the body of the switch limits the switches range of travel.

The tag position is the center position which can be selected with the slider in either pushed to the right or the left. And the switch must be in the Tag position in order to move the slider.

When the slider is pushed to the left positions S3 / S2 / S1 / 0 / Tag can be selected.

When the slider is pushed to the right positions Tag / 1 / 2 can be selected.

Can anyone provide an explanation of the function of the various positions of this switch, or a source of additional information for the Military variants of the U1300L.

Thanks,
G Potter
82 U1300l

 

[steelsoldiers]

It has been a while since I had my 404, but I believe Tag is brake lights only, 0 is off position S1 is parking lights, S2 is driving lights, S3 is ummm... I don't recall, 1 is blackout parking lights and 2 is blackout driving lights. I'm sure David Roberts, Bob Ragain, or Rory will chime in here shortly to confirm or deny my recollection

I love the 1300L by the way. I dream of a 1300 Doka with super-fast axles and a turbo engine. An ex-fire truck or crash truck would suit me fine!

 

[M813rc]

When the slider is pushed to the left positions S3 / S2 / S1 / 0 / Tag can be selected.

When the slider is pushed to the right positions Tag / 1 / 2 can be selected.

As predicted, here I am! Chris, you were close..

The slider controls which "side" of the switch you are on and prevents accidentally turning on the headlights during blackout, and other such dangerous battlefield antics.
On older Mogs there is a little pin in the center of the top of the switch, push it in and you can move the slide bar from one side to the other.


Tag means day.
Tag- All lights off
1- parking, clearance and instrument lighting, brake lights
2- All the above plus headlights

0 is Blackout off
S1- Blackout brake light, and convoy light (the little one on the cross on the back, not an orange blinky!)
S2- Blackout headlight only
S3- Blackout lights front and rear

Note- The brake lights (regular and blackout) should only work with the ignition turned on. On some Unimogs, turning off the ignition kills all the lights.

Cheers

PS - 1300 Mogs...

 

[Wolf.Dose]

The lightning system in Europe is somewhat different than in the US. So we useually can not shwich on the lights without the ingition in on position.
Tag means that your brake light and the direction indicators should work.
1 means as said above that the front and rear position light works additional.
2 means that the driving light works additional to 1.
Hazzard shoud work in all positions as required by European legal requirements.
0 means all lights are of, however you have to shift to that position intentionally (mechanically blocked from Tag)
For S1 to S3 refer to the statement of M813RC.
For road driving 0, S1, S2, S3 you do not need.
The numbers on the shwich contacts are according to German / European contact numbers which every car electrician over here knows without looking into the books.
Wolf

 

[duncan]

And just to be helpful, since Im guessing you're nor a car electrician, nor european the contact numbers can be found here:

DIN 72552 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[greg.potter]

Very helpful - thank you all.

It ended up being a broken wire in combination with a wire which had pulled out of a connector. I don't have the advantage of being an auto electrician, nor do I know european schematic symbology, however as a control system engineer I have spent quite a few hours trouble-shooting control system circuitry, which certainly helped in sorting this out.

 

[saddamsnightmare]

November 24th, 2012.

I do believe that the headlight switch on the Unimog S404.114 was a little more elegant, with the dimple in the top of the switch knob having to be depressed with an implement (like an ink pen) before the slider would unlock the blackout side of the switch, whereas the U's apparently only have the slider and no positive mechanical lock. The purpose of the lock was (or better, is) to keep you from either turning on the blackout lights in road position, or turning on the road lights when running blacked out.
The Swiss S404.114 has the same monster combined headlight/blackout light switch as all other S's, but the Swiss being logical Swiss, said the heck with all that and wired the blackout light and two dim red lights in the standard rear tailights to a separate switch, not locked out or blocked by anything more then the wheel position indicator just above it on the steering column under the steering wheel. Thus I can cut the blackouts in or out without affecting the regular headlights and apparently they are not rigged through the ignition switch, so you can turn them on whenever you want. AND there seems to be no blackout brake lights or turn signals whatsoever..... The German S404.114's have a road light/blackout light set that in complexity, is only exceeded by a Southern Pacific Railroad diesel switching locomotives for the numbers, types and combination of lights......
If it's German or Swiss engineered, it's got to be good, but IT will drive an American mechanic nuts!opcorn:

 

[dennhop]

In bringing an old dead thread back to life, I had a question about the items shown in the pictures from this OP. Can anyone tell me what the circuit breaker on the right side between the switches operates?