I am sure someone on here knows the answer. Painless has no clue. I have a 53 chevy belair with a v8 and I am wiring in a painless harness#10201. The door switches seem to ground when the doors are closed and if I wire it up like that the light would be on when the door is closed but off when you open the door. Anyone know where I can get a switch that will fit in the factory opening but will ground when the door is open?
There is two wires going up to the light. One is a constent 12 volts positive. The other is from the door switches that are a ground switch. Hope this helps you understand.
On most door switches, the pin that contacts the door has tabs on the jamb end that contact the bottom of the barrel the pin slides in. The pin and the barrel are insulated from each other, so ground is actually made when the pin is extended and its tabs contact the barrel. Look closely at your door switches, and see if this is the case. If not, some quick testing with an Ohm meter should verify operation.
should ground when the door opens, if not then it's broken or someone put in the wrong switch, or something.
if you don't have a switch they can be easily found in a junkyard or the help! section of your local auto parts chain store. like everybody else said, they ground when the door is open--it's the only way your dome light could work properly. ungrounded switch means the dome bulb gets no current and doesn't light, like when your door's closed. switch is basically a breaker.
Did you get a ford wiring harness or a universal? Some older fords had a positive trigger at the switch. If it's a gm harness the the orange wire would be the 12 volt wire to the light and the white wire would go to the switch for grounding when the door is open.
The switches on those old 50s cars are quite a bit bigger than the ones you'll find in a junkyard these days.
yeah it sounds like they are jacked if they are grounding when the door is closed. A trip to a pick and pull could merit some decent switches. I would try taking them apart and fixing them though... honestly since they didn't have robots back then the electonics all had to be hand assembled so they can also be hand disasembled... I fixed simple electonics from the 50's before by taking them apart and cleaning the contacts.. they really are robust parts... made in usa! No circuit boards and all that crap.
Ok figured it out. I was checking it with the ohm meter and even wired it up to a light. Then I checked the passenger switch and it was normal. Took the switch apart and the prong was bent wrong. Bad thing is when I tried to bend it back it broke. So I will order new switches. Thanks for the help.
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