'39 Deluxe Headlight Wires

[the human wrench]

I know this has been covered here before but I didn't see actual pictures of the parts involved. This switch plate is from a '39 Deluxe with the floor dimmer switch. I plan on un soldering the old wires and replacing them with new wires without cloth insulation. My problem here is I can't tell the colors on the old wires so I don't know where power comes in. I think I have determined that the square notch goes on top and where the 3 pin rotating connector is at rest. I'm told turning the switch to the left is for headlights and right is for park. If I am right can someone tell me how to hook up the wires? Not worried about the center horn wire.

 

[JSeery]

I do not know the "keying", but one set of terminals in your photo will be "hot". The other terminals will be connected to the dimmer switch and the other to the parking lights and the tail lights/dash lights. Paired on the back side with the "hot" will be the wire to the brake light switch. In the headlight position one terminal will connect to "hot, one terminal will connect to the dimmer switch and one terminal will connect to the tail lights and dash lights. In the parking light position one terminal will again be the "hot", one terminal will be parking lights and again one terminal will be the tail lights and dash lights. So, the "hot" is paired with the brake light switch and hot all the time. It is active to the other terminals in either headlight position or the parking position. The tail light and dash lights will be active in either the headlight position or the parking position. The other two terminal are single connections, one to the parking lights and one to the headlights.

Try to locate the "hot" wire, it is Yellow and should be lighter than the other wires. It is paired on the back of the switch plate with the brake wire which is Green and should also be fairly light. These two, the Yellow and Green, will be on the same strip on the back side. There will be another Yellow wire (I'm ignoring the tracer colors if they are badly faded) will be a single wire on its strip and is the dimmer wire. A single Black wire on the backside strip will be the parking lights. And the pair of Black wires will be the tail lights and dash lights.

The Yellow wires could be a bit confusing because the "hot" is Yellow with a Red tracer, the parking lights is Black with a Yellow tracer (and the Yellow and Black section on the wire can be close to the same size) and the headlight is Yellow with a Black tracer (and again can be close to the same spacing size). Figuring out a couple of the wires should give you a major clue as to what the others should be.

 

[JSeery]

Can you post a photo of the back side? In the photo you have posted I'm not sure I understand B2? The way I see it there should not be a single terminal with more than one wire and there should be two wires associated with each paired set of terminals. If you have the pairing correct, A & D should be the "hot"/Brake & the Tail Light/Dash Lights. And B & C would be the Headlights & Parking. But B2 throws a monkey wrench in all of that!

 

[the human wrench]

Here is the backside, it is flipped from the first image but with everything lettered and numbered the same. In this picture the "at rest" or off position would be under A1 & 2 and if turning the switch to the left turned on the headlights in this picture it would be to the right, and in either direction the switch connects 3 posts. There are no original wires on the car, so unfortunately colors won't help me much. Really, if I knew which wires to make hot I believe I can figure out the rest. I think the description in the post above will help a ton. Thanks.

 

[JSeery]

Well, the wire coloring does not look correct, but here is my guess. The connections marked A are bridged so they are connected in either Park or Headlight. The connections marked D are likewise bridged. I would say A is the Power in and Brake Switch connection and D is the Tail Light and Dash Light connection. The connector C is a single connection and would be Headlights and connector B is likewise a single and would be Parking Lights. My best guess. The logic works out, but the again, the colors don't look correct and don't understand why there would be two wires at B! The more I look at this, I'm not sure you couldn't wire it different ways and still get the desired results, it is really simplified over the earlier years. I can't see as switching the A & D connections would make any difference, and switching C & B would just change the position that Headlights and Parking Lights would be active. Worse case would be you having to reverse these two.