Headlamp switch orientation

[Barber31]

Can somebody tell me or show a pic of the orientation of the headlamp toggle on the steering wheel? I just purchased the 2 bulb headlamp setup and would like to know how the the toggle should work the lights. The bad part is my wiring harness is for a cowl light setup so I'm only getting the red and green wires going to the lamps and not the yellow wire. I'm thinking of using the yellow cowl light wire and running it to the 2 headlamps for now until I get the correct harness. So does the toggle point down during normal driving? And should it be in the off position? Should it be turned to the left to turn on the lamps? And lastly what or the positions for the lamps? Example: straight down is off. First dimple to left is park lamp. 2nd dimple is dim and 3rd dimple is high beam? Thank you.

 

[qtcoupe]

Straight down is off
1 click clockwise is park
back to center and 1 click counter clockwise is low beam
1 more counter clockwise is high beam
That is how my 31 is wired
my harness is without cowl lights so I used them for turn signals

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

The light switch positions can also be found in the owner's manual. Good reproductions are available as well as originals. As qtcoupe said:

6 o'clock = OFF
7 o'clock = parking
5 o'clock = low beam
4 o'clcok = high beam

 

[Barber31]

Thanks fellas. I guess I have my switch or spider clip off. I was pretty sure I was off somewhere and the way I have it assembled right now is


6 o'clock = on (not sure if high or low beam)
7 o'clock = off
8 o'clock = on again

I sure do appreciate the help. I guess I need to turn the switch or spider. I would look at the owners manual if I had one but so far I only have the "red" book.

 

[Joe K]

Check out your wiring and where the wires are landed. Wiring diagram with correct colors (all the wires are color coded) is shown at http://www.webjunk.com/modela/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/wiring-diagramcolor2sm.jpg

It is possible to reverse wires between high beam and low beam where they plug into the bottoms of the light shells. And it may be possible to have one light "high" and one light "low" by this random occurrence. You can examine the filament with a welding glass when the lights are on and see which filament is lit: top filament is "low" beam and bottom filament is "high" beam (think of the light being reflected in a mirror!)

Just reversing the bulb will not correct this problem. You have to reverse the wires on ONE side to "re-sync" the lights.

Examine the wiring diagram. You can remove the wiring harness switch plate from the switch housing and use jumpers from Radio Shack to "hot-wire" the various circuits to check out what exactly is going on. Just keep in mind that always THREE brass contacts are connected together at a time. (this for most Model As per the wiring diagram I showed - a few early twolight cars had four contacts - but the principle is the same.)

Joe K

 

[Mike V. Florida]

This may help,

 

[Barber31]

Got everything hooked up and working as original. Thanks guys, got it wired up pretty quickly after y'all's help.