Parking light ground wire

L

lorenallen

Junior Member
I recently installed a new wiring hardness in my 68B Cabriolet and at the same time upgraded the head lights to LED and installed new headlight reflectors. The new reflectors are from Brattons and the reflector has a black finish on the back which is not conductive like the old reflectors were so I lost the ground to the Parking Light socket. I ran a new ground wire and flattened the wire to pinch it between the socket and reflector in order to ground the socket. Does anyone have a better way to ground the socket? My car is 12 volt, negative ground.
 
I'm really surprised (and disappointed) Bratton's reflectors are nonconductive. The grounding path relies on the connection between the reflector and the steel mounting ring in the bucket.

This might be more reliable - attach a wire between the socket sleeve(s) and the conduit socket holder with small hose clamps. Tin the wire ends with solder so the connections don't corrode.
 
Ruth said:
Bratton's reflector should conduct electricity. It is made of aluminum.
Click to expand...

I should hope so. Check cleanliness of the headlight ring where it contacts the back of the reflector rim. Also remember body bolts make lousy conductors.
 
Bratton's catalog doesn't say what the reflector is made of just says it is aluminum plated, polished and sealed from air.


Bob
 
You're 12V and LED's, so not original, run a separate ground wire back thru the conduit and ground it to frame near front fender. FWIW
Paul in CT
 
I ended up crimping an eye lug on the wire and then inserting the wire terminal between the reflector and the socket then I put a small hoes clamp around the socket and tightened the clamp so I can not pull it out - this worked very well - thanks for the idea.
 
I tried to solder to the socket and it would not stick to it - possibly my soldering iron is not hot enough. I even tried using soldering paste but it did work. The hose clamp works very well.
 
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