Toggle switches

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Marty,

Are all your switches original? Even if one is substituted for a SPST type switch the combinations won't work as designed.

Basically the power supply side poles of the switches are all common. think of them as connected to a bus.

The isolated poles (isolated from each other) on the output side is what makes it possible to have the various lighting combinations with just one switch thrown.

If all switches are original, it might be worth putting a multimeter on the switches to check the continuity that all the 3 power supply terminals are common to each other and that all 3 output terminals are isolated from each other.

Also check that all the jumps are correctly wired in and all jumps present.

Hope this is of some help or points you in the right direction anyway.

Cheers,

[M.Morren]

Hi Jacques,

The 3 TPST switches are original and working. I have traced all the jumps and found out that they are all over the place (most power comes in on the wrong side. That's why the Tail+Side and Tail+Side+Head only work when the Tail is on). I understand how and why the current config works.
But what I would like to know is, how is the lighting system supposed to work? See the scenarios in my earlier post. Which one of those is correct?
And is there an explanation as to why I hear different things than that I see in the manual? Did they change the config but nog document it in the manuals?

Thanks for your help!

[Jordan Baker]

Hopefully this drawing I made up helps with your wiring and for figuring out how these switches work.

On the back of the switches there are 5 usable sockets. The two on one side are for the power into the switch. The three on the other side are for going to the various light circuits.

The tail light only wiring starts at the top switch. It then has two jumper wires that go to same socket on the next two switches. It’s the lines wth the neon yellow.

The side lamps only goes to the middle switch and has a single jumper that goes to the same socket on the next switch. It’s the lines in the blue.

The headlamp wire is a single wire and goes to the dimmer switch. It’s the red wire.

The green lines are the power in.

The important thing to realize is that the three out sockets on the three switches are all independent.

So if you want only the tail lights on you turn the tail light only switch to on. If you want tail lights and side lights only, you only need to turn on that switch.

If you want head lights on you also get tail and side lights. You simply turn on that switch.

Hopefully this helps. It took me a bit to sort it all out but once I drew this diagram up it all made sense. I need to see where each wire goes to exactly what socket.

[M.Morren]

Thank you Jordan,

I actually used your diagram and it did help me understand the working too!
Now I just have to figure out how the gentlemen that told me that all three should be turned on to get the headlights to turn on (as a sort of failsafe to not accidentally turn on the bright headlights) got that info from. He dismantled several Chevs so he must have seen some different configurations. It is possible to wire the switches in the above mentioned way due to the independent output sockets.
I'll visit him in a couple days to see how his Chevs are wired and will share this with him to see what he thinks.
Thank you both for the help and if anyone else has some extra comments, feel free to message me or put it in this thread!

Cheers!

[Harry Moon]

On my C15A I set the switchs up as factory all three torn on the tail, bottom two turn on the front markers and only the bottom does headlights.
On my C60L where I wired each independently with fuses and I chose to install a relay for the headlights.

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Marty,

Here is a diagram I made up last year for the Ford light switch panel which may be of help showing the actual connections at the switches similar to Jordan's but for Ford's using their colour codes and wire numbers.

Thought I had posted it in Snakes Alive but apparently not. For Ford people, all lengths and positions were derived from an original harness and switches.

Cheers,

[M.Morren]

Hi,

I did not understand how the TPST switches operated because mine were wired the wrong way. The power was plugged into the top output pole. I did some checking and found out that the input poles are on the left instead of the right side. That's why I at first did not understand the drawings I fount on this forum.
I made a schematic of the inner workings of the switch so that anyone with the same problem as me can understand the workings of these switches.

Cheers!