How To: C15a Wire-3 restoration

[Jordan Baker]

Some more pictures of the LED light install into the dome light.

[Jordan Baker]

I mounted up the two lights to the canopy frame today. I also made up the wiring loom that connects both lights to the charging panel. Next up I’ll be securing the loom into the canopy frame.

[David Dunlop]

Hi Jordan.

How are the interior lamp assemblies mounted? I assume a bracket of some sort fits between the wooden body of the lamp and whatever structure the lamp is installed on.

If I remember the look of the lamps, they seemed to have a pair of large holes in the body, on the back and one of the sides, that appeared to permit two possible entry points for the power feed line, so there may have been more than one option/application for the installation of these lamps.

David

[Jordan Baker]

David.

I just realized I didn’t take a picture of the mounts I made up. Basically it’s 2”x 1/8” thick flat stock. Ends are bent 90deg on both ends. This fits across the width of the wooden body. Two woods screws on both bent ends screw into the lamp. This bracket would get bolted to the roof sheet metal then the lamp inserted and the wood screws screwed in. In my case I needed to make another piece that fit over the canopy tubing. I made up a stamping die and pressed some out in the shop press. The top stamped piece fits around the canopy tube and then two bolts are used to secure the top piece to the lamp bracket.

As for the lamp, yes there are few different holes in it.

The red circle is for the power in wire. It goes directly to the push/pull switch. It has a quick connect GM connection.

The green arrow is where the push pull switch mounts.

The blue circle is a socket accessible only from the outside of the lamp. It gets wired to the switch. I believe it was used to fit the plug from a trouble light or provide remote power to another lamp or some other accessory. I’m not sure if it should always be live or only live when the light is on.

The yellow arrow is the lamp socket.

The red arrow is a screw that holds the tinned metal reflector in place. It goes right through the wooded body and has a double nut on the backside. This also acts as the hookup for the ground to complete the electrical circuit.

[Jordan Baker]

Here are the detail pictures of the setup I made for the lights. I still have to secure the wiring loom.

[David Dunlop]

As always, Jordan, beautiful detailing. Your lovely wife is going to have all the creature comforts back there the next time you are out for a night drive and you have to replace another belt!

It must have been interesting dealing with interior lighting in that WIRE-3 box at night, as getting a canvas cover light tight must have been a challenge. In the WIRE-5, the two lamps ran along the longitudinal centreline of the box roof, with one lamp over the Operators seat and the other just behind the Cypher Clerk. Both were independently switched and a pair of cutout switches at the rear door of the box and in the Charging Cupboard killed the interior lighting if either of those doors were opened. I am guessing your WIRE-3 lamps operate the same way, minus the cutout switches.

David

[Jordan Baker]

A little bit more progress has been made on the wiring hookups for the Wire3 box. I’ve been working on making up the various wires that connect to the Charging Board. Today’s task was to make up the wire that is connected from the Chorehorse to the board. I pulled the modern wire through the metal braided loom. I’m not sure if the original had this but I figured it would. I also hooked up the wires for the interior lamps. That wire is a single one with the return/ground via the braided shielding. Once I had everything hooked up I figured I’d do a test. Out came the jumper cables to connect the 12v battery to the Battery No1 terminals. I then hooked up my homemade tester (red led bulb) to the 12v Output terminals. Everything worked as it should. I love the fact there is no modern electronics in this setup. Just a bunch of manual switches and hard connections.

I did up a short video to show all this.

https://youtu.be/UCiB2FMnhSc

[M.Morren]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

David.

I just realized I didn’t take a picture of the mounts I made up. Basically it’s 2”x 1/8” thick flat stock. Ends are bent 90deg on both ends. This fits across the width of the wooden body. Two woods screws on both bent ends screw into the lamp. This bracket would get bolted to the roof sheet metal then the lamp inserted and the wood screws screwed in. In my case I needed to make another piece that fit over the canopy tubing. I made up a stamping die and pressed some out in the shop press. The top stamped piece fits around the canopy tube and then two bolts are used to secure the top piece to the lamp bracket.

As for the lamp, yes there are few different holes in it.

The red circle is for the power in wire. It goes directly to the push/pull switch. It has a quick connect GM connection.

The green arrow is where the push pull switch mounts.

The blue circle is a socket accessible only from the outside of the lamp. It gets wired to the switch. I believe it was used to fit the plug from a trouble light or provide remote power to another lamp or some other accessory. I’m not sure if it should always be live or only live when the light is on.

The yellow arrow is the lamp socket.

The red arrow is a screw that holds the tinned metal reflector in place. It goes right through the wooded body and has a double nut on the backside. This also acts as the hookup for the ground to complete the electrical circuit.
554E4C2C-914A-495B-95AA-3E9D5E20B768.jpg

Hi Jordan,

I think I found out how the socket was supposed to be wired. According to a schematic in the MACH-ZL manual, the output wire from the switch goes to the lamp and the socket. So the socket is only powered when the light is on.
Untitled.jpg

It looks like that this was not always the case though. The NOS dome lights that came with my truck both have a short cable that plugs into the socket. So it looks like that the socket could also be used as input for the dome light (easy to do, just connect the socket wire to the input of the switch)
IMG_20210924_111858.jpg

One question: How did you find out that these use an ARK-LES push/pull switch? It looks like that the NOS lights did not come with switches.

[Jordan Baker]

Interesting find with the wiring diagram. It makes sense that the plug socket wouldn’t be live unless the switch is on. I’m not sure how the pigtails worked or what the purpose for them was being so short.

As for the Arkless switch. I picked up a few take off lights from a few different sources and they had those switches. The switches had been over painted with paint matching on the wooden base. I found the rest of my switches on eBay.

[M.Morren]

Dove into my manual again and found that the switch wasn't even mentioned in the parts/equipment list. It was added manually in this one.
Equipment list mach-zl dome light.jpg

I also found some more proof of the originality of the ARK-LES Heavy Duty switch. A switch, which closely resembles the one you found, was drawn In one of the 3 "Location Of Equipment" drawings. (on the left side of the dome light)
location of equipment mach-zl dome light detail.jpg

This is enough evidence for me to start looking for them.
Thank you for sharing the info on the switches (And everything else in this thread!)