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Map light and dome light wiring 68 B body?

wannadrag

wannadrag

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Have some cut wires and need some actual pics of how it hooks up.I have a shop manual with the diagram but its vage.I have just the single wire door switches.Have a yellow coming from both the drivers and pass side,single wire coming from the map light and what appears to be a terminal for a ground on the map light switch.Do i connect the 2 yellows and the wire from the maplight and then run a ground from the switch?Or what?Someone have a pic of the actual wiring?
 
The map light serves as a dome light to. You shoud have two different connectors pluged into the back of the map light one is yellow and the other I'm not sure of color, and it grounds through the screw.
I just dropped mine off at my storage building or I'd get you a picture, if you dont get someone to post a pictue in the next few days I'll go get a picture.
 
Jay....I ran into the same confusion swapping out my dash harness.....Below is a pic of the Map light if that helps any: (brown goes to ground) Anyways, wiring harness can get confusing with the yellow wires considering they left extra plugs at the end of the yellow wires near the door switches for courtesy lights for the rear door panels on convertibles and the door switches for 4-doors.

Things you need to be worried about...You'll need a yellow wire to each door switch..... Jumping off the driver side- you'll need off that same yellow, and a pink to the dome light....Being you have a console car, off the drivers side you'll need the same yellow, a pink and an Orange-(same circuit as ashtray light/Radio light) to your console courtesy lights, orange is for the shifter light. Also, being yours is a '68, your back up light switch is mounted on the side of the shifter. Should be a violet and white wire from it. That is unless you converted to a 3 pin Neutral safety switch. There is a black ground wire (grounds with a screw under your seat) that runs to the plug at the console as well. Don't know how much you have/figured out with your console wiring, so just throwing it out there.

The yellow wires come off the dimmer switch, the pink comes off the fuse box (hot with car/key off), the orange like I said, same circuit as the ash tray/radio light. Let me know if I can help out more..Most my wiring is already buried but I don't mind pulling some kick or sill panels.

rr.jpg
 
So the yellows are actually ground wires?With only 1 wire to the door switch,with the door open the switch is out and opens the curcuit and grounds it,correct?So is the map light just switched on and off with the black switch then or will it work either way with the door switches as well?
 
The map light will work either way Jay, with the off/on switch or opening the door. You right on the yellow wire's...works on the same concept as the brake switch. The pink wire holds the +.....Opening the door and engaging the switch allows the yellow to complete the circuit. Being all the yellow wire traces back to the dimmer, with the doors closed, roll the dial on the dimmer all the way up and it completes the circuit internally.

If your harness is really hacked apart, you could easily run all those wires yourself. For the yellow (jamb switch), run a split connector off the correct pin on the backside of the dimmer (mymopar.com has the diagram with location). One of the two wires coming off will go over to your driver side jam switch. From there one wire will need to be jumped off to the dome light, the other to your console. The other wire coming off the split connector off the dimmer switch would go to your map light, then from there to the passenger side jamb switch. The constant hot pink wire would come from your fuse block. 1st it would run to your map light, then from there, split off by the kick panel with one wire going to the dome light and the other to the console. The orange wire you could tap into your ashtray/radio light wire and run down and over to your console for the shifter light.

To add to the confusion...Not sure if your car had it or not (probably), but the cars also had a lights on buzzer incorporated into those yellow wires. May be another empty yellow bullet connector you're staring at, wondering what/where it goes if its not plugged in.
 
I need to dig into my 69 RR dome light wiring too. Thanks for the detailed info Prop!
 
I love the search function on these forums.
I am currently messing with door Jamb switches and the map light on my 70 and this thread sheds some much needed light.... pun intended,
Thanks guys!!!
 
Propwash said:
The map light will work either way Jay, with the off/on switch or opening the door. You right on the yellow wire's...works on the same concept as the brake switch. The pink wire holds the +.....Opening the door and engaging the switch allows the yellow to complete the circuit. Being all the yellow wire traces back to the dimmer, with the doors closed, roll the dial on the dimmer all the way up and it completes the circuit internally.

If your harness is really hacked apart, you could easily run all those wires yourself. For the yellow (jamb switch), run a split connector off the correct pin on the backside of the dimmer (mymopar.com has the diagram with location). One of the two wires coming off will go over to your driver side jam switch. From there one wire will need to be jumped off to the dome light, the other to your console. The other wire coming off the split connector off the dimmer switch would go to your map light, then from there to the passenger side jamb switch. The constant hot pink wire would come from your fuse block. 1st it would run to your map light, then from there, split off by the kick panel with one wire going to the dome light and the other to the console. The orange wire you could tap into your ashtray/radio light wire and run down and over to your console for the shifter light.

To add to the confusion...Not sure if your car had it or not (probably), but the cars also had a lights on buzzer incorporated into those yellow wires. May be another empty yellow bullet connector you're staring at, wondering what/where it goes if its not plugged in.
Click to expand...
The map light only comes on when one of two actions are taken.
1. you open the door
2. you rotate the thumb switch to activate the dome/courtesy lights.

All the map light switch does is DISCONNECT the map light from the courtesy light circuit.

Pink is battery-hot fused power and yellow is switched ground. All of the pink wires go back to the same fuse and all of the yellow wires ate tied together so that any one can be grounded and turn on the lights.
 
ynst said:
The map light only comes on when one of two actions are taken.
1. you open the door
2. you rotate the thumb switch to activate the dome/courtesy lights.

All the map light switch does is DISCONNECT the map light from the courtesy light circuit.

Pink is battery-hot fused power and yellow is switched ground. All of the pink wires go back to the same fuse and all of the yellow wires ate tied together so that any one can be grounded and turn on the lights.
Click to expand...


on 71 and lates ( and pretty sure earliers too, but I will talk about what I have worked ) gets constant positive... pink wire, true

the circuit is open/closed by ground on two ways:

dome light circuit: either dome light/dimmer wheel or door jam switch... yellow wire

direct ground switch mounted on map light: provides ground to bulb without need to turn on dome light, usually via black wire.

would make no sense a map light which only will turn on with dome light circuit. The idea of the map ligh is juts light on the map on your lap, without turn on all the cabin and reflect the light over the windshield
 
Nacho-RT74 said:
on 71 and lates ( and pretty sure earliers too, but I will talk about what I have worked ) gets constant positive... pink wire, true

the circuit is open/closed by ground on two ways:

dome light circuit: either dome light/dimmer wheel or door jam switch... yellow wire

direct ground switch mounted on map light: provides ground to bulb without need to turn on dome light, usually via black wire.

would make no sense a map light which only will turn on with dome light circuit. The idea of the map ligh is juts light on the map on your lap, without turn on all the cabin and reflect the light over the windshield
Click to expand...
Perhaps my switch is bad because the map light never worked unless the door was open or the thumbwheel was run to the end of it's travel. With the switch in the opposite position, it never worked/works at all regardless of the door switches or thumbwheel being set.
There's only pink and yellow wires on my map light assy., no black wire. One's a 1/4" push-on and the other is a 0.156" bullet with a right angle plug.
 
The harness is original. I never changed it and I bought the car new so I know it's original.
 
Maybe the switch takes the ground via chassis, but if the map light gets a switch, there is no sense for it if will turn on via the dome light circuit only, because the dome light circuit is what will turn it on and off always, so no need for a switch there.

Switch is two positions... one to keep it off and linked to the dome light circuit ( so will turn on with the dome light ), and the other to turn it on independently from the dome light circuit so, straight from some chassis source.
 
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