Courtesy light install

[Onewildcat54]

So I recently grabbed a set of painless courtesy lights that are similar to those that came in these cars. I have a 74 sport coupe, and began putting them in. The manual is below. I spliced the black wires on each light together (so they light at the same time) and ran them to the driver door jamb switch’s black wire like it explains to do. I then spliced the white wires of each light into the white wire on the door jamb switches individually which I thought was what it meant by (B+) white wire. Nothing has come on. Oddly enough they did briefly light when I unplugged the black wire from the door jamb switch with the door open but they were dim and the dome light was also extremely dim. Help!

 

[grzewnicki]

You don't have power, both the black and the white wires are grounds. Find the orange wire forward of the console which supplies power to rear console light and usually has a spare connector that would have gone to glove box light. Use that as your hot, going to white on courtesy light. Your black wire from courtesy light as you have it now should be fine.

 

[Onewildcat54]

You don't have power, both the black and the white wires are grounds. Find the orange wire forward of the console which supplies power to rear console light and usually has a spare connector that would have gone to glove box light. Use that as your hot, going to white on courtesy light. Your black wire from courtesy light as you have it now should be fine.

Could I use any constant 12v source as my hot, theoretically? Also, thank you I had no idea, I just put a voltage tester on the white and it lit up so I just assumed it was 12v constant.

 

[grzewnicki]

Any constant fused +12v will work. Don't know why they used white as ground, think that is all Fisher body installed wiring. The dome light is orange hot and white ground, I think once the harness for the dome/rear of car plugs into side of fuse box it changes to black. But the wire running across the firewall connecting the door switches is also white (I think another fisher installed harness). Probably showed voltage since you were checking it with door open, the switch was grounding the white and then you put the test lead on it and gave it another ground so the bulb lit up.

 

[Onewildcat54]

Any constant fused +12v will work. Don't know why they used white as ground, think that is all Fisher body installed wiring. The dome light is orange hot and white ground, I think once the harness for the dome/rear of car plugs into side of fuse box it changes to black. But the wire running across the firewall connecting the door switches is also white (I think another fisher installed harness). Probably showed voltage since you were checking it with door open, the switch was grounding the white and then you put the test lead on it and gave it another ground so the bulb lit up.

Thank you for your help, I tapped that glove box light like you mentioned, I saw how everything runs of that orange wire. They work great now!

 

[grzewnicki]

Glad I could help!

 

[rotinrob]

Glad you got them working. For future reference there is a better way to install those neat under dash lights, IMHO. I recently upgraded my Monte Carlo to have them (the Camaro and Chevelle I have were born with them). For the MC I bought a repop wiring harness from one of the normal repop sources, it is a separate harness from the main under dash harness, and the reflectors for the lights. Pretty much plug and play from that point on. Might be a bit more difficult with the dash in place as this harness is routed through the gutter behind the dash, but you could just route the wires behind the dash out of sight. Not sure if they were optional on all year Camaros but the wiring and the reflectors for a 70 should work up to the end of the 2nd generations.

rotin

 

[Onewildcat54]

Glad you got them working. For future reference there is a better way to install those neat under dash lights, IMHO. I recently upgraded my Monte Carlo to have them (the Camaro and Chevelle I have were born with them). For the MC I bought a repop wiring harness from one of the normal repop sources, it is a separate harness from the main under dash harness, and the reflectors for the lights. Pretty much plug and play from that point on. Might be a bit more difficult with the dash in place as this harness is routed through the gutter behind the dash, but you could just route the wires behind the dash out of sight. Not sure if they were optional on all year Camaros but the wiring and the reflectors for a 70 should work up to the end of the 2nd generations.

rotin

I appreciate the knowledge, I was planning on adding the glove box light onto the wires again at some point, I say that because I believe the switch is bad and took the whole thing out. It had no bulb on it when I got the car, to which I later added one and also added a parasitic drain. To your point of tidiness, I used heat shrink for everything and zip tied all the wires back into the dash to the rear radio wires, so it looks good enough for me. -Alex