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 Need help with 56 Mopar headlight wiring diagramsJump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [50 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
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56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9900     Location: Lower Mainland BC | . I opened up a(nother) can of worms yesterday when I decided to "adjust" the fit of the passenger side 56 Dodge Custom Royal head light "door" (the pot metal and chrome hood over the 56 Dodge headlight). In doing so, "while I am there", I decided to fix the unintentional difference between the look and operation of the LED bulbs that I am running in H4 headlights (they have separate bulbs). One of the issues with the bulbs is it seems (to me) that high and low beams might be swapped. This lead to me checking out the bulb socket and wiring connector bar with my digital multi-meter (DMM). What I thought that I figured out was the top of the socket with the black wire was for low beam and the side of the sockets were for high beam (via a read wire). The other side socket is connected to ground via the cloth covered wire that terminates at the edge of the headlight bucket. Looking at wiring diagrams for the various 56s, i.e. Plymouth, Dodge and Chrysler, the wiring colours are not consistent. If we assume that the high beam indicator bulb is powered through the foot-operated high bean switch and that the terminal from which the orange wire to the indicator bulb is on the same terminal as the actual wire to the high beam filament in the headlight.. For 56 Plymouths, the high beam indicator bulb is powered by an orange wire and the power to the headlight, i.e. high beam, is a red wire. This is consistent with what I found with my DMM. For 56 Chryslers, the high beam indicator bulb is still powered by an orange wire at the high beam switch but the wire to the high beam filament in the headlight seems to be black. (???) Getting back to the topic, i.e. 56 Dodge, the wiring diagram is consistent with the 56 Chrysler but not the 56 Plymouth. I just want to know which wire if supposed to be high beams, the red or the black?? REFERENCE: http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=70141  | ||
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| Shep |
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Expert Posts: 3393   Location: Chestertown, NY ( near Lake George) | |||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9900 Location: Lower Mainland BC | Shep - 2022-09-08 1:19 PM I have a new in the package 56 Dodge headlight switch oe. 75.00 plus shipping. Thanks. The switches are working. I don't know about the LED lights and how they are wired with respect to high and low beam. I might have to dig out and old incandescent sealed beam to confirm. I wish I could find a photo of a wired 56 Dodge headlight dimmer switch to confirm the red/black issue. All I can find is new ones, like this one (which does show two female bullet terminals on one outlet point): https://www.ebay.com/itm/133602829480?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid...  Edited by 56D500boy 2022-09-08 6:20 PM | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9900 Location: Lower Mainland BC | . I tried to find and photograph the dimmer switch wiring in situ but that is very difficult (at least lying on the garage floor). I did find the wiring and I sprayed it down with brake cleaner and swabbed it off a bit with a paper towel wrapped around a dowel. I can't see the actual terminals on the dimmer switch but I can see that the wire colours are yellow, red, black and orange. The yellow is the switched power in but it threw me because that was a 55 colour, not 56 (should have been green). But my car was built in LA so maybe they sent the 55 left-overs to the LA plant to be used up (???). The high beam indicator light wire is orange so that leaves only the red and the black. I used my multimeter to check for voltages at the front wiring terminal strip on the rad support. The black wire terminal is full hot with the headlights on (just low beam). The red wire terminal is full hot with the dimmer switch punched down (and the high beam indicator lamp shining). Oddly, with high beam on, the low beam terminal still has voltage (about 1/2 of the full voltage). Using my old Halogen sealed beam and my 12V battery charger I confirmed that low beam is the top terminal on the sealed beam (and the headlight bucket socket) and that the high beam was a side terminal, opposite to the ground terminal. I would still like to see the actual wiring at the dimmer switch but that is difficult at the moment.  I think, looking at my photo again, that the orange and red wires are heading to the same (siamese) terminal. (??) Maybe  Terminal Strip for checking high and low beam voltages: Here is the best photos I could take today of the four wires going to/from the dimmer switch and high beam indicator lamp wiring: Edited by 56D500boy 2022-09-10 7:36 PM (LABuilt56DodgeDimmerSwitchWiring_YellowRedBlackOrange.jpg) (HighBeamIndicatorLampWiring_Orange.jpg) Attachments ----------------  LABuilt56DodgeDimmerSwitchWiring_YellowRedBlackOrange.jpg (145KB - 84 downloads) HighBeamIndicatorLampWiring_Orange.jpg (156KB - 80 downloads) | ||
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| PolyJ |
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Veteran Posts: 143 Location: Denver, Colorado, USA | |||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9900 Location: Lower Mainland BC | PolyJ - 2022-11-03 11:34 PM Did you ever sort your question on the HL dimmer switch wiring? I'm currently gutting all the '56 Dodge coupe wiring for a new system I designed and am wiring, and I can get you those colors off the dimmer tomorrow. What I'm finding is that Dodge played fast and loose with with wire colors, so I disregard the manual colors and go based off terminal letters and using the multimeter to sort things. I *THINK* I have it figured but I would be grateful for your input and/or confirmation. I haven't jacked the car up so I can see the end of the HL dimmer switch so if you can provide more info, so much the better. (Thanks in advance) | ||
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| PolyJ |
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Veteran Posts: 143 Location: Denver, Colorado, USA | |||
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| PolyJ |
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Veteran Posts: 143 Location: Denver, Colorado, USA | Hi David, I got the dimmer switch pulled. Judging by the OEM floor insulation glue covering one of the switch bolts that I had to chip out, I have no reason to believe the switch isn't original. Made by Lake Center, no part number. The wiring matches the photo of your loom. Edited by PolyJ 2022-11-04 1:23 PM (1956_Dodge_Headlight_Dimmer_Switch_Small.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 1956_Dodge_Headlight_Dimmer_Switch_Small.jpg (142KB - 70 downloads) | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9900 Location: Lower Mainland BC | . Justin: Thanks for posting the photo above. Much appreciated. That is a very ambitious and thorough undertaking that you have started. I thought about wiring shortly after I bought my 56 Dodge but decided against it (too much work for my liking) Instead, I have been taking load off the various circuits by going to things like LED head and tail lights and an electronic AM/FM/Bluetooth/USB/iPod radio conversion. Works for me. But I will be interested in what you come up with. I still like the idea of a fuse panel if, for no other reason, the ability to track down problems. Good luck. Edited by 56D500boy 2022-11-04 1:23 PM | ||
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| PolyJ |
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Veteran Posts: 143 Location: Denver, Colorado, USA | |||
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