The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Where'd ya get that light switch from???

Just checkin’ out the lights last night on my 1950, 3604 and I found the dash lights weren’t working but everything else is good. I keep a 6v lantern battery on the test bench to check out things like this and sure enough after connecting the bat to the interior terminal on the light switch and grounding it I had lights. Therefore, the light switch is bad! Probably a burned out rheostat, I’ll verify this during the autopsy.

So, what I’d like to know is whether anyone has bought an after market light switch recently and what you thought about the quality of it and what vendor you got it from. They all carry them but I’m sure some are better than others.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny. I can't answer your question regarding aftermarket switches, but It probably is the rehostat. With a little luck you may be able to bypass the rehostat and continue using the original switch.

denny i had the same problem i took the dash light wire and ran it around to the headlight side and it works fine dash lights come on with the head lights easy fix never needed to dim them with a 6volt anyway.... hope this helps ill prob get a new switch later but for now this works fine

Denny, I got a repop and its junk,I fixed my old one

Thanks guys, I'll have to wait till I get it out to see where the problem actually is. I have a bunch of resistance wire from my antique radio hobby that I use for making precision resistors with. It looks like it might be a wire wound rehostat on a ceramic core, so I might even be able to rewind it if the wiper isn't the problem.
Denny G

Mine is original, and it isn't quite that simple. The winding isn't around a ceramic core, the ceramic fits around the winding like a sheath with a slot in the side for the wiper to ride on. You can probably rebuild it but it looks like a major pain. Luckily mine is burn out in the middle so I just run it on the high side and it works just fine.

Thanks a bunch mon, here I thought I'd have an easy fix and now I'm dreading pullin it out and workin on it!!!! Yust kiddin, thank for the heads up on what to expect.
Denny G

Denny,
Plenty of NOS ones out there. They're on E-Bay all the time. Place an ad with the VCCA and one'll show up.

Bob

Okie doke,
The Diagnosis: Contact between all components in the rheostat lost due to internal corrosion of the hollow copper rivets used to assemble the unit. No continuity between any metal components, that is, rivet to rivet, or rivet to lead, or rivet to resistance wire. The resistance wire is still intact, no breaks or signs of ware, the three contacts on the wiper are corroded and tarnished but not burned.
Treatment: Soak rheostat assembly for 1/2 hour in Tarn-X solution, rinse well with water and blow dry. Re-attach rheostat ceramic insulator assembly to frame with new hollow rivet using hollow rivet set and re-stake frame to light switch and it’s ready to go back in.
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2126536260098611668neiSaB
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2933805960098611668qucIyQ
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2662479530098611668ScgBGI
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2190351730098611668cFmtBO

All wired up again:
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2619000940098611668LNXdAW

Total time for the whole shot took a little over an hour with a break for supper while soaking the rheostat in Tarn-X. A goodly shot of tuner cleaner for the head light/parking light contacts and now we still have the original light switch in A1 condition.

If anyone has an old light switch that has failed and been replaced, I’d like to have it to do some experimenting on. I’d like to see if the resistance wire could be rewound. I’d also like to see if the head light section could be opened up to service the contacts if needed. It would be an autopsy so the switch would in all likely hood not be serviceable afterwards.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL