The dome light in my '47 works, but you have to fiddle with the switch to make it stay on. It seems these switches haven't held up very well over the course 70 plus years. Has anyone found a good replacement switch? The housing and lens are in good shape. If you've replaced your switch, please share the source and part number you used.
I cannot find the post, but, someone posted that they got their A-D interior/overhead light switch to work by taking the switch out/apart and replacing the ball/bb and cleaning/shining the contact surface. If I ever do this, I will cover the cleaned contact surface with antioxidant conductive grease.
I just went through this : )
Bought a used unit off of Ebay ( $20.00 plus $7.00 for shipping ) and replaced the inner workings into my existing housing.
https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/1285293/switch-replacement-1954-interior-dome-light.html#Post1285293
Thanks for the replies and comments. I'm going pull mine apart and attempt to clean it. If that doesn't improve the performance of the switch, I'll take some measurements and attempt to find a 12V DC slide switch to retrofit into the dome light housing. There should be a switch that will work for this application............
Sorry if I'm responding to late, but I have an extra dome light and switch here. Not sure if the switch is good, but it's yours if you'd like to give it a try.
...I'm late to the dance Andy but I thought mine was bad to ....until I looked at it close and the little plastic finger switch was in wrong. Not sure anyone else has encounter that, but it will work one way and hardly at all the other.....Hope things are good in Ia.
I have two of these dome light assemblies, one that works just fine and one that doesn't. It feels like there's dirt or some crud in it when you operate the on/off switch. I'm thinking about opening up the problem one and try to clean it. Tim mentioned that someone did this with some success. It sounded like there's a small ball inside that was cleaned-up, re-assembled and worked just fine? That's interesting the plastic finger was in wrong, a lot can happen to these machines in 70+ years! I'll post some pictures when I get a chance.
Okay, I disassembled the problematic switch today. There are two tabs that hold the switch components in place. Inside you will find the switch lever, a small ball, spring, and the switch contacts. In my case, the components were quite dirty. I cleaned everything up with some acetone and a q-tip. Upon re-assembly, I gave the spring a slight stretch and lubricated the ball and switch contacts with a very small amount of dielectric lube. Once I had everything back together and held in place with my index finger, I made sure the switch physically operated. You can see the ball in place-make sure it's in there. Next, I bent the tabs down to hold it all together. I tested the switch with an ohm meter prior to re-installing it in the truck.
Once the dome light assembly was completely installed it worked like new!
Martin '62 Chevy C-10 Stepside Shortbed (Restomod in progress) '47 Chevy 3100 5 Window (long term project) ‘65 Chevy Biscayne (Emily) ‘39 Dodge Business Coupe (Clarence) “I fought the law and the law won" now I are a retired one! Support those brave men/women who stand the "Thin Blue Line"! Hug a cop! USAF 1965-1969 Weather Observation Tech (I got paid to look at the clouds)
Is it the ball that makes the connection between the two brass plates?
Example: Off position > Switch lever moves the ball away from the two brass plates. On position > Switch lever moves the ball so the ball is touching both of the two brass plates.
Is there another wire that is attached to the other terminal that goes to the bulb socket?
Yes, the ball is the connection between the two brass plates. One terminal is the power lead from the headlight switch which is 'hot' all the time. When the switch is in the 'on' position, the ball is touching both brass plates. This allows the power through the other plate and to the dome light bulb. The dome light assembly is grounded to the cab through the three mounting screws.
I just fixed one like this (check attached pic). Double Pole Double Throw or DPDT or 2PDT The ball did not make the connection, it just rotated the brass plate. The connection between the brass plate and the terminal corroded.
