The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay 1938 Headlight Bucket Bayonet Connector Wiring

Does anyone know how these 3 pin bayonet connectors are supposed to be wired? These are not the headlamp connectors, but the ones that connect the bucket wiring to the wire harness. I can easily make the headlights work but I would really like for it to be "right".

Chasz,

Here's what the '36 pickup connector and reflector look like.

Ray W

I think Ray has it right with his pictures of the '36 connector. My '37 did not have the connectors and I could not find them anywhere. A knowledgeable person told me that these connectors are notorious for failed connections due to moisture and corrosion leading to failed contacts. He recommended that I hardwire the headlights, while leaving extra length coiled in the headlight bucket in case the bucket had to be removed at a later date. That way you would have plenty of length to reconnect later.

The 3 wires are for the 1) high beam filament, 2)low beam filament in the headlight bulb and 3)parking light bulb. Ground is through the reflector and headlight bucket. Sealed beam headlights did not become universal until 1940.
Kent

So the answer is that he has not converted to Sealed beams?

How would you hard wire an incandescent bulb socket? The Yar pictured "bayonet plug" carries spring loaded contacts, doesn't it? To me it looks like it is as hardwired as you could get. I don't understand the "hardwire" part yet and poster may not either.

As far as how to wire, I did mention what each wire is for as you did. Maybe he wants to know which wire is which, that's what I wondered if he wanted.

Chasz, if that is what you need, determine which two wires are for the dual filament bulb. The dimmer switch has three terminals. One is a feed from the headlight switch. Hook one of the bulb wires to one of the other two terminals on dimmer switch and the other bulb wire to the other dimmer terminal. Does not matter which separate bulb wire goes to which separate dimmer terminal.
I would recommend figuring out a way to add a dedicated ground wire to the socket/bucket and terminate it to a nearby good clean metal spot. One for each bucket. The method evidently used was an "intimate contact" method. No good. It's no good on many grounds on our old trucks. Just to repeat: Mr. Chasz: Does your situation look like the Yar pix? What is your definition of "headlight connectors" in your statement below?

"These are not the headlamp connectors"............

P.S. I am not familiar with the bucket. I am assuming that the bayonet "contact plug", shown in Yar's pic, fits down inside the long nose socket sticking out on the inside of the bucket? If so, the only "connector" is the bayonet contact plug.....and whatever the park bulb has.

Ray’s picture is the connector I’m talking about. I was wondering If anyone knew which pins are assigned to the high beam and low beam. It sounds like most folks have probably replaced these connectors with butt splices. I’ll take some pictures when I get home.

Bartamos,
Chasz is not talking about the bulb socket. He is talking about a three wire connector that connects the wiring harness to the connector for the headlamp bucket. If you took Ray's picture and looked at the business end of the connector there will be 3 contact posts. By bucket I mean the headlamp housing that holds the reflector. This connector is not located at the headlamp bulb and parking light bulb or even at the reflector. The construction of the headlamp from this period is similar to an old style flashlight with bulb, reflector and body (or bucket in this case)of the light.The connector is located right at the entrance to the bucket, exposed to the elements. What I meant by "hardwiring" was to eliminate this connector for the reasons I gave. If I had access to these connectors, and being someone who wants to "keep it stock" I would have done so, but I couldn't find the connectors anywhere. The purpose and advantage of the connector is that if you wanted to remove the headlamp assembly for some reason you simply detach the wiring connector and unbolt the single bolt holding the lamp to the radiator cowl.

Chasz, if you follow Bartamos's directions you will figure out which wire is which. You could also use a test light or ohm meter to follow the continuity of the wires to make sure your parklights come on when they should and both headlamps are both on the same high or low beam.

Kent

Bartamos,
It looks like I will have to come in person to where ever you live in AZ and show you in person what I and Chasz are talking about with my '37 ( I live in Mesa). I agree with everything you say above except for the sentence "3 pin connector mentioned by Chasz is not a connector". This sentence is incorrect and it is, indeed a connector. This connector has nothing to do with the pictures you have posted, although it is within 8 inches of the connector we are talking about. I know you are familiar with the headlight terminal block on the inner fender of Advance Design trucks and this connector is analogous with the terminal block in function. That is what this connector does, which attaches to the exterior of the headlight bucket. At the interior of the bucket there is the other half of the connector which continues inside the bucket with 3 wires that connect with the headlight bulb (two wires, high beam and low beam) and the parking light bulb (one wire) which terminate at the bulb sockets shown in your first photo. Maybe my term "hardwiring" is imprecise and contributing to the confusion. What I did was eliminate the connector at that point. It is that simple. If you don't understand, PM me and we can continue this discussion without boring the other folks.

There are wiring diagrams I viewed thru Keith Hardy's Online Manuals website. 37 truck shows no terminal block or connector analogous with the terminal block in function. Don't see a connector.

38 has no truck diagram but has car, it shows a terminal block. A terminal block is not analogous to a connector. The diagram shows two wires entering from the back and one from the side. Don't see a connector.

39 truck shows no terminal block. Don't see a connector.

If you are saying that there is a three pin connector somewhere. I would love to see it. I apologize to Chasz for thinking he meant the bulb. I do not doubt you but If I don't see it, I can't learn what is wrong with my post. Especially if it is the only thing you say is incorrect. I am your friend and a friend of knowledge. If you can drive over here, you can take some pics and post them. I'm in lockdown man.

I think I understand that you guys have a genuine connector with three wires, for each can. This connector is before you get to the bulb contact housing shown in Yar's pics and Chasz says it's a bayonet connection. He says "three pin" as in three contact connector. I will wait for a pic or two.

Chasz will get it wired. It's all good. We will sort the rest out someday.

If the truck is the same as the car I can provide pics of the junction block inside the engine compartment of a '38. IF your question is which wires on the headlight pigtail connect to which terminal of the junction block, it really make no difference. From the factory the low beam connects to the center terminal. The high beam and park light connect to the other two whichever way you want.

Here is a photo showing the junction block on my '38 car. The extra wire off of the center terminal goes to my fender accessory lights that I have wired to come on with my low beams. The wires from your dimmer switch connect to the center (low) and, in my case front (high) with the rear terminal being for the park light. Like I said you can assign any terminal to any light depending on your preference. In this photo the front clip is off the car so the main harness wires to the junction block aren't attached.

I agree pictures would be great but since I never had these connectors I can't help. I first became aware of them during my '37 restoration when I received my wiring harness from Rhode Island Wiring. Attached is an image of part of the main wiring harness drawing showing the connectors. Note that it says to reuse your original connectors since no one reproduces them. I have included detail from the drawing which may help Chasz if he can discern the colors of his original wires. This shows gauge of the wire and factory color (YxR for example means yellow wire with red cross hatching). I have included pictures of the interior of a headlight bucket which shows where the female part of the connector would be attached. The other photo is of the exterior of the bucket where the male part of the connector would be inserted (the part shown in the photo at the beginning of this thread). That hole is about 7/8 inch diameter so the connector is large, at least 3/4 inch diameter. The 1937 truck has no terminal block like Tiny's picture shows.

If you search Ebay for vintage headlight connectors you get a variety of examples of one, two and three wire connectors for different manufacturers. I understand Ford Model A used something similar. The advantage of such a connector would be rapid connection on the assembly line. I assume problems later on resulted in GM going to the terminal block on the inner fender that many of us are familiar with.
Kent

Wow! I apologize for creating such a contentious post. It must be the heat here in Arizona. But its all fun and I really appreciate everyone putting so much effort to respond to my vague description of what I needed. Lightholders Dad takes the prize for providing exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
I did find new 3 hole insulator boards on fillingstation.com. It looks to me like they have many of the other parts for these connectors They list them for 1936 models but from the pictures on the web site they look the same as the 38.
Attached is a picture of my connectors.

Glad you found what you need. So obviously not the same between car and truck. The fat kid learned something today.

Chasz, you solved one mystery for us in that the The Filling Station has not properly identified their product and they span at least 1937 and 1938 for trucks. Here is a link to the female part of the connector that goes from the light sockets in the reflector to the body of the head lamp. It even includes the socket contacts which is fantastic.
https://www.fillingstation.com/deta...HEADLIGHT_BUCKET_WIRE_3_WIRE_2_CLIP.html

If you look elsewhere in their catalog you find the male part of the connector with metal conduit. When wiring my truck I would have died and gone to heaven to find those parts but I guess I kept searching for "1937". Thank you!

I understand now. Thank you to Kent and his PM's to me. Thank you to Chasz and for the pic. thanks to everyone. I learned a lot. Any possible contention removed.

It appears all the confusion is about the construction and connection of the buckets on the pre AD pickup. Here is a pic of all three components in question. The entrance from the truck body to the bucket has a disconnect that mounts inside the bucket as shown. The connector is a push and twist as seen in my pic still connected. Once disconnected the reflector (with its pigtail) is fully removable to be serviced or replaced. As you can see from lack of any insulation and snipped wires I cannot be of any help with “what goes where”but I’m not sure it’s important as long as both sides are the same and it functions properly. Light holder simply made a butt connection ilo this connector as he didn’t have nor could find leaving some excess wire bundled in the bucket just in case eliminating the fully removable pigtail connected reflector. No problem.