Wiring the interior dome light

[sballard]

I am assembling the interior after a prolonged hiatus and I am trying to get the interior light to work as designed. The car is a 1972 Targa. The image of the light fixture is shown in the image below. There are 3 spade connectors in the lamp housing, but there are only 2 wires present: one is a brown wire (ground I assume) and the other is black. The lamp tilts to 3 positions. I have read on previous posts that the lamp settings are 1) always off, 2) on when the door(s) is(are) open, and 3) always on. The ground point looks to me to be the bottom connector where I assume that the ground wire goes. Where does the other wire go? Should there be a third wire? Unfortunately, the idiots that painted my car pulled several of the wires out at various points so it is not possible for me to test this myself at the present time.

[DaveMcKenz]

Hi Steve,
Your light looks similar to mine. On your picture, the left arrow is the switched ground from the door switch. The right arrow is for 12 volt constant power. On a coupe, the light gets a constant ground from the fixture contact with the metal body, and needs no third wire. In other applications, the lower arrow is for a constant ground wire. Either way this allows you to manually turn the light on or off with the door closed.
Good luck,
Dave

[sballard]

Dave-

Thanks for the reply. This is just what I need to know.

The freaking painters pulled out the door light switches and their ground wires from the door hinge post when they painted the car. I've tried to replace these wires but I don't think it is possible for me to do so. The space is just too tight and convoluted. From what you've said, I can connect the ground wire to the lower left connector which will allow me to just turn the light on manually when needed.

Thanks a million!

[DaveMcKenz]

Hi Steve,
On a coupe, for manual control, you only need the +12 volt connection, since the light will ground through its metal case when you install it in the ceiling. If you can find a brown wire behind the dash, near the door jamb, it's probably the door switch wire.
Good luck,
Dave

[sballard]

I am not holding out much hope for the door switch ground wire(s). The painter handed me a box with both switches and one long brown wire still attached. I've been fishing around inside the hinge panel for a wire but I haven't seen anything yet.