Hooking up '46 dash clock

[ole_Bill]

I just installed a rebuilt dash clock in my '46 tudor sedan. It has two wires, one green and one brown. Which one goes to ground?

[Old Henry]

Don't know about colors but neither are ground. The clock grounds itself to the dashboard. One wire is to power the clock (the diagram shows this one yellow with black tracer) and the other the light. So, the clock power must be connected to a wire that always has power to it (diagram shows connection to the wire that goes under there to the pillar light switch on the passenger side), the light wire to the gauge wire circuit. Here's a diagram:



If, by chance, you do have two wires to power the clock polarity won't matter. It just powers an electromagnet for an instant every few minutes to wind the spring that runs the clock so it won't matter which you hook to ground.

[V8COOPMAN]

According to the schematic provided by MacVP in the link below, that clock appears to be self-grounding by design when mounted. It probably has TWO circuits internally...one to power the clock continuously via a fused wire coming from the HOT side of the circuit breaker feed. The other circuit appears to be fed by the dash-lighting rheostat switch. Hope this helps! DD

http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/F...1946-48car.jpg

[Drbrown]

Hope this might help. Have '47 Elec clock on my workbench .... suspect '47 is at least very similar. Clock in three basic parts: (1) Main mechanical unit containing gears, twin coils that wind the clock, etc sandwiched between two plates. (2) Over the back goes the main bowl-shaped back cover held by
three very small screws holding it to clock mechanize (I'm in the process of replacing the three tiny rubber grommets that insulate the screws & cover from the mechanize body - otherwise the twin coils won't work). (3) There is then an smaller bowl-shaped cover the back of the whole clock that protects the fast-slow adjusting dial needle and the power wire connection to an insulated terminal. Case grounds clock body via the dash but clock coils must be isolated to function (aside from normal ticking you'll hear the unit "click" about every 30 -40 seconds as the coils re-load tension on the shaft). Power supply wire has in-line (ratting old) 2 amp fuse capsule. Snap-in light socket on the clock body separately powered from the dash lighting circuit. I can't find 2 or 3 amp filament fuses so going to put a small resistor in the line and run it to a 5 amp blade fuse nearby. Good luck .... Dan

[ole_Bill]

After 65+ years, I don't find it unusual that the wiring doesn't match the schematic. I have two snap-in light bulbs that come on when the light switch is pulled out. These lights work. They are separate from the two wires which come out of the clock mechanism. Thru trial and error I found a wire with a constant voltage source and when it is connected to the green wire, the clock runs. The brown wire seems to have no function.

[V12Bill]

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To prevent burning the points in the clock, replace the 3 amp fuse with a 1 or 2 amp fuse. Points burn when the battery runs down and the 3 amp fuse does not blow. A 1 or 2 amp fuse will blow sooner and save the points and a clock rebuild.

[Drbrown]

My '47 clock must be different .... has one wire and no points. There are at least two manufacturer's - I have a "Westclox" of LaSalle Ill. stamped "Ford" in script; and there's also a ford clock by "George W. Borg" of Chicago Ill.

In the Westclox unit, a small spring-metal tension blade on a sub-shaft engages and puts rotational pressure on a main gear and shaft causing the clock to ultimately tick. When the blade's pressure decreases to a certain point, an arm on the back side of it grounds-out (no points) activating the twin coils, which rotate a swinging bar, that re-winds the mechanizum. Whatever ... the operation is simple and appears not to be subject to effects of Pos/Neg ground systems. Dan