I’m puzzled by how to connect this. I have never run this car but I took pictures and made extensive diagrams when I disassembled, but I am still puzzled. It is a 3 position switch with a starter button but it also seems to have the spring loaded setting past the right position, which is confusing. I was assuming left position is ancillary (running radio or parking lights without the engine running), center is off and right is start and run. Why a spring loaded position outside right? This is an Oct 66 car, and I needed the S1.5 3 AW wiring when I replaced the harnesses, so maybe this is a transitional car with anS2 switch wired for a starter button??
There are four contacts, numbered 1 thru 4. 1,2 and 4 each have two connector lugs. I used an ohm meter to test the switch settings. Left position connects 1 and 4. Center position connects nothing. Right position connects 1,2 and 4. The spring loaded position connects 2 and 3, 11 So center is “off”, left is ancillary and right position is start and run. If that is the case then 3 is never activated. More confusion.
I have the wiring diagram of course and it shows the 2 W (to starter and fuse 6) hooked together. So that’s confusing - why would the starter button be live at the same time as parking lights and radio if the motor is not going to be started.
There are two N/P wires on a single connector and a N/W that presumably go on 1 and/or 4. Do these all go on the same contact or are they on different contacts. Maybe it makes no difference because 2 and 4 are connected to 1 with the key in run position.
So I;m confused. Anybody have a photo or diagram of which wire goes where on this switch or maybe an explanation?
“11” I assume this is a typo, but is it a “1”, or what? This switch seems very unlike the double pole switch used in most 4.2 S1s. Does it, perhaps, have some identification markings on it? Does the car have an alternator relay? I ask, as the second pole of the usual 4.2 S1 switch was used to connect the alternator to the 4TR regulator, prior to the introduction of the relay. Was this a US-delivered car? Some European destinations had differing requirements (eg steering lock) that affected the ignition switch. Just trying to make sense of this…
Sounds to me you may have a series 2 switch, which has the spring loaded start position to the far right? This was added when the push to start button was eliminated.
Thanks, David, the 11 should not be there at all. Sorry to add to the confusion. Only 2 and 3 are connected with the switch in the spring position. It does not have an alternator relay. This is US delivered car 1E 13807
The switch is marked Lucas 47 54. It does seem like this is a S2 switch. This car went in storage March 1981 and never ran since. I have no reason to believe that the switch was replaced, but it’s possible.
I thought my disassembly notes were clear but now I come back to them, they are not, (you can have a thousand pictures but you’re always missing the one you really need) but when I disassembled it I believe the switch was connected
1 - N/R from battery via ammeter and N/W to alternator via ammeter
2 - W to starter
3 - nothing
4 - W to fuse 6 and N/P x 2 to alternator and regulator
This means the starter is always live when the car is running, which is not a good thing, but I believe this is how it came to me. I am not clear about the alternator functions in this configuration. Frankly I don’t understand how that all works
I think if you look closer you will see that it is “47SA”. That is the Lucas part number for a Series 2 ignition switch.
It appears to me that the original Lucas switch (which would have been an S45) failed as they did regularly due to so much of the load passing through them, and it was replaced by an available Series 2 switch which has (a) an Aux position, and (b) an spring loaded start position in addition to the OFF and RUN positions of the original. The original switch was a double pole switch rather than the single pole of the S2 switch. So when the original switch was in the RUN position it made two separate circuits: (a) connected power from the “Battery side” of the ammeter (N/R wire) to the “+” on the Voltage Regulator and the “F+” of the alternator (these are the two N/P wires), and (b) connected power from the “Alternator side” of the ammeter (N/W wire) to the Starter and Fuse #6 (these are two W wires). This approach allows the ammeter to correctly display whether the system is net charging, or discharging the battery. The replacement ignition switch being a single pole type required some compromises to be made concerning the ammeter operation and which circuits were energized in which switch positions. From your description is sounds like everything but the starter button is powered in the Aux position (including the field of the alternator, which is probably not a good idea), with the starter button being energized in the RUN position (which is normal). The spring loaded START position does nothing. I am assuming that no further wiring changes (eg to the ammeter connections) were made when this switch was installed, but who knows…? Hope this helps.
Thanks David, very helpful. Sounds like I need to buy a S1 switch, seems they are available. Is there any way to avoid having so much current run through the switch? A buddy is talking to me abut a relay for the fan etc?
A timely question. I have been working on my Quad Headlight RHD 1966 FHC for the past few days, getting to know it after it’s voyage from the UK. One of the first things I discovered was that the ignition switch is flaky. When cold it worked fine, but when the car warmed up and turned on the cooling fans all the electrics that passed through the switch would die. It could be revived by wiggling the key in the ignition switch, but would repeat the failure periodically. Today I replaced the switch with one I got from SNGB. It is the correct S45, but the quality leaves a lot to be desired, so I’m looking to offload the fan current from the switch as soon as possible. The fan relay implementation on the 3.8s and then on the Series 2s really doesn’t help this problem as it is designed to protect the Otter switch, but still runs the fan(s) through the ignition switch. I’m therefore currently working on a version of the system used on the Series 3 cars, whereby a fan relay is controlled by the Otter switch powered off Fuse#6 (and the ignition switch), but with the power for fan itself taken from an unswitched source - maybe directly off the B+ on the alternator which is conveniently close with an in-line protective fuse.
Which looks like a pretty good summary for shunting the current off to a relay for both the 3.8 and the 4.2 S1. Strangely enough, the 4.2 switch described is dual pole and the pic in the post looks very much (but not exactly) like mine. Perhaps there was another variant in the UK.
Thanks for the pointer John. I’ve ordered the double pole relay and will implement the solution that uses the relay to protect all the ignition-switched circuits. This will still leave all the cooling fan current passing through the Otter switch which I don’t like, so I may have to put in a fan relay too to protect it. The nice thing about this solution is I shouldn’t have to run any additional wires in the engine bay.
