Roof wiring: "Roof up" warning light

[jkhackney]

Hi,

And a second request: the “roof up warning light” was not re-installed in the rebuilt Dormobile I have, so I don’t know how it was installed by Martin Walter. I have the switch. From its construction I can see that it grounds a circuit through a lamp from the ignition live (green). I know the circuit diagrams and my way around behind the dash of the SIII, but I haven’t opened my SIIA dash, yet, to see what it looks like.

1) There are any number of places to tap this power behind the dash: wiper motors, etc. Which one is used by Martin Walter? Certainly this would be the easiest one for me to use, too. Are wires cut and re-joined or is this circuit simply added with an eyelet and a bolt somewhere?

2) Is it only a lamp, or is there also a buzzer?

3) Is the lamp colored with a lense?

4) Does the green wire come up through the windscreen divider like the purple roof power supply? I’m not sure how much more space there is in there.

Thanks,
Jeremy
PS: I am wiring the roof lights through the standard Station Wagon roof light switch and purple (battery live) wire. This keeps modifications to a minimum, and I can switch the lights from the dash. I lose the cabin light in the front, however. But I don’t think original Dormobiles had any roof lights besides the flourescent tubes in the roof cutout, anyway, did they?

[Bea]

Hello Jeremy,

I still have the original roof warning circuit in Bea, the lamp takes a positive feed on a white cable from the switched side of the ignition switch so is only live when the ignition is on. The lamp is earthed as you are aware by the roof switch, this earth cable on Bea lies across the roof lining and exits down through the L/H side of the windscreen devider. i also have an original SW Cab Light and the switched earth for this goes up the R/H side of the devider!
The original lamp is a small ‘ribbed or corrugated’ red lens fitted to the L/H side of the Dash below the Aux Power sockets, there is no buzzer on my early 61, but I have seen (and still have somewhere) an elaborate ‘transistorised’ box that did just that fitted to a later roof.

Regards
Phil

[jkhackney]

Thanks, Phil
(welcome back, stunning pictures!)

(woops, I just assumed the rest of the world has negative earth? … it sounds like you do)

I tested my “roof up” switch last night with an ohmmeter and it closes acceptably just using its metal-to-metal contact with the roof, without an additional ground wire. But can you tell me which white wire is used as +, and if it needs a splitter and new bullets (double plug) or if it’s something as simple as adding a wire with an eyelet to a screw?

Also, if you have a normal station wagon dome light, which I assume is switched at the dash, what cable powers the flourescent lights in the cutout, and how is this cable installed? I have an extra station wagon dome light I could install on the normal roof light switch, instead of my original plan to use this switch for the flourescent lights. It certainly would be practical.

If all the above is installed, that’s at least 3 wires going up the windscreen to the roof?!?

Thanks,
-Jeremy

[marc78]

All I can provide on this one is a pic of my dashboard,

I haven’t looked behind to see the connections
May be I should since the light does not lit when the roof is up and engine running…
On mine, yes there is only the fluo light at roof level

And this is Michel.j’s one, so yes the “corrugated” lamp is on both cars, although orangeish not red. both late SIIA 1971 and 69 respectively

[jkhackney]

Thanks, everyone.

I’m sure I can find a convenient white wire to splice for my “roof up” lamp as soon as I finally open the dash panel and take a look.

The wires and their insulation are fragile, so I didn’t want to meddle too much with them, which is why I was hoping there would be a simple place to tap the power with an eyelet and a screw.

I won’t need it to blink or buzz, at least not for now.

By chance I even have an extra facetted Land Rover warning light that I can put into my dash panel in the new vehicle, for the original look!

Things will come together sooner or later!

Jeremy

[jkhackney]

Hi,

I installed the “roof up” warning light by putting a 6.3 mm (1/4″) double spade plug on the white wire of my ammeter. This wire goes to one terminal of the light. The other terminal goes up the windscreen center section to the roof switch. I used green/white wire (“ignition switched accessory”) and spliced in a Lucar plug above the windscreen so it looks proper, even though I’ll never remove the roof again. The hardest part is putting the wire up the windscreen divider, which requires either three hands or some glue (I used glue).

The black sash under my windscreen has a large rectangular hole in it for a 5W festoon bulb (the kind used in vehicle trunks [boots]) that replaces the dome light as a map reading lamp. This is now switched by the standard dash switch for the dome light, which is no longer installed. There is also an unused 1/2″ round hole in the sash made by a previous owner. I mounted the “roof open” warning light in this hole instead of in the Martin Walter spot on the instrument panel. It was making me too nervous to drill a big hole in my instrument panel! Someday I can move it, if I want.

Finally, I tapped the purple battery wire on the dome / instrument panel light switch to carry power to my 8W fluorescent roof lights, with another 6.3mm double spade plug. I used the dome light wire that was already in the windscreen divider (purple).

It all works and no fires, yet!

Now I can put in the interior trim panels!
-Jeremy

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