Nv3550 reverse lights wiring help

[Godwick]

Quick question: I am trying to wire up my reverse lights and having a bit of trouble.
I have wired up a weather pack connector to plug into the switch but when I connected it all up, I got nothing.
I pulled the plug and am trying to check continuity By putting the tranny in reverse. It is my understanding that if I put the transmission in reverse I should have continuity from pole to pole on the plug in the tranny, should I not?




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[Steve83]

Look up the wiring for the DONOR vehicle's reverse lights:
http://www.revbase.com/BBBMotor/Wd

What happens if you unplug the switch, and jumper the HARNESS side of the connector?

 

[Godwick]

That's a good idea. I do not have continuity from the wires I'm trying to tap into but on closer inspection I think I'm tapping into the wrong wires.
These purple wires were what I tapped into. They lead into the firewall, but do not connect to the reverse lights.
This other multiple colored bundle of wires DOES connect though. Not sure how to tell which is for reverse.

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[DirtDonk]

The black w/red and green w/red wires at the switch on the column in your first pic are the backup lamps. You must jumper those two together to have a complete circuit for the transmission's switch to work.

The Purple wires in the last pic are for the Brake Warning light on the dash and have nothing to do with the backup lamps. But for power only, they could work.

Yes, you would expect continuity at the new switch when the trans is in reverse. Have you run the vehicle yet? Are you sure of the reverse location in the shift pattern? Just making sure it's actually going into reverse. Very rare (never heard of one in other words) for the switch to be bad if it's a new transmission. But not uncommon to find a failed switch if it was a used transmission to begin with.

Definitely do the test Steve mentioned and jumper all the wires in question and you should get backup lamps when the key is in RUN only.

Paul

 

[Godwick]

Ok great. Thank you both. I have power on the harness side when key is in and on and in Reverse. But no lights when plug and weather packed connected. Going to troubleshoot plug


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[DirtDonk]

Did you make your own Weatherpack, or buy one specifically for the 3550?
Did you verify that the section back to the lights works by applying 12v to that wire and checking the lights?
Where are you tapping into the circuit? Where do you get the power and where to you send it (wire colors)?

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

And because yours is a '73 or later (what year is it?) you will have another 4-wire plug nearer the center of the engine for the Neutral Safety Switch, with two Red w/blue wires (start function) and 2 Black w/red wires (backup lamp function).
In the case of a manual transmission, both of them would simply be jumpered with loops of wire on a matching plug.

If the jumpers are broken or have come off, you would lose your complete circuit.
Just like if those two wires at the column switch in the first pic are not jumpered together you don't get a complete circuit.

So if those are the wires you're utilizing (the best choice, since they're your actual backup lamp wires) then you need to make sure that both of those potential breaks are connected together.

Paul

 

[Crush]

In the top of your pic there is a re wire and a gree n wire plugged into the backup light switch on the column under the master cylinder. unplug this and wire your plug for your 3550 onto it. then plug it into your 3550 and they should work. it doesnt matter which wire you hook to whicht because you are just completing the circuit.

 

[Godwick]

I made my own weatherpack, and that was the problem. I used the female metal insert instead of the male. I verified power to the wires you mentioned, Paul, by jumping them together and having the wife yell "Bingo!" From there, some shots of the plug with a greasy iPhone told me where I'd gone wrong. Thank you all for the help. Love this forum.


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[DirtDonk]

Good find!
That was partly what I was wondering when I asked, but didn't mention it because I actually thought if you'd used the incorrect contacts that you wouldn't even have been able to plug it in all the way to clicking. Would have been awkward up in there anyway, but maybe it was harder than normal even?
I was leaning more towards a bad crimp or something. Glad they didn't get buggered when you plugged it in the first time.

And for others, since it hasn't been mentioned in a few years that I've seen, when you're making your own NV3550 reverse lamp connector, you use the opposite of the normal Weatherpack orientation. Where you would normally make the connector with the female insert, use a male instead. Or just buy one to begin with of course...;D
Thanks for posting up the fix Godwick.

Oh, and glad you've got backup lamps too!

Paul

 

[Steve83]

Not sure how to tell which is for reverse.

A good start would be to put ALL the Bronco's details into your signature so we know what you're working with, and we can point you toward the right wiring diagram. Look at Paul's & Crush's signatures for examples. Put EVERYTHING you can think of in it. More info is better. If you're not sure about something, post lots of pics, and we can help you ID it all. (A closer pic as your avatar would also help.) But all that info needs to be in your SIGNATURE so it appears automatically below each of your posts because we may need to review it at any time, and we can't go looking back through all your posts to see if & where you posted it.