Ok, so I am trying to wire up my dome lights and im running into some issues.
Main issue is my doors do not have the dome light switches, so when they are plugged in normally they are always on, as long as the battery cables are hooked up. I am now trying to control these lights with a rocker switch, but i keep blowing fuses so I need some help figuring out whats wrong.

Here is the wiring as it was today when I first installed the bulbs (all terminals are female):


Ok, and here is what I did to try and control them with an On-Off-On rocker switch:



Ok so in the second setup the lights stay off when the toggle switch is in the off position, when I switch to the left (ON) position, I blow a fuse. I am not well versed in electronics and don't understand what I am missing here, or what exact purpose the white wires serve in relation to the door switches. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

I don't have time to write about this at length right now, but what you need to know is that the orange wire is always hot, from the "Courtesy" fuse, straight to the battery.
The white wire is the ground that completes the circuit.
When you open a door, the door sill switch completes the circuit between the white wire and ground, and when you turn on the dome light at the headlight switch, the headlight switch does the same thing.

So the key question is, why not just replace your door switches and connect everything properly?

If you MUST have a rocker switch, it needs to be between the white wire and ground.

- Eric

 

Does the circuit ground at the headlight switch then? Now I've got it set up so that instead of the white wires going into the nonexistent switches, they just connect to each other so the circuit is always complete. but they still stay on always even with the dimmer in the far right position, and when i move the dimmer the fuse blows.

I haven't bought the switches because I work a minimum wage job and I'm cheap and dont want to buy originals.

 

Hmmm....
The door jamb switches are only a few bucks. I'm really surprised your car doesn't have any. They're readily available from RockAuto.

The orange wire, as noted, is always hot.
The white wire goes to the door jamb switches and the headlight switch.

When the headlight **** is turned all the way CCW, it grounds the white wire to its mount on the dash - lights on!
When either door opens, the jamb switch grounds the white wire to the chassis - lights on!

I'm not quite making sense of the drawings. All all the open ends just grounded?

 

The white wire grounds at:
a. the driver's side door, if the door is open,
b. the passenger side door, if the door is open,
c. the headlight switch, if the switch is rotated all the way over to the "Dome Light" position,
otherwise, it does not ground at all.

The orange wire is hot all the time.

The orange wire should be connected to nothing but the dome light and the clock.

The white wire should be connected to nothing but the headlight switch (since you have no door switches), with the ends at the doors taped off.

If it blows fuses when connected to the headlight switch, then you have a short somewhere else, probably at a light socket.
Remove the light bulb(s) and see if it still does it.
Check for attaching screws that go through the socket and accidentally touch ground (like the roof of the car).

How many interior lights does this car have?

You'll find it.

- Eric

ps: how much can a door jamb switch possibly cost? They're a universal item, used on all GM cars for many years. You can pocket a dozen of them the next time you're at the junkyard, and I'm sure someone on this board would sell you some for next to nothing.
I would if I knew where any of mine were (I know I've got some...).

 

Not necessarily. My parts book shows 1965 except F85 uses the earlier style switch which is not easy to find in my experience. It does not thread into the door jamb as later switches do- it snaps into a round hole in the jamb, seems like it's 3/4"- 1" diameter. IIRC they all had a rubber accordion protector boot on them too- my Starfires do, anyway.

Used 61-65 Oldsmobile and probably other GM cars as well.

However- seems late-model Ford products use a switch that just might work. I'll have to remember to look at the ones on the 93 F150.

 

Turned out I had the wrong bulbs. Single post bulbs in double-post socket = nono. Thats what I get for letting my parts supplier use his reference book instead of mine, and also what i get for not knowing better. I bypassed the switches by connecting the two ends together, now dome lights come on with dimmer switch in far left position. Case closed