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MG TD TF 1500 - Color of wire for TD clock

I am trying to determine how to wire the clock

On Chris'site. looking at TD-11272 its a plastic coated red wire going to the input side of the ammeter.
I dont believe this.

Dave B's site has no wire on the clock.

I am doubting Red and I am doubting where the connection is made.

The WSM shows Brown on the input side of the ammeter and Brown/white on the output side. I dont believe MG would put a red wire on a section using Brown as a major color.

The power coming into the power and Ignition switch appears to be Brown/blue also. Another check mark for brown.

You would want the clock unswitched. I think it should be fused. Also this area (Ammeter terminals) is unfused.

Looking at the far side of the fused wires they are Green or Green/red.

The clock does not seem to be shown in the WSM.

Jim B.

Thanks for any assistance.

JA Benjamin

Jim; I used a red wire, and I connected to the appropriate connection on the back of the accesory plug that is in the dash. If you wanted it fused, just put an in-line fuse in the line. I looked for any reference to clock wiring when I was doing it, and found none anywhere. I did make sure to make a seperate ground as well.
C.R. Tyrell

Jim; I used Red wire as it matched the colour of the wiring for the dash lighting. Since the dash lights are switched, I considered them accessory. So I considered the clock accessory as well.
C.R. Tyrell

Thank you C R

But my hangup is that I dont think the clock should be switched. Not that they run all the time on thier own but it should at least have the chance.

Jim B.
JA Benjamin

The green wires are switched and fused.
Brown is un switched and unfused.
The workshop manual does not show a clock wire.

I would have used brown if my clock worked, the only fused brown circuit is the horns. The wire would melt before that fuse blew. The horns used brown with green after the fuse. According to Lucas convention they should have used purple, which they did when the nine post regulator were installed in the early cars.

I do believe a red wire would pass electricity as well, and why not if you place a non-original fuse inline with the wire?

Warmly,
Dave
Dave Braun

FWIW Vintage Restorations gave me a green vinyl wire to clip on mine when they restored it :-)

I wired it into the ammeter.
Chris Couper

Thanks all.
No real consensus
I agree Red carries the same kind of electrons as any other color, I think its just the EE in me that wants a color code match.
I had ordered some solid brown yesterday. I may have some green with something. I dont know for sure.

Thinking.

Jim B.
JA Benjamin

Jim, as a fellow EE I feel the same way. My only suggestion is to wire it in such a way that you can readily kill the power to it (fuse is a good idea). It draws just enough power to outsmart a battery maintainer during storage. It's also a good idea to kill the power when you are reaching around the back of the clock with a screwdriver. Bud
Bud Krueger

Jim, Craig Seabrook wired my dash up and he has a yellow wire from the clock to the ignition switch.
Richard Taylor TD3983

I had pretty much the same question as Jim B. earlier this year. (Do an archive search for this phrase: TD Clock Wire.) There was no consensus then on what color the clock wire should be. My original wire appeared to be a sort of yellow color(it was quite discolored after 60 years) outside the harness from one of the terminals on the fuse block to the clock. When I rewired the car I used a brown wire from the battery side of the ammeter with a 2 amp fuse for the clock. Surprisingly, the clock still worked when I hooked it up.

Joe
Joe Olson

Well if there was some universality to Lucas wiring color coding a check of the wiring diagram for my 1965 Jaguar 3.8S shows the clock fed by a solid purple wire from the continuous power fuse block.
John Quilter (TD8986)

FWIW:
I run a "dual post" battery. Top post has a cut-off switch for all electrics except my clock. I ran a fused line from the side post to my clock.
The car has never sat un-started long enough for the small drain of the clock to run the battery down.
David Sheward

This thread was discussed between 21/09/2013 and 23/09/2013

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