1957 Cigarette lighter/Clock wiring

[Michael K.]

I recently purchased a new Lectric Limited wiring harness, and I have a question about it. The 14-gauge red wire (power) goes to the clock, while the smaller 16-gauge red wire (power) is going to the cigarette lighter. I think it should be the other way around. The wiring harness looks exactly like the wiring diagram shows, so I’m not sure what’s going on. Can you help me out?

[Gary C.]

Michael,

Check the '57 AIM for wiring info that should be the best source.

Gary
....

[Michael K.]

Thank you Gary. I will try that.

[Roger W.]

The '57 Wiring diagram shows a 14-gauge red wire going to the clock and a 14-gauge red wire coming from the oil pressure gauge to the lighter.

[Richard M.]

Roger,

The lighter uses 16G red from the Ammeter output. His first photo of the wiring diagram confirms that. It's a bit tricky to follow the path. Note the "AMMETER" note and the line pointing to it just above "OIL".

Michael and I conversed about his question elsewhere, and concluded that the clock used a heavier gauge wire(14G), due to my assumption that the designers had knowledge that the clock current draw was higher than the lighter.

When the clock triggers every minute or so, the contactor solenoid rewinds its internal spring for the next cycle. This current spike is quite high.

Here's the AIM wiring path. It shows the wire colors but unfortunately not the wire sizes.
Screenshot_20250906_052034_Drive.jpg

Rich