I was having a little trouble attaching my photos but they are now attached. The light/lights look a little different and yours appears to indicate only one light was used. My back-up light is activated manually by a knob and is connected to the tail light wiring in the trunk. Apparently my system was installed by the owner - in this case my father 70 years ago. I have a pretty good idea now how it should work, I just have to figure out figure out why it doesn't. Thanks.

Trying to sort out why my back-up lights are not working. Does the back-up light system shown in the attached photos look like a factory accessory? All these years I thought the on/off knob said "Utility Back Up," but it actually says "Unity Back Up." Does anyone know which of the following have to be on for the back-up lights to work: ignition switch, the headlights, engine running? Tough to track down the problem if I don't know how to turn them on. Thanks in advance.

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Got it! I finally understood what several of you were trying to tell me about not using the same ground, ie not grounding both circuits to the chassis. I also had a friend work his magic with his ohm meter before I lit it up. Every thing works with no FOOM! Thanks for the help.

Ernie - sounds like a real lady you have there. I'm envious of her reliability.

I'll check that. Thanks.

Thanks for the comments. You've given me a lot to ponder. My biggest takeaway from this is that the glass bowl should remain full under normal circumstances - whether the engine is running or not - unless I run out of gas.

The situation generally occurs after the car has been sitting overnight.

My 50 Deluxe 8 frequently requires starter fluid to start the engine. I've noticed in this situation that the fuel filter glass bowl is often times less than half full or even empty. Does this indicate that the fuel pump is going bad - that possibly the diaphragm is leaking? The bowl is full when the engine is running.

Thanks, gentlemen.

Yup on the car being positive ground.

Fish'n Jim - I can provide specs or brand/model for the inverter and/or the same for the camera/monitor if that's what you're asking about.

Here's what I have so far. I mounted the inverter to a metal panel on the inner fender of the engine compartment (steel screws through a steel panel), so I imagine the inverter housing is grounded to the chassis. The black and red wires on the input power supply side of the inverter are connected to the appropriate battery terminals. A yellow wire on the output load side of the inverter is connected to the supply terminal of a switch. The switch is mounted to the metal dashboard - but is in a plastic housing - so probably not grounded there. I have a bus bar for connecting lights in gauges, the monitor for the backup camera, etc. The bus bar is powered by a (yellow) wire coming from the load terminal on the switch - making it the red/positive side of the bus bar (true or false?). The earth terminal on the switch is connected to a black wire coming from the other side of the bus bar - making that other side of the bus bar the black/negative side (true or false?). A black wire on the output load side of the inverter is connected directly to the black side of the bus bar. The bus bars are mounted to a wooden panel with metal screws but those screws do not come in contact with any other metal, so no grounding there. And then there's the ground from the positive terminal of the battery to the engine block.

It took me awhile to write that out, but the process gave me - and hopefully you - a clearer picture of what I have. So the big question is, does that setup give me the proper grounding to safely run 12v neg ground devices from the bus bar or are changes in the grounding called for?

PS, I connected one of the gauge lights to the bus bar for a test and flipped the switch. The gauge light went on, as did the light built into the switch. I am not taking for granted that that means the system is properly wired as I believe those little light bulbs are more forgiving than more sensitive electronic devices will be.

Looking forward to your response.

PS Below is the layout. The art skills leave a lot to be desired.

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