Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

So, now that the old dear is running properly, I need to sort out the turn signals. She has a SignalStat 600 Sigaide 6 volt switch.The flasher unit is a 3 terminal Tungsol 535 6volt with no wire on the center term. There is a blue wire beside the flasher with no term on it's bared end. The exterior lights work as they should except the indicator lite on the end of the lever.Today when I was poking around, I took the flasher out of its holder and while moving it, the indicator lite flashed a couple of times. The flasher clip is attached to the side of the switch under the glove box. Switch seems to be grounded.
Now, I assume that this unit is aftermarket. Is it possible that this switch is neg ground and there is a diode in the indicator circuit preventing it working on a pos ground application?
Thanks in advance,Fred

SignalStats are aftermarket and you didn't mention if you have a 5, 6, or 7 wire switch. The difference is with 7 wires the switch will be able to select and control brake lights just like Packards starting with the 23rd series and all modern car do. Those with 5 or 6 wires will not be able to have brake lights function thru the switch and turn signals will have separate bulbs in the rear just as Packards did before the 23rd series.

The modern 535 flasher is a hybrid with mechanical thermal activation for the outside lights and a transistor running the indicator light. Even though some advertise they can be used with positive ground that flasher is definitely polarity sensitive as far as the indicator light is concerned. The thermally operated outside lights will work with either ground but to have the indicator light work on positive ground cars the transistor needs to be changed. Another poster said he replaced the original PNP transistor with an NPN type. He used the NTE or ECG 123ap transistor and said everything worked satisfactorily. Another option would be to replace the hybrid 535 flasher with a modern 6v positive ground all electronic flasher. Amazon and other places carry them. Those have the normal 3 terminals to fit original flasher plugs or wire connetors plus an added ground wire that needs to be hooked to body sheetmetal.

Here is a bit of info I found on the 7 wire systems. The use of only two pins on the flasher is troubling if you only have a single indicator light in the switch handle so you will need to verify if the spare or empty wire is actually not supposed to go to the flasher terminal P. X is fused power input and L is to the switch for the outside lights. The info was labeled SignalStat 600 and based on your description it may be the model you have but from the feature description it could also be for another model. While I believe the wire diagram I found is correct for that model switch, since both items were just posted on the internet and not factory labeled the diagram or the indicated wire colors is not guaranteed.

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  Flasher comparison.jpg (91.87 KB)


  SignalStat_Instructions_1.jpg (267.60 KB)


  sig 600.jpg (138.24 KB)