Positive and negative points

I don't have wiring diagram for that year.
I don't mind talking to you.
The positive side of the coil gets voltage from ignition switch, the negative side of the coil goes to distributor and ignition points on a points type system.
Some makes and models, when cranking, everything gets full battery voltage. When it starts and you release the key it springs back to the run position. In the run position, voltage to the coil may go through resistor block or resistor wire, the purpose is so the points on a points ignition doesn't have to deal with full battery voltage all the time. Helps the points last longer.
Just my opinion.

to get b24 volts from 2 x 12 volt batteries
connect the negative (- ) terminal of one battery to the ground point on the motor
next connect the positive terminal (+ ) of that same battery to the negative terminal of the next battery
connect the positive terminal of the last battery to the power terminal of the motor
so it will be negative to ground , positive to negative , positive to motor or motor control
(-) to ground (+ ) to (-) , (+) to motor
That is called a series connection and increases the voltage available

It's a battery or ground problem. You mean all of them, headlights, dash lights, or what? The flickering is often caused by a corroded or deteriorated ground point for the lights, less common is a hot wire connection that is loose or not contacted well. Your headlights and front park lamps and any side marker lamps, I think they would all have a common ground, or maybe each side has it's own ground up front there. I'll try to find a wiring diagram for what you need, in the meantime, take off first the negative of the battery and then the positive post (for safety, always remove the negative first and reconnect negative last), clean both battery posts and the end of cables or the clamps that go on the posts. Any corrosion, green or white colored, is not good, and can lead to serious resistance in the connection, and hinder the electrical system. Those connections must be clean and tight, remember positive hooked up first, then deal with the negative post. Your truck is old, subject to rust, better check all your ground connections. The original negative cable had a large ground to the engine block and a smaller wire ground to the body, somewhere grounded in front of the battery to the frame. If rust is an issue, you can always find a better ground point-to clean metal free of paint.

If you know all this and you know the battery connections are clean and tight, then look for the ground point for the flickering lights in question. If you have a voltmeter it is almost essential to the testing or checking of any electrical circuit.

HI Jack,

Can you give more details? Is this a house circuit that you are working on, or some vehicle?

In either case, look thoroughly through the ground side, or common side.
With 120 volts, it is possible to have voltage present, sensed with a voltage "sniffer" (needs no direct contact, works by induction) and no go of what you are powering.. My guess is this is not the type of circuit you are working on.

With 12 volts, it is possible to have power, and read with a test light type of tester or VOM. Again, look at the ground side.

SO, another possibility is that you have a "cold" circuit. This type of failure is because of poor, damaged or corroded connections somewhere in the circuit. With this type of failure, you often can get a valid voltage reading, but the circuit fails when actual load is applied.
To find this type of failure (IN 12 VOLT systems), hook up the thingy that you are trying to power, set VOM to enough range, and check along each leg: Positive and Negative. Point to point. one end goes to Positive battery, for example, then you probe just after each POSITIVE connection, along the circuit. What you are looking for is a voltage. for example: a poor connection would have zero volts read on one side of the connection, but 2 volts just after the connection.
So, the quick way is positive battery terminal, to your device, then negative terminal to the negative on your device. One will give large reading. Investigate that 1/2 of the circuit, and you will find you issue.
Hope this helps, if not, get back to me.
Doc

Go back to the person that sold it you, as it is not the same! There are chips inside batteries to identify the battery type.

the cable /fuse to alternator has nothing to do with the start and run function if the battery is charged up and in good condition ,sounds like the main battery cables have a bad contact/connection or battery is shot<follow battery cables and remove all points of connection in engine bay area clean contacts with sandpaper and resecure all connections 1 AT A TIME! to make sure none are swapped around by mistake ) on both earth cable/negative and the positive/power cables,make sure terminals on battery are clean and tight , try boosting/jump starting your battery with jumper cables connected from another cars battery positive to positive .........negative to negative and see if it starts ,i doubt the problem of starting up is the alternator unless battery is flat and not being charged by alternator ,by jump starting with another baterry will give you the answer once all baterry cables and connections are clean and secure

The positives are separated by the selector switch.
Therefore negatives (or negative earths) can be commoned and left connected to batteries.
As a circuit needs to complete a closed loop from battery positive through the selected switch contact through the load 'caravan' then back to negative, the unselected negatives don't do anything.
So, YES WE CAN. :)
Hope this helps.
Clive.

Don't do that, if you don't know how the jump start Mercedes Benz be careful it's so dangerous, if you do one simple wrong thing when you jump start it can damage your all electronic management system if in case you did the wrong thing you may have to spend $ xxxxxxx, if you don't know how to do that get help from someone who know how to do it, keep in mind don't mix up negative and positive cable when you jump the battey at least jest for a 000.1 second, that's enough for get damage, battery jump start point in engine compartment have a good look, has covered by read cap, open cap and you can see copper point in it fix the read battery cable (+ positive cable) on it then connect other end of same cable to the + terminal of battery again I would like to remind don't mix up, after connect + terminal please double check did the right, then connect - cable on to the Body ground connection near by positive point you can see another probe for ground it's located near the shockabsober top mount, after that connect other end of negative cable to the negative terminal of battery before connect it once again check other 3 connection are in right order

+ battery......................................................... + car

- battery.......................................................... - car

__________________________________________________________

you can also jump the battery to battery

+ battery jumper................................+ battery in the car
- battery jumper................................- battery in the car,

is this information helped you?

if you know the contact witch is covered by read plastic cap that's the positive one negative connect to the body some wear like on bolt or any place without painted.

Try this:
> Disconnect the battery cables: Negative {black} cable first, then Positive{red}.
> Touch and hold the metal ends of the cables together (hold together so they make constant contact) for at least 30 seconds.
> Reconnect cables to battery: Positive first, then Negative.
> Then try entering the code.

Sometimes the radio will lock (especially if the code has been typed in wrong several times) and this is a way to manually unlock it.