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Dimmer switch

Old Feb 24, 2010 | 06:37 PM
  #1  
Born Blue Bob's Avatar
Born Blue Bob
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Dimmer switch

Hey All,

I have a 1976 F250 High Boy with the floor mounted dimmer switch. A while ago in an attempt to turn on the high beams I hit the switch and the lights went out, hit it again and the low beams came back on. I replaced the switch with a new one and it changed nothing. I was certain that this would take care of the problem but no. Does anybody know any other problem areas that could be causing this issue? I am afraid that the lights may go out completely at the wrong time of night. Just thought that I would ask before tracing the wiring. Thanks.
 
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Old Feb 24, 2010 | 06:58 PM
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From: Big Sky Country
How old is the headlight switch?
 
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Old Feb 24, 2010 | 07:00 PM
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Either the headlight switch or the ground around the dimmer switch.
 
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Old Feb 24, 2010 | 07:03 PM
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Almost for sure the ground, 90% of lighting problems is a bad ground in my exp.
 
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Old Feb 24, 2010 | 07:19 PM
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The headlight switch is the orriginal and the ground arround the dimmer switch is good and clean.
 
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Old Feb 24, 2010 | 07:34 PM
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both of the bright elements in the lights could be bad also. i had that problem a few years ago. would be worth checking out with another good known light assembly that works on both high and low.
 
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Old Feb 24, 2010 | 08:55 PM
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One other thought. By any chance are you running halogen bulbs? If so the electrical system may not take the extra draw with the heat causing the breaker in the switch to pop.
 
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Old Feb 24, 2010 | 09:33 PM
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I had the same problem. I thought it was a problem with the headlight harnesses so I ran relays for the headlights and now the lights work really well (Sylvania Halogens). I also changed out the headlight sockets.

Then I also discovered that the dimmer switch was bad. I replaced the dimmer switch and that fixed everything else.
 
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