Thumbwheel plug bypassed

[Rebel]

Found a wire that seems to have been used as some sort of bypass, it's the plug that attaches to the rear of the thumb wheel for the panel lights ( on the upper left hand side of the pic ), the yellow wire goes to the bulb also visible in the pic for the dash, the red wire joins two sockets together, anyone have any idea as to why this might have been done?

[andyrob]

read this title & thought you'ed been in hospital !!!
Is it not cos the contacts in the dash brightness switch are worn & the dash lights were flickering so somebody bypassed the switch ??

[Charger]

looks like the dimmer part of the switch has failed, so has been bypassed to get the instrument cluster backlight to work

I bypassed mine anyhow as I’m running led’s for the instrument cluster backlight, so need the full voltage, but have left the plug/switch in place so that the dome light can still be manually switched on/off

[Charger]

the dimmer switch houses a rheostat …

"a variable resistance, usually consisting of a coil of wire with a terminal at one end and a sliding contact that moves along the coil to tap off the current"

at 45 year old they get dirty or the coil is broken part way along

[Rebel]

Sorry Andy, didn't mean to worry you.

Thanks for the replies, it all makes sense now and explains why the dome light doesn't work, at least it's nothing to worry about and I can re-do it so that I can have the dome lamp working as well.

Thanks again guys

[Dave999]

the dome light is the possible cause of the burnt out resistor coil.

wrong wattage bulb can melt it causing a short in the light housing or in the cable up to it inside the A pillar, which burns out the thumbwheel...

and of course the light only comes on

when

1) doors open
2) the thumb wheel is clicked to a stop at the maximum dash brightness end of its rotation.


Dave

[Rebel]

Thanks Dave, I'll bear that in mind before just moving the wires and reattaching the plug to the thumb wheel unit