Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Instrumentation dimmer switch

Your views, please. I returned home in the dark the other night (literally) as the instrumentation lights are very dim even with the dimmer switch turned fully on. I got under the dash once in the garage and the lights from the instruments light up the gear lever and handbrake very nicely with a mellow glow, but don't do a lot to light up the individual dials when looking at them from the driving seat. All bulbs are working and in place. Is this a common situation or is my dimmer switch worn out so it never goes past dim. When twiddling the dimmer switch the two extremes are basically off and dim...
Is there an easy fix or is it just 'normal'? I don't want to try higher watt bulbs in case they blow a fuse, unless that is a tried and tested solution. My dials are all Tudor.

Check the condition of the contacts on your dimmer switch. My clock lights were flickering on and off. I took the switch out, cleaned it with aerosol electrical cleaner. Cleand the wire spades. It has been fine since. It has never given a wide range of brightness though. Not just on/off but some variation.

'My dials are all Tudor'. Probably an age thing, my dials are late Elizabethan and light up just fine.

Contact spray is the way to go , if you want to be sure short cut the 2 cable in the dimmer with a nail or a screw, should be fully bright

High candlepower lighting eh?
Or are they oil lamps linked to the one shot oiler?

Your instrument lamps if filament type can have metal ions coating the glass reducing the light output if they are quite old - it's worth checking them, if the dimmer pot clean up doesn't help.

Tudor dials - there must be something Freudian about that!.

I removed the dimmer switch (because I always hit it with my left knee). And connected the two wires to each other.

Thankyou all for the wise or witty responses...
I removed the dimmer, pried open a corner and squirted in some WD contact cleaner - not sure if that did any good, but hoped it wouldn't hurt. Then cleaned the contacts / spade connectors with WD and tested it with a nail between the contacts first to see what the brightness should be without the dimmer involved. Then reconnected the dimmer and amazingly I can now see the numbers on the dials in darkness again, obviously only to Elizabethan standards but a tremendous improvement. At circa £50 for a new rheostat the £5 spent on contact cleaner was a bargain.

Good to hear that. Well done.