Jim,
A few thoughts (which others are welcome to add too, contradict, or
whatever!):
If the battery can still start your car, the problem ain't the battery.
If the bulbs are still bright with the engine running at higher revs, then
the main problem is unlikely to be down to poor connections in the wiring or
the switch.
Which leaves me with two culprits springing to mind. The first is the
alternator - it may only be a year or so old, but I've had alternators die
on me in less time than that (on a car driven daily, so it got plenty of
use!), so I wouldn't rule it out.
Second is simply a system overload - there's more electricty being drained
from the system than the alternator is capable of coping with, at least at
tick-over speeds. The halogen bulbs will draw more current than the
original headlamps; have you got other equipment drawing a load at the same
time? Wipers? Powerful stereo?
Having said that wiring connections are not likely to be your main culprit,
it is possible that they are still responsible for your dimmer drivers-side
bulb. Just feel the spliced connection when you've got your headlamps on -
if you come away scalded, that connection isn't good. If it's cool, then
it's cool (if you see what I mean...). With the amount of current pulled by
a headlamp, any poor connection will generate serious heat. On my Spitfire
I had a light switch melt down because of a weak connection inside it.
Hope you get fixed!
Richard Gosling & Nancy (so close to taking her first MOT in 11 years it's
unbearable!)
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