Hi Cliff...
Those Rheostats are somewhat repairable.. you can bend back the little tabs and
take them apart... and even without a lot of electrical knowledge... you can
often see what the problem is... and fix it. I've managed to make ONE good
one, from two bad ones... etc..
It's about as basic a switch as you can get!
--Justin
Cliff Hansen wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I finally found the short that kept blowing fuses, in turn preventing
> me from having dash lights. Its in the rheostat, must be internal,
> I found it by pulling the switch plinth off, wiggling wires until something
> started smoking. Then I removed all other wires but the hot one
> from the rheostat, when I turned it back on it started smoking again.
>
> Since the thing only has three settings (dim, dimmer, off), I am tempted
> to simply connect the wires behind the dash, leaving the switch in just
> for show. My question: should I add a small resister in series to replace
> the switch? Something on the order of 4-5 ohms I think at least that's
> what I measured between the terminals on the rheostat.
>
> Making progress towards that June safety inspection...
>
> Cliff Hansen
> chansen@exis.net
> 1966 TR-4A CTC 64615L (improved lights, no speedometer)
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