In a message dated 6/14/2006 8:16:58 PM Central Standard Time,
tom.wags@gmail.com writes:
> To This Great List:
>
> Can someone tell why a brake light would be dimmer
> on one side of the car and not the other when I was
> under the impression that they use a common ground??
>
There are several reasons why the brake lights would be of a different
brightness. 1) Different bulbs. 2) Dirty contacts in the wire harness. But
the
most probably cause is: 3) bad ground connection. The two lights do use a
common ground in that they are on the same car but the connection to ground is
via
the bulb socket and each bulb has its own socket. The bad connection is
usually where the bulb socket contacts the lamp frame. The reason the bulb
lights
at all is due to a sneak circuit. Current will flow through the brake
filament. At this point the intended destination is the car chassis but since
this
connection is open the current will then flow through the parking light
filament and onto the red wire. At that point the current will divide up
amongst all
the other bulbs on that circuit meaning the rear parking light on the other
side as well as the two in front (and all the dash lights) But the current is
so low you probably won't see them light unless you look really close and in
dim light.
Dave
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