From: Glen Closson (glen_closson@earthlink.net)
Date: Wed Oct 12 2005 - 11:01:43 PDT
Peoples,
Short story:
The two mounting bolts (actually threaded inserts) on the M series composite
lights are NOT electrically connected to each other internally and if you
only have one bolt grounded, some of the lights will not work. So if you
are having light trouble, check your bolts or run a jumper wire internally.
Long story:
I bought a small trailer from The Home Depot, Snowbear
http://www.snowbear.com/ to carry my Mule behind my Mutt or civy car. So
that I would have lights with using the Mutt, I installed a M416 harness and
composite lights. Well, I only ended up hooking up one bolt and the lights
did strange things. John and I were trouble shooting it via the light of a
Coleman lantern when a couple from the Marina (They called themselves "boat
people") arrived and asked a billion questions about MVs and such. It turns
out the guy was a mechanic and said "You have a grounding problem." We
shorted the bolts together and viola! The lights worked. They wondered off
and Kurt arrived and noted the bolt holes are not connected together and his
Humvee ambulance had a strip of metal between the two bolts to make sure
they were connected.
Opinion:
This is really lame. The system would be much more robust if they didn't
have two separate circuits and connected the bolts together internally.
That way if one bolt fell out or was so rusty and crudded up, the lights
would stand a better of chance of working.
Glen
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