bad rocker switch for lighting

szewczyk_john

Well-known member
The rocker switch in my control center for the interior ceiling lights must be going bad. The last few times we used it it didn't work the first time to turn the lights on. I searched the forum but did not find anything. Anybody else have a similar issue?
 

danemayer

Well-known member
May very well be a switch that's starting to fail, but check the connections on the back of the switch.
 

Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn

Well-known member
Like Dan said check connections. If they are good swap the wire to another switch next to that one. that will tell you for sure if its the switch or something beyond that.
 

olcoon

Well-known member
Had the same issue this past summer. Sometimes the switch wouldn't work like it's supposed to, and I also noticed it getting warm when left on for a while. I finally got around to checking it out, and found that the solder-less connection hadn't been crimped correctly, and the wire apparently had just barely been in the crimp, and came loose when I took the switch out. Put a new one on & no more problems.
 

TravelTiger

Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
Had the same issue this past summer. Sometimes the switch wouldn't work like it's supposed to, and I also noticed it getting warm when left on for a while. I finally got around to checking it out, and found that the solder-less connection hadn't been crimped correctly, and the wire apparently had just barely been in the crimp, and came loose when I took the switch out. Put a new one on & no more problems.

Similar thing happened to us a few years ago. We also found the connection on the back of the switch was hot and melted. Changed the switch, but also changed to LED bulbs, and no problems since.

These switches can go bad on their own, too. Our bathroom switch started causing the bathroom lights to flicker right at turn on, just a few months ago (rig is 5.5 yrs old). I messed with the switch and determined I could "flicker the light" if I toyed with switch. DH took the paddle switch off, redid the connections (to be safe) to a new switch, and voila, no problems. There was not any evidence of bad connections or problems on the back of that switch.
 
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