Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	A mystery
Date:	8/25/2018 1:55:24 PM

I have a light issue on the boat. My port light is inoperable. I replaced the bulb and it didn't work so got the multi-meter out and checked the fixture. It has 12volts going to the posts that contact the bulb. So I thought maybe it was just a factory defective bulb. I took the bulb out of the starboard side that was working fine and put it in the port fixture. Nothing. I placed the new bulb in the starboard side and it works fine. One other curiosity is once the bulb is in place there is no longer current to the posts. I swapped them back again to check if the fixture had shorted and blown the bulb. Both bulbs work fine in the starboard fixture. Baffling to my limited brain capacity!

I realize of course the simple fix is just buy new fixtures and I plan to do so ASAP but I am just curious as to why/how this could be happening. Anybody have any ideas?

Name:	wix -	Reply
Subject:	A mystery
Date:	8/25/2018 5:43:32 PM

Sounds to me like corrosion in the socket or where the wire contact socket.  I keep a tube of electrical contact grease close at hand for such failures.

Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	A mystery
Date:	8/25/2018 6:57:31 PM

There was bit of corrosion but I took sand paper and cleaned all contact surfaces. I forgot to mention that.

Name:	oneshot -	Reply
Subject:	A mystery
Date:	8/25/2018 8:40:40 PM

Lifer, if your fixtures are seperate, trace the ground wire back on the defective one. Sounds like a defective ground.

Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	A mystery
Date:	8/25/2018 9:11:45 PM

Thanks but just replacing the fixtures is easier. The wires are all in protective sheathing and I am color blind so tracing wires is not an easy task for me.

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	A mystery
Date:	8/25/2018 11:22:51 PM

Without reading any of the other responses I will recount an instance at the house I used to live in.  Dishwasher wouldn't work.  Meter read 120 volts. Answer was a corroded contact between the breaker and service panel.  A meter would read 110 from the little good contact there was but the corrosion kept the current from being adequate to run the dishwasher. Maybe something similar?

Name:	Shortbus -	Reply
Subject:	No mystery
Date:	8/26/2018 3:33:05 AM

No mystery....  Hodja is right.  If volts read in the socket, but a good bulb on clean contacts doesn't work - high resistance in the circuit.

Check all connections and splices.

Name:	architect -	Reply
Subject:	No mystery
Date:	8/26/2018 5:40:27 PM

Try the high tech approach...spit on the bulb base and into the socket!  It's worked for me more than once.