Guide: Rebuilding Dome Lights (1 Viewer)

[ATL Cruiser]

The dome lights in my HZJ77 failed, and the 24V sockets were no long made. So I went ahead and rebuilt mine.

This circuit is what's called a "grounding circuit" i.e. it always has power. When you flip the switch, it creates a pathway to ground, and the lights turn on. You can prove this by testing the 2 wire harness connector. It will have 24V going to BOTH sides. One is 24V for the door ajar. The other side is 24V constant.

The typical issue on these dome lights is that either:

• The pot metal in the circuit gets corroded.
• The plastic rivets break, and the circuit separates creating more corrosion.

Take out your circuit tester, put it on circuit test (i.e. the one that *beeps* when you have a closed circuit), and you can test the pathways. Often they are broken at the rivet points. They will look like they are connected, but when you test the circuit, they are not. That's because it separated there, and carbon built up between the two points.

Here's what to do.

• Melt the rivet slightly with your solder iron to get it removed and then disassemble the connection point. You will probably find a lot of black carbon nastiness on the underside.
• Clean BOTH sides of the circuit until it is super shiny on the top and the bottom.
• Clean both ground points. This is where the big screws attach to the roof and provide the ground.
• Drill out the rivet hole with a #2 / 2mm drill
• Bolt it all together with a #2 bolt, washer, and nut

It will look like this when you're done.

And it should work great.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

The dome lights in my HZJ77 failed, and the 24V sockets were no long made. So I went ahead and rebuilt mine.

This circuit is what's called a "grounding circuit" i.e. it always has power. When you flip the switch, it creates a pathway to ground, and the lights turn on. You can prove this by testing the 2 wire harness connector. It will have 24V going to BOTH sides. One is 24V for the door ajar. The other side is 24V constant.

The typical issue on these dome lights is that either:

• The pot metal in the circuit gets corroded.
• The plastic rivets break, and the circuit separates creating more corrosion.

Take out your circuit tester, put it on circuit test (i.e. the one that *beeps* when you have a closed circuit), and you can test the pathways. Often they are broken at the rivet points. They will look like they are connected, but when you test the circuit, they are not. That's because it separated there, and carbon built up between the two points.

Here's what to do.

• Melt the rivet slightly with your solder iron to get it removed and then disassemble the connection point. You will probably find a lot of black carbon nastiness on the underside.
• Clean BOTH sides of the circuit until it is super shiny on the top and the bottom.
• Clean both ground points. This is where the big screws attach to the roof and provide the ground.
• Drill out the rivet hole with a #2 / 2mm drill
• Bolt it all together with a #2 bolt, washer, and nut

It will look like this when you're done.

View attachment 3099542

And it should work great.

View attachment 3099552

P.M. Sent