[smcomia]

I have a 1997 Z-272 Shabah with Faria gauges. The switch seems to be a dimmer type rotary switch. Ever since I bought the boat 5 years ago the gauges have not lit up. There is a very faint red back light that you can see but no matter what you do with the knob they do not change. It does not illuminate anything at all. At night I have to set my cell phone on the dash to see the speedometer & tach. There is light there and it is the same for all gauges so is it something to do with the switch?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[mikeyt]

Its a somewhat common problem with those dimmer/rotary switches and there is no direct replacement option that i'm aware of as Carling no longer makes that particular switch. Have a look at this thread where one of our members worked out a bypass solution.

[Hudson River Steve]

If you don't care about dimming function...you can bypass the dimmer switch. Follow the wire from the lights switch that feeds the dimmer, disconnect this wire. Now find the wire that comes out of the dimmer and goes to all the lighting circuits on the various gages, disconnect this wire from the dimmer. Connect the two wires you just disconnected together and you should now have gage backlighting.

[DCB_MINDED]

Originally Posted by Hudson River Steve

If you don't care about dimming function...you can bypass the dimmer switch. Follow the wire from the lights switch that feeds the dimmer, disconnect this wire. Now find the wire that comes out of the dimmer and goes to all the lighting circuits on the various gages, disconnect this wire from the dimmer. Connect the two wires you just disconnected together and you should now have gage backlighting.

Remember if you do this, your gauge lights will KILL your night vision. I need to hook mine to an accessory switch for just this reason.

[smcomia]

Thanks everyone! I am new to this site and I have to say that I love it already! A lot of helpful insight.

If it is just the dimmer switch, which is what I had suspected, can the dimmer switch just be replaced with a simple on/off switch? I found these switches, http://www.iboats.com/Marine-Works-R...-view_id.45144, in a post from Shabah z250 and was thinking that the 1-position on/off may do the trick???

[mikeyt]

I dont see why not.