Trouble lights: why am I so dumb?

[Linus Tremaine]

I have some trouble lamps and I have a socket on my dash but all the lamps seem to just ground out the socket internally and make smoke come out.

My socket has two spring loaded pins inside that stick up and the trouble lights all seem to have a contact on the end that just bridges the two pins when you connect to it. Is there some sort of magic connector that I just happen to not have on any of my lights?

[KWTownsend]

You need a two contact plug for that socket, like this:

https://www.modeltford.com/item/6592X.aspx

It is hard to tell from your photos, but they look like very wide single contact plugs, which would make a short on the double contact socket, thus letting out the magic smoke.

: ^ )

Keith

[Craig Leach]

Hi Linus,
If the pins are hot & ground yes, I would test the contacts to see. If they are hot & ground then you have the wrong plug in. You may want to put
a fuse inline also.
Craig.

[Scott_Conger]

First, no T ever came with a socket in/on the dash. What those two pins are for are known only to the installer unless you have put a meter on them

Second, every trouble light I've ever seen was meant to go into a headlight socket. The long bar will not/should not short anything out...it will simply pick off either the high beam circuit or low beam circuit, whichever the light switch is moved to.

Third, you need to do a ground/isolation test of your trouble light to ensure you have some resistance (with a bulb in place) and not a direct short, which is quite possible if you're melting wires. Then remove the bulb and ensure no shorts anywhere (complete open circuit, no high resistance readings!)

[JohnH]

You could actually use that single contact plug in your double contact socket if you connect only one of the pins to the battery supply, and make sure the shell of the socket is grounded.