Thread: Need some help
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Old 08-12-2010, 09:28 PM
5th Tuition 5th Tuition is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Linthicum,Md
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Default Need some help

Not a lot of activity on the board so let me ask this question here instead of a different forum.

My navigation lights (both red and green) do the same thing. The bulbs last for a short while (couple hours) then stop working. The filiment doesn't blow!! It's almost like a contact problem. They are "festoon" bulbs. They have a contact on the top and the bottom. It's like corrosion of some sort keeps from making good contact.
My main question is can I use some type of "electrical" grease (looks like white vasoline) and put just a light coating on the top and bottom of the bulb to improve the connection?
I don't use them very often, so they may go unused for a month, then I turn them on and they work fine. But use them for several hours, and one or both of them stop working.
If I put in a new bulb, they work fine again.
I've tried sandpapering the little "donut" contacts, but it still occurs. It's such a pain, that if I see some LED nav. lights that would fit my bow; I might just switch them out when available.
I hope I explained it well enough for a response.
5th (Marty)
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