Headlight dimmer switch and carpet!?

[MomoJeep]

A few years ago I put in an aftermarket carpet to hopefully reduce road noise and make it a little more comfortable than a bare metal rhino painted floor. About a year later my headlight dimmer switch went out. When I went to replace it I noticed that the plastic electrical connector had melted a bit. This makes me wonder if the carpet was holding in heat around the switch and making it get too hot. Previously I had trimmed the carpet to fit very tightly around the switch. So I went in and trimmed out more carpet around the switch to give it a little air space. Then I also threw in a rubber floor mat also with a hole trimmed around it. Now my switch is bad again after just a year or two!

originally I tried to mount the switch on top of carpet. But when tightening the bolts it pushed the switch down into the carpet which then put pressure on the connector. That’s why I cut the carpet out.

does anyone have experience with this floor switch and carpet configurations? What is causing my switches to keep going bad? Heat related to the carpet?

 

[Mancunian]

Ar your headlights on a relay? Maybe just a high current demand if not.

 

[spankrjs]

Check that the tabs on the back of the replacement dimmer switch are not too long. If they are too long the OEM harness connector will not fit properly on the dimmer switch and cause problems.

 

[wylder]

I mounted my switch over the carpet. No problems so far.
Wylder