Need electrician's help

[bandcworkhorse]

I want to add dimmer switches to the over-the-bed eyeball style lights on my 06 HR. The bedside switches have 2 spade terminals, one with 12v hot and the other wired to the light. Both light bases are joined by a ground wire that disappears to parts unknown. The OEM (Monaco) dimmers have 3 spade terminals, (12v, ground, and light) They are "electronic" in that they have a printed circuit board to vary electrical output rather than just a simple rheostat. My question: must the ground terminal of each dimmer be connected to the light ground wires, or can I connect the dimmer ground spade to any available nearby ground? Thanks.

[bandcworkhorse]

I want to add dimmer switches to the over-the-bed eyeball style lights on my 06 HR. The bedside switches have 2 spade terminals, one with 12v hot and the other wired to the light. Both light bases are joined by a ground wire that disappears to parts unknown. The OEM (Monaco) dimmers have 3 spade terminals, (12v, ground, and light) They are "electronic" in that they have a printed circuit board to vary electrical output rather than just a simple rheostat. My question: must the ground terminal of each dimmer be connected to the light ground wires, or can I connect the dimmer ground spade to any available nearby ground? Thanks.

[RV Wizard]

bandcworkhorse, you should be able to attach any 12 volt - ground to the switch for it to function properly as long as the light fixture is on the load side. Good luck and keep us informed of the upgrade.

[Gary RVRoamer]

Yes - the 12v system uses a chassis ground.

By the way, you want the electronic dimmer if you frequently camp without shore power. The electronic dimmer will actually reduce the electrical load when dimming while the rheostat merely burns off the unwanted power as heat, wasting battery amps.