For those with the flashing dash lights, you may want to give this a try as it will atleast minimize the amount of flashing that you will get if not completely clear it.

What you do is reach down and either push on the button to make it extend or ensure it is extended. Now, turn the dial from stop to stop about 10-15 times. Set the dial back to where you normally have it set (push in the button if you found it that way) and see how the lights do. Bet you will notice that the lights are much more stable.

What is happening is the wiper arm will build up corrosion over time and it will cause the dimmer dial to loose the voltage going to the power part of the dimmer. This causes the lights to go to full brightness and then it will remake contact and dim back down. By moving the dial back and forth, you are wiping all the corrosion off of the dial allowing the wiper arm to make better contact. It doesn't hurt the dial unless you are doing this every day for a long period of time.

 

We can always count on you Thermo! Thanks!

Even though I don't have this problem, I bet it will help out the members here burdened by this problem.

Sounds like a corroded potentiometer and turning around various times cleans it up?

 

Alex, yes, that is the general idea. Some pots are made such that they clean themselves (as this one appears to do). Others don't have that feature and while they will get a little better, they don't get great. The big thing is that most people set the dimmer to one spot and never touch it, which helps let the corrosion build up and lead to problems.