rear shell lights (AGAIN)

[rickst29]

This morning I opened the trailer, packing for the last trip of the year (starting in 3-4 hours). None of the rear shell lights are working.

Between Black (hot wire for lighting) and white (ground), I've got 13.4V when the bathroom wall safety switch is depressed. Measuring at the connectors behind the street-side fridge wiring panel. But when I stick the connectors back together, still no lights. I had expected that it would just be a loose connector, as before.

Because it's ALL the lights, not just one, I think the entire lighting wire (black) is broken somewhere-- although I haven't yet taken apart a lighting fixture to confirm this. Bill, or anyone: can you think of a place where the interior lights "hot" lead could be prone to failure, AFTER the connection into the shell cable behind the fridge?

very frustrating, of course. I'll be looking for replies when I get back, on Wed or Thurs afternoon. For now, we'll have to use hokey desk lamps and extension cords all over the place.

[Bill]

I'm not much help. I don't know how or where the power line to the lights is routed.

Is it the lights, and ONLY the lights, that have failed? How about the propane detector? Does it chirp when you raise/lower the bathroom wall?

In my copy of the owner's manual, it shows that the black wire (power for the interior lights in the rear shell) and the white wire (ground for all the rear shell lights, including running lights) is routed first to the forward-most right-most light in the rear shell, and then is daisy-chained on from there. This must be the light over the stove. Try measuring to see if power gets to there. If not, the problem could be either in the power (black) or ground (white) circuit. And the problem must be somewhere between the connection behind the fridge, and that first light. Do the running lights work? If so, that eliminates the ground half of the circuit.

This same diagram should be in your Owner's Manual. It is toward the rear.

Since I am an electrical person, I would open up that first light fixture, get myself a long clip lead, and jumper the white wire in the light fixture to the white wire under the sink. Does that help? If not, remove the jumper, and reattach it, this time from the black wire in the fixture to the black wire under the sink. Does that help? One way should get the lights back on, and while it is not a "fix", it will tell you which wire is broken in the lift arm harness.

Bill

[rickst29]

OK, I took some repair stuff with me on the trip. All my OTHER safety-switched connections are fine (including the Propane/CO detector). I've got +13.6v at the blue wire which connects into the cable with the connector we all hate, and if I link it up with a "test" lead hanging out I maintain that voltage.

(2) The connector itself looked OK, but to make sure, I cross linked the +12V to the FRONT shell wire.... still no joy at the lights. So I went inside, and pulled a 2-foot lamp cord wire (hot side only) from the front shell +12V and connected into the rear shell hot wiring at the florescent lamp over the door. All 5 lights then worked, perfectly, and we did it this way for the whole trip. (I connected from the pre-fuse lead in the powered vent.) So it's definitely AFTER the connector behind the fridge, and BEFORE the first florescent light.
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I think that I'm gonna do this permanently, rather than go fishing into the rear shell. There's no obvious breakage within the lift arm wire wrap, and the important wiring (brakes, running lights, turn signals) are OK. (I start digging, maybe I'd mess up one of them. )

Next Spring, I'll need a quick disconnect between my cables into the powered vent +12v and the at-the-florescent +12v into the rear shell. Coming home yesterday, I removed it from the front shell side. If it's not disconnected, I can't close the shell without tearing the wire. So, the +12V lighting circuit will still be "cold" when the shells are closed, I've still got safety against the lights coming and creating dangerous heat if a switch is accidentally "flicked" whle on the road.

Just like nicely hidden bathroom door switch, but a lot uglier. Adding the rear shell lights might put more load on the circuit, but I'm gonna leave the breaker at 20 amps-- maybe remembering not to run the fan on "high" unless I turn off all the rear shell lights.

[rickst29]

I bought a snap-in 15A socket for the frame around the fan (in the front shell) and a lamp-cord plug for the permanent wire from the florescent above the stove. The two-wire "lamp cord" plug has less height than the florescent lamps, and so won't be a height problem when the shell is dropped and pressed against the front bed.

A "120V A/C 15 amp" rated plug isn't enough to handle 15-20 Amps of DC, but my solution is: split the stranded 12-gauge connection wire across BOTH blades. (They'll both be "hot", +12v, and carry only half the current. And although the "rear shell" circuit was fused at 20A, all the lights combined don't need more than somewhere around 8-10A.) I don't need a neutral "white wire" connection in the plug, the rear shell ground wire is already grounded to the rear shell.