Saturday, May 21, 2011

Working On The RV

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

As I mentioned the other day, it is time to get to the mods I want to do for the rv before we leave for our trip in July.  Man, I can't wait.  Any who, one of the problems I mentioned was the fact that the sconce lighting on each side of the bedroom slideout blow a fuse when you turn them on.

John posted a comment saying that I should open them up and take a look at the wiring.   I also received an offer from a Funfinder owner on our Funfinder Owners Forum   who has offered to work with me over Skype to see if  we can find the problem.  I've decided to post a couple of pictures in hopes someone can recommend something.
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Here is the problem.  The sconces are part of the slideout.  They hold regular 1156 type bulbs.  I put in a bulb, hit the individual light switch and you can here the fuse blow in the converter center.  This is a 20 amp fuse for the bedroom slideout.   It is indicated on the panel.  

I have removed the wood panel from underneath the bed to gain access to the wiring which runs under the bed.  There are no crimped wires and everything looks normal.  The wiring runs through the walls for the lights. 







5 comments:

  1. If you can access those same wires under the bed, I think I would cut them at that point and temporarily wire the lamp switch directly. This would tell you if the problem is upline from where you did the cut.

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  2. I hate chasing shorts. Good luck.

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  3. Is it possible that it's a 1142 bulb and not 1156? In our 5th wheel ..our wall lamps have dual contacts and the rest of the unit has single contacts.. I hope it's as simple as this..I read and enjoy your blog regularly.. Good luck..Carol

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  4. OK. Here we go. First, just to confirm. When you close the switch in the picture, AND SPECIFICALLY ONLY THAT ONE, the fuse blows. Fuses blow because of excess current flow. Excess current in this case due to what is certainly a dead short between the white wire and the black wire in the picture. Where do those wires come together at a common point?. AT THE LIGHTBULB SOCKET. To prove this (or at least try) remove the bulb and then close the switch again. DOES IT BLOW AGAIN? (HOPE YOU HAVE A MITT FULL OF SPARE FUSES). If so, almost certainly you have a bad bulb socket that is providing a dead short circuit between the white and black wires. Chris, do you or Juan know how to use a volt ohm meter to check resistance?. If so I will give you another procedure to follow. Failing this I can FEDEX Angela up to you and she'll have it going in know time. (I'll ship her collect)

    Buena Suerte.

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  5. After reading C's comment I too am concerned that you are using a simple two terminal connection such as a 1003 or 1142. Did it ever work or did you by chance change a bulb that looked like it fit. Do you have a picture of the bulb you can post. Any other sconces you can compare bulbs with?

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