Basement light power short circuit

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carlricard04

carlricard04

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Nov 25, 2010
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I have one other problem with my 2004 Vectra that I have not solved yet, the basement light 12VDC breaker is tripped and continues to trip when reset indicating a short circuit in the basement lighting somewhere. I've had this problem for several years, this is a tedious problem to find and while I've spent some time trying to locate the short, I don't want it to become a fulltime job or obsession; I have better things to do. I have checked all the light units for shorts and they are OK; the problem is in the lighting power wiring.  I really hate to start cutting the wiring to segment the short (Winnebago didn't see fit to install many connectors that would make it easy); that just introduces more potential problems in the future. If anyone has had a short with their basement lighting is aware of an area where a short is most likely to occur I'd appreciate some input ([email protected]). 
One thing I did notice that I didn't like about my coach is how wiring and hydraulics were installed in the bedroom.  It appears the wiring and hydraulics are lying on the carpet that's installed prior to the metal bed frame is put in place which the bedroom slide rides on. Putting the bedroom together in this manner pinches the wiring and hydraulic hoses between the bed frame and the carpet/floor potentially causing a pinched hydraulic hose and possibly an electrical short.
 
The best places to start looking, are where things move, where wires can get pinched and cut. Slides, bay doors etc.
 
I would also check the push-button switches for each door--I had to replace one that came apart inside.
 
Carl, on my 03 DP the basement lights, dash and step operation are controlled by a 6a breaker up front above the genset. I purch my DP used and found high current draw on this circuit so when the control switch was turned on mine would also trip the breaker.
One of the door switches (as Chris mentions above) had a wire come off and was touching the frame. The other problem I found in a couple different bins was the light assy. Where the wiring comes through the top of the bin it is sealed with a rubber grommet that doesn?t do a good job of sealing. The rain will follow the water down the wire and into the light assy rusting out the bulb socket etc. This was not enough current to trip the breaker but added up to 1.5 a total.
I also have a step light that activates when my step comes out. I found Kwikee actually puts two wires down there and only used one wire for my model. I found the other unused wire had gotten tangled into the step linkage by the motor and was cut and shorting occasionally.
When I fixed the sockets, the one switch and the unused step light wire I was back down to less than ? a draw on this circuit, no problems since. Good luck.
 
I had a short in basement light circuit in the lounge slide. It also included the reading lights over the sofe in the slide. I eventually traced it to the wiring in the slide compartment ceiling ...metal sheet over styrofoam. I had some water leak problems at one point and the dealer had to remove the StoreMore box to reseal it, so that clued me where to look when the reading lights would trip, and the wiring diagram told me the slideout basement and reading lights were on the same circuit. I made them work for awhile by fooling with the door switch connections, but the problem kept coming back. Because the storage compartment ceiling is sealed and the wireway is very tight ...and there were anly two storage compartment lights affected ...my eventual solution was to find a connector under the galley cabinets where the basement lights plugged into the circuit from above. I disconnected that connector and do without those two basement lights ...no  big loss.
 
I have an 04 Horizon and had the same problem. I traced it to a bad engine compartment light that was shorting to the frame at the light. I found it by removing individual bulbs and seeing if the problem went away. It wasn't long till I found the problem.

Hope this helps.

Pete
 
One thing that may help finding a shorted wire is to temporarily replace the circuit breaker with a 12V lamp.  When the short exists, the lamp will light; if it goes out when wiggling wires, removing lamps from sockets, etc, you have found the area of the short...
 
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