12v lights flickering

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Blackdogfarms

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Feb 7, 2016
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So I have had our camper set up on shore power for about a week full time.  I have 5 different bulbs that are the little 12volt lights that keep flickering.  two are completely out at the back of the camper, and were the first to go.  I am assuming its a loose connection at each of the lights.  We don't have any batteries connected to the camper whatsoever, and are full timing at our property.  Every thing else is working just fine.  Trying to fix these lights, should I wire in a battery to "complete" the circuit? Also I have had the camper hooked up to shore power for about three months prior while working on the camper and all the lights seemed to work fine then?  Any thoughts?
 
The converter was designed to keep the batteries charged, not to run everything in the RV.  The flickering you see is probably the converter shifting modes as it tries to discover the state of the nonexistent battery.

In my humble opinion you should install at least one battery.
 
Last year before replacing our converter.... The 12v lights were dimming and flickering.....
 
Many converters do not work well without the battery(ies). The batteries act as a filter and a load to the converter. The converters installed in my trailer (Progressive Dynamics 9100 series) have no problem that way but many do.

To answer your question, YES, install a deep cycle battery. Walmart sells a decent one but remember, they need maintenance too, like checking the water levels from time to time, especially important with those converters with single stage chargers that like to charge at higher rates all the time. Do not leave those on and walk away for months at a time or you risk becoming your battery dealers best customer.
 
Since he says everything was fine for 3 months without a battery, I have to think something has recently changed to cause this flickering. Suddenly loose wires in 5 places seems unlikely. However, having a battery wired in, even an old and not very good one, will help stabilize the 12v system and may stop the problem.

Are these led lights by any chance? They tend to flicker when unhappy about voltage or "clean" power.

Also, what year/make/model of RV are we talking about? Or better yet, what make & model of converter/charger. Some do better than others without a battery present.
 
If I disconnect the house batteries via the switch, while on shore power my 12V lights flicker at a high speed so vast you could only compare it to vibration, I suspect it is the 60 hertz AC bleeding through the converter.

Bill
 
It could also be a bad ground, which often causes flickering lights - particularly if it flickers when the campers moving (ie, when you're walking around, etc).
 
Well the flickering is only in 4 lights only haha one bulb in bathroom vanity the other bulb in the vanity is fine. Two in the rear of the camper completely not working. I which they both were working prior to moving in, and one light with two bulbs in the middle of the living quarters. Now the light where the living rooms is has three different light units. Two workouts fine and one does not. Each light fixture has two bulbs. Again two of the lights work fine the one in the middle only one bulb doesn't work. 

I used a bolt meter tonight on the two lights at the rear of the camper under the cabinets in the living room and I recorded no power at all from my volt meter on the AC setting. All of the fuses on the converter are good and the wire nuts in both rear lights are good. My brother told me to check the contacts where the bulbs are placed and those don't seem to have any corrosion or visible issues.
 
Oh yea and the converter makes a constant buzzing noise. Always has. Line a humming sound. I assumed that was normal. It's not loud and doesn't interfere with anything
 
You really should have a battery in your rig, install one and I bet your problem will go away, if you haven't ruined your converter.



The information is out there, all you have to do is let it in.
 
Battery it is. I will try this when I get off work this afternoon. Thing is j have no clue where the batteries go in this rig. Their are little battery like storage compartments on both sides of the rear of the camper and two compartments by the from where the jacks are.  It's a 2002 coachman Somerset 37RLS
 
I used a bolt meter tonight on the two lights at the rear of the camper under the cabinets in the living room and I recorded no power at all from my volt meter on the AC setting.
Click to expand...


Hmmm, Hope this is a typo!!! The lights are all DC, they operated from the house battery, so your meter should bet set up for DC in this case.
 
Alfa38User said:
Hmmm, Hope this is a typo!!! The lights are all DC, they operated from the house battery, so your meter should bet set up for DC in this case.
Click to expand...

I had a King of The Road years ago and there was 1 light over the couch which was 110 volt AC.
 
I have the fan that's 120 and two lights 120 the rest have 12 v wires. They showed nothing on the 12v either I checked both ways. As I m brand new to campers. I wasn't sure. Glad volt Meyer didn't blow up in my face agreed
 
Well hooked up the battery no change in lights yet I have one white wire that doesn't seem to have a ground to go with it.

Also I have both big positives and both big negatives hooked up to the same battery.
 
Before you burn your rigs wiring up, hire a professional RV Repairman that knows what he is doing to come out and troubleshoot your rig. Trying to figure out an electrical problem by someone who has no idea what they are looking at can be a real and dangerous problem.

ps. I hope you have good fire insurance on your RV.



The information is out there, all you have to do is let it in.
 
On the output side of your converter you have a reset-able fuse. It is thermo and cost about $5. alot of rigs has 2 of them and they are on the output side.As they get old they get weak and you will get this flickering.
 
JohnDale. This is good information to have. Thank you. I will investigate that today. Also contemplating getting a new converter if needed. Looking at a boondocker if the problem persists
 
I did install one 12v battery and it seemed to close the loop with my a/c compressor. The lights still won't work but I am getting 3v at the lights now whereas I was getting 0 before. I only have one battery installed but bought another battery to wire in to see if that helps any.
 
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