Interior Lights Flicker

[shamrock77]

I have a 2007 Shamrock 19 Hybrid.  Lately my Interior Lights have started to flicker and it has become very annoying.  This doesn't happen every time I turn lights on in the trailer only about half of the time.  Seems to be more common when the weather is cooling down and getting a little damp outside (I could be imagining this though).  Last trip hooked up to 30Amp and lights inside began to flicker, my initial thought was that I had too many things on and plugged in so I turned everything off except for one light and it continued to flicker.  Next idea was that the 30Amp locking cable that hooks to the trailer might be a little shotty so I replace it with a new one.  That night the flickering starts again.  I was told that where I was camping had very old wiring and services and that I may not be getting exactly a full 30Amps so I am hopeful that it is just the park I am at.  Lights function perfect when I disconnect the hydro and run off of my new battery, no flicker.  when I get home and hook to hydro at my house the flicker returns.  Hoping it's not my converter.  Any Ideas??????????????

If it helps this is a World Friendship WF-8955 AN converter

 

[Lou Schneider]

Your lights run on 12 volts, which is supplied by either the batteries or the converter when you're connected to shore power.  Hooking up to a marginal 30 amp shore power service shouldn't have any effect on your lights, unless the shore power is going completely away then coming back on. 

By flickering, do you mean the lights get brighter or dimmer, and stay at that brightness?  I ask because it's normal for a multi-stage converter/charger to change it's output voltage when it changes from one charging stage to the other.  The changing voltage will make the lights burn brighter or dim depending on which way the voltage goes.

 

[shamrock77]

Hey Lou,

Its almost like a small surge they are almost pulsating, not like a slow dim then get brighter it is very fast.  Occasionally there is also a noise like a tick when it flashes and pulses.

 

[seilerbird]

That condition can be caused by a loose neutral. If you don't know what that is then turn off all the power and open the 12 volt fuse box and start tightening everything.

 

[Dave W]

That condition can be caused by a loose neutral. If you don't know what that is then turn off all the power and open the 12 volt fuse box and start tightening everything.

....including cleaning the battery terminals and tightening them

 

[shamrock77]

I disconnected the battery and unplugged the trailer from shore power and made sure everything was tight.  Actually everything was tight and the connections to the battery were tight as well with no corrosion.  One thing I forgot to mention earlier is that when the trailer is pluggd into shore power the converter gives off a very high pitched hum, as soon as I turn on a light or the fridge etc..... the hum quits.  If I turn everything off again the hum comes back.  Also, I checked the manual for the converter and in troubleshooting it gave instructions to check the output voltage.  In the manual it reads "If the voltage reads 13.6 Vdc (+/- .2), the converter is functioning properly."  The reading I kept getting was 14.32 Vdc which is higher than the range that it states for proper functionality.  Hope some of this might help......any more ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[rbell]

I had some flicker in my lights a couple years ago, even the propane alarm would beep once in a while. I found some of the fuse connectors were loose. I unhooked everything and pinched them just a bit with needle nose pliers. I was going to replace it when I got home, but they continued to work so I left them in. They are mounted on a small circuit board in the converter. The one for the propane alarm I could move it side to side and make the alarm beep. When I got done the lights in the bedroom were much brighter also.

 

[shamrock77]

I checked all the fuses and all were nice and tight.  Nothing Loose

 

[janpaul]

Mine did sort of the same thing when the converter started going bad, can you disconnect the battery and run on just the converter and see if it does it? Then run on just the battery without the converter in the circuit and see if the symptoms change any. When I put ours on just battery, the problem stopped, I installed a new converter and problem was solved. I upgraded to a much better converter this time.

 

[shamrock77]

I was afraid it might be the converter starting to go.  Any suggestions where and what one to buy?

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Progressive Dynamics, Iota, or Xantrex

 

[janpaul]

http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?topic=26258.msg257358#msg257358

There is a link to a thread with some info when I was going through it with mine. The name of the website and model is there.