chaajoad
Well-known member
I'm posting this here because the original thread has gotten way too technical for me. Plus, maybe some other newbies can learn from my fumbling.
When I got the used motorhome we recently bought to our house, I had battery management issues and twice I drained the battery. After about 2 weeks since the last problem, I think I might have it together. The rig starts and runs smoothly. But messing with this issue, I noticed that the tail lights wouldn't work. Turn signals and brake lights were fine, just no tail lights. I replaced all the bulbs - nothing.
Because I had no manuals, I'm kind of playing everything by ear and this forum has been extremely useful so far. Several posters mentioned the fuses under the dash and that the dash lifts up. Sure enough, the dash DOES lift up. I examined all the fuses and they seemed okay. I did this in early twilight and I must have missed one. I checked them again in broad daylight - sure enough ... the 25amp fuse marked "tail light" was blown.
I replaced it tonight, fired the rig up and it lit up like the 4th of July. Side lights, tail lights, boundary lights - they all burn brightly. Such a stupid thing and I was so happy.
The lesson learned (to me, at least) is that with any problem, the most obvious solution is most likely ALWAYS the one that works and needs to be triple checked before tracing wires, looking for shorts, etc. I was very close to having a guy come out to take a look and I can't imagine how ticked off I'd be (at ME) if I had to pay $50-100 for a guy to stick in a 50 cent fuse.
Slowly but surely, I'm learning ...
When I got the used motorhome we recently bought to our house, I had battery management issues and twice I drained the battery. After about 2 weeks since the last problem, I think I might have it together. The rig starts and runs smoothly. But messing with this issue, I noticed that the tail lights wouldn't work. Turn signals and brake lights were fine, just no tail lights. I replaced all the bulbs - nothing.
Because I had no manuals, I'm kind of playing everything by ear and this forum has been extremely useful so far. Several posters mentioned the fuses under the dash and that the dash lifts up. Sure enough, the dash DOES lift up. I examined all the fuses and they seemed okay. I did this in early twilight and I must have missed one. I checked them again in broad daylight - sure enough ... the 25amp fuse marked "tail light" was blown.
I replaced it tonight, fired the rig up and it lit up like the 4th of July. Side lights, tail lights, boundary lights - they all burn brightly. Such a stupid thing and I was so happy.
The lesson learned (to me, at least) is that with any problem, the most obvious solution is most likely ALWAYS the one that works and needs to be triple checked before tracing wires, looking for shorts, etc. I was very close to having a guy come out to take a look and I can't imagine how ticked off I'd be (at ME) if I had to pay $50-100 for a guy to stick in a 50 cent fuse.
Slowly but surely, I'm learning ...
