Ceiling lights not working

[Tom]

The ceiling fluorescent lights down the center of our coach had a mind of their own. They'd quit working for long periods of time (weeks), then start working again. I'd previously conducted some troubleshooting, but came up scratching my head. While we were at Anza Borreo recently, Jim Dick and I started checking things out togethe. After us both initially scratching our heads, I heard a voice from the bedroom saying "here's the problem". Jim had discovered a burned out connector on the house DC panel. It appears that the connector had been loose, and the resulting overheating did the rest. I can easily run a wire to a spare connector, or I can just wait until our scheduled factory appointment (it's on their list to fix).

Attached a few photos for illustration.

 

[Ron]

I think I would wait til the factory stop and let them fix it.  Then it will be in their records should anything else go wrong that could have been the result of a loose arcing connection.

 

[Tom]

I'm inclined to agree Ron. If I cut/add to the wiring harness, they just might not cover it under warranty. I suppose we'll have to bring candles to Moab.

 

[Ron]

We may still have an electric latern on board you can use. ;D

 

[Tom]

LOL Ron, does it come with batteries?

 

[Ron]

LOL Ron, does it come with batteries?

It had working batteries the last time I saw it.

 

[Lou Schneider]

If I cut/add to the wiring harness, they just might not cover it under warranty.

A straight pin stuck through the insulation of the burned wire and the next adjacent wire would get you going, and would be awfully hard to detect after the fact.

 

[Tom]

That's what I call creative Lou! Reminds me of what we used to have to do to get online from hotels some years ago.  I suspect that I might get some local heating at the point of contact of the pin with the wire.

 

[Ron]

Isn't great having Lou back! Lou has some great ideas and fixes.  Looks like you won't be needing a lantern now Tom. ;D

 

[Karl]

Lou's solution will almost certainly work, but make sure you know what Pin 6 and its' associated fuse powers. You don't want to overload that 15A fuse and take out some critical circuit just for a few lights. :

 

[Ron]

Lou's solution will almost certainly work, but make sure you know what Pin 6 and its' associated fuse powers. You don't want to overload that 15A fuse and take out some critical circuit just for a few lights. :

Not after having been ofer a viable workaround like lanterns. ;D ;D

 

[Tom]

Lou's solution will almost certainly work, but make sure you know what Pin 6 and its' associated fuse powers. You don't want to overload that 15A fuse and take out some critical circuit just for a few lights. :

Hi Karl

That fuse powers only the ceiling lights.

 

[Karl]

Tom,
If I understood Lou, he was talking about taking the load on the burned out connector pin(5) that comes from fuse 5 (your lights), and jumpering it to the wire on pin 6, the good one next to it, thereby putting the both loads on that single 15 Amp fuse. My concern was: what is powered by the pin 6 fuse, that may be put in jeapordy by doing so? See your picture "burned connector". They're both 15 Amp fuses but who knows how much load is already on fuse 6? Maybe both loads will be too much?   

 

[Tom]

Oh OK Karl, I misunderstood what you were both saying. There's a spare bank of fuse holders on the panel, so I'd merely jumper to one of those.

 

[Karl]

Right, Tom! Just make sure you use a 15 Amp fuse in the spare location so it's the same as what the lights were originally fused for.

 

[Tom]

Will do Karl. I have a good selection of fuses on board.

 

[Tom]

Just a follow-up to my original message. I chose to not use the ceiling lights until we recently got the permanent repair done under warranty at the Monaco factory service center. It was obviously a simple fix, but I wanted Monaco to understand there was a potential fire hazard, probably due to the connector not being fully inserted. I also didn't want to potentially void any part of my warranty.

Thanks again to Jim for diagnosing and finding the problem. I had looked at that "normal-looking" connector several times and it didn't occur to me it might be burned on the inside.

 

[Jim Dick]

Tom,

No problem. I was happy I could help. Glad it's repaired.

 

[Tom]

And I'm glad I don't need to light candles every night Jim  ;D

 

[Jim Dick]

Tom,

I find it really hard to read by candle light. Heck, I'm finding it harder to read with fluorescents, too. ;D