Fridge and lights in slide - shorting on 3010RE

BillnKaren

Member
My refrigerator and the overhead lights on that side slide are popping fuses wen I retract my slide. I'm assuming that there must be wires grounding out with the slide. However, there is nothing obvious from the outside. I am looking for a wiring sematic for the Bighorn 3010RE (2013).
Any help will be appreciated - not sue if anyone else has run across this.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi BillnKaren,

It's not all that common, but you're not the first to have this problem. There's a wire bundle on the underside of the slide, inside a flexible carrier. There's a sharp surface or a screw or something the wires are rubbing against. Also check the electrical box on the bottom of the slide in case something's loose inside.
 

wdk450

Well-known member
I had a similar problem with my Bighorn and its 12 volt refrigerator circuit, which also feeds the range hood and light. This was an intermittent short fuse blowing problem that took me almost a year to figure out. I finally found that the red wire coming out from the refrigerator power terminal strip (there is a 2nd red wire on this same terminal connection coming in from the fusebox) going to the range hood and lamp was tightly wrapped around a protruding screw that went into the rear metal base of the refrigerator. The tight pull on the wire caused the insulation on the wire to chafe away somewhat, and when moved just the right way it would short to ground through the screw body and blow the fuse. Re-routing the wire and insulating the wire better took care of this intermittent problem.
 
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BillnKaren

Member
Hi Bill, that is my problem exactly! How were the wires routed? I'll be chasing the problem this weekend and looking for hints. Was the chafing near the reefer or somewhere internal/external on the coach? Thanks, again, for the help!
 

wdk450

Well-known member
Hi Bill, that is my problem exactly! How were the wires routed? I'll be chasing the problem this weekend and looking for hints. Was the chafing near the reefer or somewhere internal/external on the coach? Thanks, again, for the help!

On my Bighorn, if you remove the lower external refrigerator access panel, the refrigerator power input terminal strip is a 2 terminal strip located near the center horizontally, about center of the access panel opening vertically. The red chafing wire to the range hood fan/light went diagonally down and to the left to the sheet metal base flange of the refrigerator where it wrapped around a protruding screw through the base sheet metal, and then the wire went to the right (towards rear of RV) to connect with the range hood/light.
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
I have the same issue. Been fighting this for 2 years. Ours only blows the fuse when the slide is extended the first few inches. The fuse does run the hood light and 12V lites in the OD slide, but it also runs the lites in the DS slide. I did install a circuit breaker to stop having to buy fuses. What I have found odd...was the "red" wire from the fuse panel goes up towards the roof....not down to the underbelly.

Bill, can you see the wire at the back panel or do you have to remove the refrigerator to see it. I'm betting on a chafed wire in the "J" box on the frame under the OD slide.
 

BillnKaren

Member
Hi Bob, I'll be checking it out this weekend - Saturday is reserved for troubleshooting. I'll keep you informed. Thanks, Bill
 

wdk450

Well-known member
I have the same issue. Been fighting this for 2 years. Ours only blows the fuse when the slide is extended the first few inches. The fuse does run the hood light and 12V lites in the OD slide, but it also runs the lites in the DS slide. I did install a circuit breaker to stop having to buy fuses. What I have found odd...was the "red" wire from the fuse panel goes up towards the roof....not down to the underbelly.

Bill, can you see the wire at the back panel or do you have to remove the refrigerator to see it. I'm betting on a chafed wire in the "J" box on the frame under the OD slide.

Bob:
I just checked on the fuse panel by pulling fuses, and the fuse to the refrigerator does NOT affect the DS slide lights in my rig. The wire I found a problem with is readily visible inside the lower refrig external cover going from a 2 position terminal strip near the center of the access cutout and down and left to the base of the refrig before doing a 180 degree turn around the screw threads and heading right (rear) to supply the stove fan/light.
 

BillnKaren

Member
Okay, so the rig is fixed. It took about 2 hours just to trace the wiring. It was another 1.5 hours to fix the issue. The issue was the wiring for the DC side of the fridge, the overhead lights on the OD slide, and the 120vac wiring were al rubbing against a small piece of sheet metal (I assume it is to protect the roller) on the back of the slide. I did take some pictures - hopefully they upload okay. This is bad design to run wires they these were run - any rub on he wiring results in short against the frame. I trimmed down the metal, used environmental splices on the shorted wiring, and resealed the area with RTV. Hopefully, this will be the end of this issue. Thank you, everyone, for all the ideas and hints.
 

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jbeletti

Well-known member
...This is bad design to run wires they these were run - any rub on he wiring results in short against the frame...

Bill,

I checked with the plant today on this. They confirmed that a change on the line was made on this some time back. They will make a concerted effort this week to audit several different floor plans looking for this issue to ensure we've really got it nipped. Sorry you had trouble, glad you got yours taken care of and I'm feeling pretty confident we're not putting coaches out with this issue today.

Jim
 

talley

Well-known member
Glad to see these posts and where the potential location of the problem may be found. Had the same thing happen to my 2006 Bighorn while at the recent Sweetheart rally @ Kerrville, Tx. After several hours still did not find the wire break/short. I by-passed and killed the problem wire, but have not traced and located the specific problem. Will find time on a warm day and start with the tips posted here... Thanks
 

BillnKaren

Member
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the quick reply. I'm glad they are changing the routing for the wiring. The fix wasn't too hard to accomplish, but not a lot of wire to spare.
On another note, the rig was in Campers World, Ft Myers, FL in January for some of this issue - they replaced the fuse and stated it was fixed.$129 fuse!
We love the rig, but are starting to eyeball the Landmarks! Beautiful rigs!
Thanks, again,
Bill
 

BillnKaren

Member
Thank you Jim. We won't make the rally this year (too many commitments and we still work) but we will keep it in mind for the future.
 

jjwink

Well-known member
We had this same problem on our 2011 Rushmore. Every time we ran the OD slide in and out the fridge shorted out. Finally traced it to placement of electrical wire too far in on that slide at the back edge, shorted when brought in. We pointed this out to fellow Rushmore owners and Ron Dickerson during plant tour at Int. Rally. We were assured HL would correct this design flaw on future units and repair those already out. Guess that did not happen?
 
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