Help with Reading Lights Above Bed

rdufek

Well-known member
Hoping someone can help. My reading lights above bed stopped working. Upon opening panel under bed I found the wires must of got caught up in slide. So what I found was a white and red wire going up to ceiling lights. A Black and green wire coming in from the back of the coach, BH 3750FL. Black wire was broken but still wire nut to red wire. No wire nut on white wire nor green wire, wire nut was laying on floor, so one would assume the 2 go together. Upon hooking the wires back together, one of the 2 lights come on but only dimly and if you turn the 2nd one on it won't light and the 1st one goes out too. Does any body know how they a wired together, guessing I'm missing something. Thanks in advance on any suggestions.


Bob and Valerie Dufek
And our beloved Saint Penelope
2015 BH 3750FL
2014 Ram 3500 DRW
HOC # 2858
 

SNOKING

Well-known member
Maybe they are wired in parallel from under the bed up each side and you hooked them up in series. Do you have a master switch on the slide wall that turns them both on? Any other wires floating around down there? Chris
 

rdufek

Well-known member
No master switch, definitely comes up just the one side to 1st light and then runs to next light. I will try some pics tomorrow if I can, tight quarters in there.

Bob and Valerie Dufek

And our beloved Saint Penelope
2015 BH 3750FL
2014 Ram 3500 DRW
HOC # 2858
 

gasman

Camp Socializer
Typically the plain white wires are the ground wires and the colored stripe wires are the power. The dimness makes me wonder if the ground is not connected correctly.
 

rdufek

Well-known member
Thank You gasman for your reply. I called HL service today and spoke with Dustin and I have spoken to a couple friends, and everybody is pointing towards a bad ground. So I am now tearing apart the underside of my trailer trying to trace out the wires. I still have not resolved the problem and it appears I will have to trace back all the way to the fuse panel. I have a black and green wire coming up from the back of the coach that feeds the lights. Upon putting a meter on the wires I have 12 volts coming off the green and 0 off of the black. Dustin states the black should be power. So I am believing the issue is with the black wire. I have to say I didn't expect to find the panel that covers the bottom of the trailer to wrap up and go up the back of the trailer. I'm trying not to cut it and have been successful so far, want to be able to close the bottom back up like it was. Dustin from Heartland Service was very patient with me today and spent a bit of time trying to help me as best he could over the phone. Heartland has from day one treated me well and I love the brand, I've experienced nothing like it before, and that is in a very good sense. And for this forum, it is the best resource one could have. I have had a couple issues and this forum has helped me save time and money and certainly enabled me to fix small problems myself. I will keep you posted as to what I find out should I resolve the issue finally.


Bob and Valerie Dufek
And our beloved Saint Penelope
2015 BH 3750FL
2014 Ram 3500 DRW
HOC # 2858
 

rdufek

Well-known member
ISSUE SOLVED: After tracing wires back to the fuse panel I found the black wire was the ground and the green wire was in fact the power wire. So after performing some more meter checks I was still not coming up with what the problem was. I was however finally able to isolate which fuse covered that circuit. I was about to change out both wires completely as I found that Heartland had 2 extra runs of wire that were not in use under the coach I figured it would be a pretty easy swap out. Upon going back to the fuse panel to start the process of swiping out the wires I found that a fuse had tripped, indicated by the red light illuminating above it. 2 things to note:

1) prior to pulling the fuse panel to see exactly which fuse covered the circuit I pulled the fuses I felt might cover that circuit, labeled bed/bath, and all were good as were the rest in the panel as indicated by no red lights on

2) the fuse which blew was labeled "Door Side" period

Well wouldn't you know it, upon replacing that fuse my lights above the bed came back to life. BY THE WAY, the lights are not on the door side, they are on the opposite side.

SOoooooooo, lesson learned,

1) I'm guessing the fuse partially burned, but not completely through, because the indicator light above the fuse never came on, so I won't depend on that light

2) very easy to pull the fuse panel out, and being each circuit is covered by a different color coded wires I will check to be sure I know which circuit it is so that I can check the right fuse in case the indicator light doesn't trip

3) NEVER rely on the circuit to be properly labeled

Though I incurred a lot of work that probably wasn't needed and improper labeling on the fuse panel I certainly am not discouraged by the brand, I just want to be clear about that. It was a lesson learned and I don't mind that at all. I love my BigHorn 3750FL. Again I love this forum and if anything by me posting this thread it might help someone down the road.

Safe Travels to All

Bob and Valerie Dufek
And our beloved Saint Penelope
2015 BH 3750FL
2014 Ram 3500 DRW
HOC # 2858
 

SNOKING

Well-known member
Seems like the "load/lights" would have to still be on for the blown fuse to light the indicator. Also maybe LED do not create enough of a circuit to light the indicator. I is my thought that the indicator is some sort of a shunt around the fuse?

That would explain a 10 amp blown fuse that I created while in installing my DC meter and not getting an indicator. Chris
 

danemayer

Well-known member
1) I'm guessing the fuse partially burned, but not completely through, because the indicator light above the fuse never came on, so I won't depend on that light

The LED next to the fuse will illuminate when the fuse is blown IF there's a load on the circuit with a path to ground. With the wires disconnected, or not connected correctly, the LED would not light up.

- - - Updated - - -

I've also seen where the "blown fuse" LED passes enough current to dimly light up a downstream LED fixture even when the fuse is blown. Same thing can happen with the LED on the Antenna Signal Booster.
 

rdufek

Well-known member
Dan, that makes sense as the wires were ripped apart by the slide so I had no ground. Good to know, again, for the future.

Bob and Valerie Dufek

And our beloved Saint Penelope
2015 BH 3750FL
2014 Ram 3500 DRW
HOC # 2858
 

SNOKING

Well-known member
The LED next to the fuse will illuminate when the fuse is blown IF there's a load on the circuit with a path to ground. With the wires disconnected, or not connected correctly, the LED would not light up.

- - - Updated - - -

I've also seen where the "blown fuse" LED passes enough current to dimly light up a downstream LED fixture even when the fuse is blown. Same thing can happen with the LED on the Antenna Signal Booster.

Hey Dan, do we operate is parallel universes, posting at the same time with similar info?? :):)
 
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