Front marker lamps now always ON - RESOLVED

[Don_and_Becky]

We pulled into camp tonight and I noticed that the two round yellow LED lamps (about 2" dia) on our 2013 Sundance 3270RES stayed on. It just started doing this after a section of rough road today. Now I can't find anyway to turn them off. Disconnecting the 50A shore power did nothing. Plugging back into my 2012 GMC Sierra truck allowed me to turn on or off all the other running lights from the truck dash except the two yellow ones on the front cap of the 5th wheel. I checked wires, fuses, circuit breakers in the cabin and the wires around the battery box. Everything looks okay. Any suggestions of what to do to resolve the issue?

 

[cookie]

Re: Front marker lamps now always ON

Wow, that's a new one. I'm guessing that the lights have always been on and have just gone unnoticed.
You are talking about the ones at the top of the front cap...right?
They should be tied in with all the other running lights. It sounds like they have been miswired into a 12 volt circuit.
You could start pulling fuses in the fuse panel till the lights go out. You may loose some other 12 volt items when you do that.
Then contact your dealer.

Peace
Dave

 

[jimtoo]

Re: Front marker lamps now always ON

I'm thinking they are talking about the small round lights on the front that I think are for night time hitching or whatever. I think they are controlled by a switch in the storage compartment area.,, not sure.

Jim M

 

[berky]

Re: Front marker lamps now always ON

Most automotive 12V systems are wired with +12V connected from a fuse to the device ... a light or whatever. The switch that controls that device is wired between the negative side of the device and the vehicle frame. So closing a switch on the frame (ground) side of the device completes the circuit and turns it on. (This is probably not the clearest explanation on my part. But the key point is that the switch grounds the device to turn it on).

I imagine trailer lights are wired the same way. So I think what has happened is that the rough road caused a grounded metal object, like a metal stud behind the skin, to rub through the wire on the negative side of the lights, grounding that segment of the circuit and turning those lights on continously. Disconnecting shore power won't make any difference since the lights are powered by the TT battery.

Fixing the problem is going to be really tough, since the wiring is between the inside and outside skins of the wall. About the only thing you can do is disconnect the negative wire at the lights and at the switch that controls those lights. Then run a new wire from there to the switch that controls those lights.

 

[Kbvols]

Re: Front marker lamps now always ON

Switch for those 2 lights on outside of front storage area near landing gear switch. It's been a few months now since I used mine but If memory serves me it looks like a covered toggle switch. Could have vibrated "on" while on a rough road. Hopefully that's all it is.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Re: Front marker lamps now always ON

Don, Is is safe to assume you are referring to the clearance lights? Uppers or lowers?
Try removing the lower door side clearance light and give a little tug on the wires. They run up through the frame from the rear of the closet. I'm really surprised that only 2 are lit. They should all be connected in series which means if there's a short or something, they should all be lit. That said, if there is a short, they should be blowing a fuse in the truck. More likely, there's a connection somewhere that's causing the problem. Again, it's strange that it's only 2.

 

[TXTiger]

Re: Front marker lamps now always ON

My Cyclone has two yellow lights on the front cap which as Keith says in post #5 are controlled by a switch above the landing gear switch. I think these are blue now in newer units. Toggle the switch if you have one and if it doesn't turn off the lights the switch may be defective and need to be replaced.

 

[Don_and_Becky]

Re: Front marker lamps now always ON

As suggested, I found the covered toggle switch for those 2 lights on the outside of front storage area near the landing gear switch and simply turned the two lights OFF! The switch could have vibrated to the ON state on the rough road or I could have accidentally bumped it ON during operation of the landing gear at setup time. The switch doesn't show up in the simplified Heartland electrical wiring diagram, so I didn't know enough to go looking for one last night. Now I know what that switch does. I thank you all for your help in quickly resolving the problem. Don

 

[Bob&Patty]

Re: Front marker lamps now always ON

There has to be a switch somewhere. If the ground wire has gone to ground somewhere....then all the marker lites would be on. If the 12V wire went to ground then it would have blown the fuse in the TV.

 

[Kbvols]

Re: Front marker lamps now always ON

As suggested, I found the covered toggle switch for those 2 lights on the outside of front storage area near the landing gear switch and simply turned the two lights OFF! The switch could have vibrated to the ON state on the rough road or I could have accidentally bumped it ON during operation of the landing gear at setup time. The switch doesn't show up in the simplified Heartland electrical wiring diagram, so I didn't know enough to go looking for one last night. Now I know what that switch does. I thank you all for your help in quickly resolving the problem. Don

I didn't find out what the switch was for at first. Honestly I think I flipped it half a dozen times during daylight wasn't till I unhooked in the dark accidentally flipped it instead of the landing gear and poof the lights where on DW was like wow...of course I was like oh yeah they turn on by the switch under here....you really need to know these things honey...LOL...