Porch light/ scare light

[circusbear]

Hi all,
We are on our shakedown weekend trip and have found a few small things that we are wanting to change. One thing that doesn't make a pile of sense to me is why is the orange porch light and front scare light are wired together so they come on together. I would REALLY like to have them switched separatly. I could live with the porch light coming on with the step lights and the scare light separate. Has anyone tried to changed this setup and if so how about did you do it? Thanks for any help you could give me -CB

 

[boatto5er]

This is very strange. On my Sundance, the "scare" light and porch light are on completely different switches. Hopefully a Big Cpuntry owner will jump in with a comment. You might try posting to the Ask the Factory thread also.

 

[Niles]

Yep, sounds like you may have a unique set-up, ours are wired separately also. Can't imagine they're suppose to be that way. Scare lights tend to irk the neighbors when you turn them on.

 

[SouthernNights]

Hey Circuis, They are not supposed to be wired together. Pull your monitor plate and check the back of it to make sure the scare light wiring and porch light wiring arent tied together. That is about the only place that problem could happen.

 

[MD Buck]

I have the same problem on my Big Horn 3670. Don't know if they changed things at the factory or not. I had pulled the swith and it only has two wires going out!

 

[jbeletti]

CB,

I checked with production and the scare lights should be on one switch and the step light on another. As yours is not, this is a miss on our part in some way.

Perhaps it was mis-wired behind the panel??

If you are unable to take care of it, feel free to contact your dealer and they will work with Heartland Customer Service to make it right.

Jim

 

[SouthernNights]

Here is the back side of my switch plate.
Power (12v) into porch light switch (green w/ white tracer) jumped over to scare light switch with yellow w. white tracer.
Both light feeds are purple w/ a white tracer. One per switch.
At least that is the way mine is. I have no idea if their wire color code is standardized and all models are the same.

 

[MD Buck]

After I got home from work, I pulled the switch out again. The one switch is labeled as both the porch and security light. There was a three gang switch plate there, but only two switches in it. After taking it out and pulling the wires out, I found two whites and a black wire nutted together. I took them apart and the porch light went out, but the security light still worked with the switch. If I get another switch and put it between the black and two whites, the porch lite will be switched too. Should be an easy fix.

 

[circusbear]

Thanks all for the replies. I pulled our panel out and they have tied the scare and porch lights together. It looks like I will have to buy another switch and re-wire the switches to fix things up. Too bad stuff like this got through two sets of pdi's......

 

[jbeletti]

Please call Customer Service to explain. Perhaps they can send you the triple switch needed. 877-262-8032.

Jim

 

[MD Buck]

Thanks Jim, I'll call them too. Still haven't taken the shake down in our Big Horn yet, but noticed this earlier and just thought that was the way things were to be. Shake down is next month and looking forward to a week on the Outer Banks.

 

[2010augusta]

Don't assume that since twowires are leaving the porch/scare light switch, that they are wired together. We have the same "problem" on our 2010 Landmark and the factory did it "on purpose." I tried seperating the two wires on that switch, and either nothing works or it blows fuses and the C/s says to fix it, part of the roof has to be lifted up and they said it could only be done at the factory in Elkhart. I will be very interested to to know how this works out for you.

 

[jbeletti]

Alan,

On yours, since there is trouble with the wiring from the scare lights to the switch, if it were me, rather than "raising the roof" or some such, I'd consider removing the scare lights, going straight through the wall into the closet area, then down into the underbelly and up into the wiring chase and up to the switch area. Easy for me to say. Not even sure the lights line up with the closet. Just an idea on a fix.

 

[2010augusta]

Already thought about trying that, but it is hard because all the wires are very short and I can move things out of the way enough. I even thought about adding a circut and chasing a wire through the stud by the door and adding a switch for the porch light, but the stud has an obstruction about 3 feet below the light, and I can't figure out any way around it.

 

[SmokeyBare]

I would suggest you just add additional wire to the short wires... you can carefully lengthen the wire and then apply shrink tubing over top of the splice to protect it as well as the plastic insulation does.

You would only need solder gun... solder and shrink tubing... all can be found at Lowe's or Home Depot.

 

[2010augusta]

I would suggest you just add additional wire to the short wires... you can carefully lengthen the wire and then apply shrink tubing over top of the splice to protect it as well as the plastic insulation does./

They are so short I cannot comfortably cut them and not have them spring back into the wall. I am no stranger to 12volt systems, I have wired entire cars before, but that scare light has NO slack.

 

[jbeletti]

Larry,

Thanks for your picture. By the way, it looks like one of your wires are not connected. There should be 3 lights connected to those 2 switches unless 2 lights are tied together behind the panel. Turn on both switches and check all 3 lights (porch + 2 scare lights).

For everyone, we are digging into this at the plant and we'll have more information to post later on how current units are wired/switched and a change we are going to make going forward.

Jim

 

[Macattack]

Our porch light and scare light are wired together on our Augusta also. I too thought it was funny that the scare light was not wired by itself. Looks to me like the porch light and stair light should be on the same switch. I was going to rewire them but the porch light and scare light switch is in the control panel with only one wire leaving the switch, and the stair light is located just inside the door on the front of the stairs and I don't know where the porch light and the scare light are wire nutted together. Looks like I'll have to do some dismanteling and trace some wires.

 

[SouthernNights]

Larry,

Thanks for your picture. By the way, it looks like one of your wires are not connected. There should be 3 lights connected to those 2 switches unless 2 lights are tied together behind the panel. Turn on both switches and check all 3 lights (porch + 2 scare lights).

For everyone, we are digging into this at the plant and we'll have more information to post later on how current units are wired/switched and a change we are going to make going forward.

Jim

Jim, I am in the processing of cleaning this up so Many wires are deiconnected at this point. I just happen to have this apart when this subject came up. A picture is worth a thousand words you know.

 

[itsbeertime]

I just noticed this same "problem" on our new 2010 BC 3250TS yesterday. I have a 3 gang switch in the cabinet. First is for the ceiling lights, second turns on the Porch light and Scare light door side, and third turns on off-door side Scare light. This is stupid as you can't use the porch light without PO'ing your neighbors with the scare light. I'd like to meet the person who was responsible for this "design".

And while I'm on the topic, why must we have to open a cabinet door everytime we want to turn the ceiling lights on or off. Duh!

I've had a pet peeve for a long time about the people who design this stuff. They should HAVE to live in and use the unit to see just how downright dumb some things they designed really are. We'd all be better off for it.