Recessed Ceiling Lights

[Westwind]

The ceiling lights labeled Kitchen and Living room aren't working, they stopped back in January and then worked when I tried them a few weeks later, then stopped again.
I pulled the 12 volt panel to see if I had a bad connection, loose wire, or a blown fuse but everything checked out, I put a meter on the wiring at the panel and the meter register 13 so that was fine, at the switches I had nothing, so somewhere between the fuse panel and the switches the 12V goes by by. I pulled the 3 switch bank out also the adjacent one so that I could look at the wiring and couldn't find anything obvious. It appears the wiring runs inside of the partition that the wall cabinets are attached to, These wall cabinets are located above the sink and have the control panel/light switches etc. located on the right side behind the cabinet door.
I'm at a loss as to what I need to chase down next and wonder if anyone else has had this type of problem and what they might have done to solve it. I will love any suggestions.

 

[Roller4tan]

There should be no breaks between the fuse panel and the switches. However, power to the switches may be jumpered (daisy chained) using wirenuts. I'd pull all switches in the area and test for 12v on the power side of the switches until you find a zero reading. I'd then look for the aforementioned jumper wire connection.

 

[Garypowell]

It does sound like you have a break somewhere. Over the years I am sure there are stresses and strains on wiring junctions if not positioned properly. I assume all worked well up to now.

You might have to dive behind the basement wall to find these wires and look how they run, how they split out to feed other circuits.

You can use a toner to follow the wire but that would require you isolate the feed from all other wires so the signal would not leak.

If your not up to all of that you could just fish another feed to those light switches....but again this means a dive behind the wall.

Good luck

 

[Westwind]

Removed the storage compartment back wall, wasn't difficult, I've had the UDC side off more times then I'd like to remember looking for leaks, which right now there aren't any, don't know how long that will last.
I've had mice getting in through the stair drawer that we put the built in vac hose etc. in. So last fall I took the drawer out and realized it stairs had not back and were open to the underbelly. So one of my projects is to put a piece of plywood in place to cover the rear of the stair framework to completely block the underbelly from the stair drawer. While there measuring for the plywood piece I noticed that one of the two ground wires was not attached so I corrected that issue. I also knew that the inverter was fastened to the floor and it should be raised up in-case of a water leak. The water pump should also be raised up off the floor so both have become a project before I put the wall back up.
The big ISSUE is to try and find where the wire from the 12 volt circuit box for the ceiling lights goes too, it should be directly to the light switches and hopefully I"ll at least be able to get a visual of it by color coding. I tested the connection at the fuse and the wire leaving the fust panel and both had juice, but when I got to the box nothing so that would leave you to think that the wire must have separated somewhere between the 12 Volt panel and switches in the kitchen cabinet, resolving the problem won't be so simple I'm sure.

 

[Westwind]

Today I cut the piece of plywood to close in the back of the stairs and seal up access to the inside of the trailer, hopefully I've closed a major expressway for mice. I also kept poking at wires, connections, switches and the 12 volt panel trying to figure out why the ceiling recessed lights in the living room/kitchen don't work. Especially puzzling was the color coding until I figured out that the lights and the power to the switches were two different color coding systems. I had a live wire to the aisle light tube the two switches for the kitchen and living overhead lights were now power status. When I switched the aisle light power to them they worked????
So back to the panel box looking for a black and white wire, found one but it was from the wrong fuse - don't know what possessed me to look inside of the cabinet and low and behold way inside I found a loose wire and then noticed a empty space connected on the 12V panel way at the top - problem solved. The power connection wire needs to be redone, the space connection has melted the wire shield and I've had that problem before on a different wire so the space connector will have to be replace and I think I need to check all of them, I did tighten a couple of the spade connectors that were loose but my suspicion is that there are more.
I also noticed a hole in the frame for wiring to the outside fo the under the stair light (great entrance for mice) so I caulked that up but it needs a flat piece of metal to keep them out and that is another job. I have a major place to cover the entire undercarriage and plug up all holes, we had a bad mouse infestation this year and I don't - do not want to live through that again - don't know what was worse my wife or the mice. I had nightmares that the mice had chewed wires and that was causing me to loose sleep.

 

[Gizzy]

Westwind,
We had the same problem with out kitchen ceiling lights. Last summer they quit. Had several folks take a look during a couple of rallys and all felt it was a problem with wiring somewhere with the walls. A month ago the lights came back on, but only worked for a day or so. I decided to remove one of the lights (the one nearest the door) and I found the wires fried and the plastic wire nut melted. Think I found the problem. However, I created more problems, somehow I lost one of the springs that hold the light. It has to be somewhere in the ceiling but can't find it. I called the light mfg and they are sending me new springs. A lot cheaper than buying a new light. I will post an update when I am able to get everything back together.
If you haven't checked the light connections, perhaps you might want to.

Good Luck,

Gizzy

 

[Westwind]

As I mentioned we had a mouse problem last fall, one went with us to Florida but within a couple of days after our arrival I sticky trapped him. We had a dead one on top of the kitchen sink cabinet which took us a couple of days to find.
I ended up removing all the recessed lights looking for a dead mouse, hoping to find the smell which was really bad. So I'm an expert at taking them down and putting them back.
The disconnected wire was the problem, I'm also going to put in LED lights to lower the electrical draw on the connections and wiring, but we don't use the recessed lights that much if ever so once I make the changes we should be all set.

 

[Westwind]

Finished the project today, ended up pulling on every 12V spade connector wire and any of them (6) that came off easily and tightened the connector so they had to be very firmly pushed it, a couple of the wires including the ceiling light wire/space connector needed to be replaced since the wire wasn't pushed in to my satisfaction. I'm now pleased with everything and hopefully it should be a long time before I have a problem with the 12V side of the house.
I also was able to remove the piece of plywood that I put over the stair drawer so I could put it back since the back of the stairs are now completely closed in. I also filled up with caulking a hole in the frame that wires from the exterior stair light passed through, I'm suspecting the mice passed through also. But I think a flat piece of metal on the outside would help also. Before the wall goes back up I there are other tasks that need to be done.