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Old Marine · 11-24-2008, 05:02 PM

I have one fluorescent ceiling lite that will not work. I have tested the wires and have 13.34 volts to them the problem is the one lite that does not work the wires appear crossed, but I have tried switching the wires and that doesn't do any good. I have checked fuses and they are fine. I have requested a wiring diagram from Fleetwood.

I am wondering if anyone out there has encountered this problem. I have also taken a working lite and plugged it in and it doesn't work. Blows my mind.

Old Marine · 11-24-2008, 05:02 PM

I have one fluorescent ceiling lite that will not work. I have tested the wires and have 13.34 volts to them the problem is the one lite that does not work the wires appear crossed, but I have tried switching the wires and that doesn't do any good. I have checked fuses and they are fine. I have requested a wiring diagram from Fleetwood.

I am wondering if anyone out there has encountered this problem. I have also taken a working lite and plugged it in and it doesn't work. Blows my mind.

Paul and Sue · 11-24-2008, 11:11 PM

Been there, done that and it drove me nuts trying to find the problem. For me, it turned out to been a bad wire connection behind the wall where the light wiring connected to a power line. The wires at the light tested good with a meter,But, and this turned out to be a big but, when you turn on the light that put a load on the wiring, the bad connection would not allow the full load and the light would not work. But, everytime I tested the wire at the light it showed 13+ volts.

Good luck

Old Marine · 12-03-2008, 01:58 PM

Thanks for responding Paul & Sue,

Can you tell me where behind the wall you found the wiring connection problem? The light I am having trouble with is the one just inside the door to the left. All the rest of the ceiling lites work okay.

exrench · 12-03-2008, 03:53 PM

Paul and Sue gives good advice.Forget the volt meter-many have been fooled by a circuit that only had enough to power a voltmeter but nothing else. Get a test light for this sort of problem.

Paul and Sue · 12-04-2008, 01:15 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Old Marine:
Thanks for responding Paul & Sue,

Can you tell me where behind the wall you found the wiring connection problem? The light I am having trouble with is the one just inside the door to the left. All the rest of the ceiling lites work okay. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

OK. here you go on finding the wire. There might be a better way but this was how I found it!
I went to www.brackmannengineering.com and ordered a Buried cable-hidden wire finder (around $39). I then disconnected the 12V wire at the fuse box that ran all of the ceiling lights. I connected the wire finder to the ceiling light wire and followed all of the ceiling wires with the wire finder system. After playing with the wire finding system, I figured where the wire connected to the main power wire that I needed to check. I had to do some cutting and pulling some woodwork out of the way to get to the bad connection. I never would of found it without the wire finder.

quikduk · 12-04-2008, 06:02 AM

It "could" be a bad wire as Paul and Sue has suggested so don't rule that out. I had this issue with two fluorescent lights in our 1981 Apollo. I took the fixtures down and put a test light on the wires.

I had 12V so I rigged jumpers to the fixtures and while power was getting to the fixtures, it turned out that the ballasts were bad and were not allowing the power through.

These fixtures were still available but at a whopping $200 each as they were very large, recessed types.

I picked up two cheap fluorescent dual lamp fixtures from an RV salvage yard. They were $10 each and were new overstock items that Fleetwood used and they matched the wattage of my old fixtures. I drilled out the pop rivets and swapped out the ballasts being carefull to match the wires polarity correctly.

They worked perfectly...and to think I had been trying to figure a "cheaper" way to replace the fixtures with newer ones...HA!

Paul and Sue · 12-04-2008, 08:46 AM

Like quikduk related, before going nuts trying to find a fix on the wiring check it all out first.

What I did before I did anything, I took a ceiling light that was working in my RV, removed it and connected it up to the wires where the other ceiling light was not working. I know it was extra work, but when the working ceiling light did not work connected to those wires, I knew that those wires where bad.

PS. Get the wiring diagram from Fleetwood it gives you a good idea how the lights are wired and what is on each curcuit, but it only gives you a general area where the wires are on a run. I used the wire finder on a 110V line I was having a problem with and the diagram was way off.

Old Marine · 12-08-2008, 09:48 AM

Thanks for getting back to me, I have already swapped a good working light and verified the wiring is bad. Have found the circuit that supplies the light in question also supplies current to the galley lights and the fan in the ceiling in front of the galley.

Now all I need to do is find where the wires come out of the ceiling and down the wall, haven't found them yet.

Paul and Sue · 12-08-2008, 09:43 PM

Don't know how old your rig is but check to see if your wiring connections are at each light/fan going to the next light. The bad connection could be at the light before the bad light, if you are following what I am saying.
Just something to check out by pulling the last good light (before the bad light) out of the ceiling and checking the wiring connections.

Old Marine · 12-09-2008, 04:42 AM

My rig is a 2003 Pace Arrow Model 36B triple slide.

The only other fixture on the ceiling that is running on the same circuit is the fan. I checked that connection but there is no way to tell where it is connected to the wiring going to the light that does not work.

I have the wiring diagram from Fleetwood and the diagram shows each of the ceiling fixtures wires going to the wall. It is just difficult to tell where the wire runs into the wall. There is a junction box on the wall at the rear of the galley slide that to get to it I will have to move the slide in. I don't know if that is where the wire comes in or not.

You had mentioned that you had to cut some wall and ? away to get to the wire connections. If your 2004 is a triple slide, where exactly did you have to get into the wall?

Thanks for your assistance, I am going to purchase the wiring finder you mentioned.

Paul and Sue · 12-13-2008, 06:28 AM

Herb
On my rig the main power box is in the bathroom under the bathroom sink (yes, right where the water will go when I get a water leak). The wire connection was behind an inter wall behind the toilet. I had to remove the bathroom door woodwork going up the wall so I could open up the wall pannel to get to the wires.