Community Forums

TruckinTuna · 12-01-2017, 10:44 PM

Hey guys,

New to the forums here and have a couple questions. My wife and I just purchased a 2018 Forrest River Sonoma 270BHS and have a question regarding the interior lights.

There are 4 main lights on the ceiling running down the center of the trailer. As of right now when you walk in and hit the switch for the interior lights, it only operates the first light directly in front of the door. I was wondering if anyone is familiar with the wiring and how hard it would be to wire the other 3 lights on to the same switch? I figure I should be able to tie in the 3 other lights with the main light in the same circuit. That way I could switch them all on with the same switch and still have the ability to turn each one off individually. I know it can be done because this is how it was in the EVO’s we were looking at.

My second question is also a lighting question. Again on the EVO we initially were going to buy, they had an LED light strip that ran across the top of the slide on the inside of the trailer. It added some really cool mood lighting and was curious if anyone else has done something similar to theirs? I just don’t know where to begin to try and access how to power a light strip at that location.

Any help or guidence would be awesome! Thank you!

Andrew

Dropthejacks · 12-02-2017, 12:08 AM

Don't think I would be in any itching hurry to jump into a new RV and start cutting wires. You can bet if it catches fire or has other electrical issues, any hope of a warranty claim will be gone. If the other 3 lights will work with the 1st light's switch off, they are not on the same circuit wire and it would require you pulling a new wire to all the lights and the switch. As far as the surround lights, when we were shopping my bride liked a unit that had LED lights under the counter top in the kitchen as "mood lighting". We bought a different unit that did not have that feature, so I found a string of small LEDs on a single, thin wire at Hobby Lobby that operates off two AA batteries in a small housing. I mounted the strand under the edge of our kitchen island and used a Command strip to mount the battery housing/switch. You can't see the housing but with the flip of a switch we have an underlit counter top. I could have wired in a 110 volt to an existing outlet in the island, but for $10 and no cutting, I was able to accomplish the same thing. Just a thought. Good luck, enjoy the new home!

tuffr2 · 12-02-2017, 03:30 AM

I did a little rewiring on mine to fix a factory error. I jad toggles swiches that would lightup when on. One switch would not lightup. After 3 years I had time to dig into it. Lots of wires, but I finally saw the issue and took 1 wire and redirrected it.

I would not rewire if I were you. You could cause an overload for the switch. There will be other things for you to fix.

chaps2018 · 12-02-2017, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TruckinTuna

... 4 main lights on the ceiling running down the center of the trailer. As of right now when you walk in and hit the switch for the interior lights, it only operates the first light directly...

My previous rig had 6 incandescent lights that were "ganged" to one switch at the door. You couid also turn them off one at a time if you desired. Yes it possible.

First I would investigate is if it is easy to gang the switches. The wiring is the biggest issue (assume they are wired in the ceiling). Pull one out and see what you can determine based on where the wires travel. If you determine that they are all connected to the same source then the switch capability and fuse size is not an issue. If they are LED lights it may be easier due to current draw.

My experience has been that the shortest run and least amount of connections is the rule when the trailer is being built. It has been pretty straight forward when I try to trace a switched power source.

TruckinTuna · 12-02-2017, 11:32 PM

Thanks for the reply’s everyone, I appreciate it. They are LED and I would think they are on the same circuit. I’ll have to check to make sure when I get off duty later in the week. If that’s the case I’ll probably give it a shot and run some new wires. I guess I just wanted some reassurance it can be done.

Thanks again!