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Clock Man · 04-05-2021, 02:20 PM

Hi Gang I was just wondering which is the best manual for my RV. My backup lights don't work and the 3rd brake light doesn't work either. Help !!!!!!!!!!!

Jim_HiTek · 04-05-2021, 02:41 PM

There's this...but like all RV users manuals the electrical is pretty poor. Swingers Owners Guide

If you haven't removed the lamp fixtures yet, know that on my '94 Bounder, one of mine was in such bad shape (found after I pulled it off and opened it), tossed it because of all the rust and corrosion and bought new...which I happened to find at a little boat repair shop that carried some RV stuff just a few miles from where I was staying. Hah! Pays to stop in at those places. I was really lucky. They've since closed and I've moved on to ownership of a '02 Journey.

With the Journey, had an intermittent taillight/brake light that would occasionally go out and I'd have people pointing it out to me at RV parks as I drove in or out. In that case, I could not find a conveniently available fixture at a decent price and since I have an electronics background, I sort of did a DIY number on all of them as all the sockets for bulbs were in bad condition. Lots of rust and corrosion. Even had to break a blub apart to get it out of the socket:

https://i0.wp.com/chaos.goblinbox.co...?fit=640%2C480

That's all I found wrong btw...bad bulb sockets...so I bought new sockets and kept the fixtures so I could reuse them. There are new ones available but seems a darn waste to throw away the entire assembly when it can be repaired.

Here's the ad free article I wrote about the job. I had a great time working on it...this kind of DIY repair is fun to me. Rear Running Light sockets replaced!

I also cleaned up and soldered in new LEDs for the middle stop light assembly. A bit more complex, but still fun.

Clock Man · 04-06-2021, 06:04 PM

Thanks Jim for the info and nice article as well.

SKP Kirk · 04-08-2021, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim_HiTek

There's this...but like all RV users manuals the electrical is pretty poor. Swingers Owners Guide

That looks to be the same owner's manual that I had with my 1998 Cruise Master. Looking back, I think that was the best owner's manual for an RV that I got with any of the 6 RVs that we have owned. Most of them are pretty much useless.

Jim_HiTek · 04-08-2021, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SKP Kirk

That looks to be the same owner's manual that I had with my 1998 Cruise Master. Looking back, I think that was the best owner's manual for an RV that I got with any of the 6 RVs that we have owned. Most of them are pretty much useless.

I had very little info about the Bounder from Fleetwood but one time I called Freightliner and was able to get a PDF of their electrical for my chassis. That was handy. Hard to read without a magnifier though. Single sheet. For the rest of the RV though, there wasn't anything I could find easily.

With Winnebago and a Freightliner chassis, there is a wealth of info online in PDF form that I downloaded so I'd have it available offline. It's come in handy for sure.

So it's kind of hit and miss...depends on the manufacturer's engineering department whether they want to bother to release their drawings and what form.

153stars · 04-09-2021, 02:37 PM

My rear lights had issues the problem was spades on the relays these are screwed to firewall in rear motor bay. They are not exactly protected from the elements. Cleaning relay males mostly fixed the issues. I just had regular electronics cleaner but hear great about Detoxit cleaner.
Many times there are butt connectors before lamp sockets and two wires in one side making a daisy chain loose one connection breaks the chain. I had to fix a few of those the tail side marker circuit is big lots of places for bad connections.