RGar974417 wrote: You can also buy a resetable circuit breaker to stick in the fuse ciruit so you don't have to keep replacing fuses while looking for the problem
Thats the advice you should of given first not the advice of which you keep replacing fuses. You know I am right on that one. Oh BTW I have been in Electrical for 26 years which 15 of it is my own business. Enough said. thx
trafficmaker wrote: I'm pretty handy except for when it comes to reading a volt meter. My 5vr as described below has a short in the 15 amp circuit that controls the recessed lights in the bedroom slide and all the help lights around the 5vr, i.e. the basement lights and king pin light.
Getting to anything in the bedroom slide is a pain as it is completely enclosed, but I suspect that is where my short lies. How can I meter them to be certain?
I would just as soon disconnect them from the rest of the circuit as I never use them and they generate lots of heat.
I really needed my help lights on several occasions on our last trip.
TIA!
tm
I know how I would track this down, but it requires you being comfortable using an ohm meter vice the power method. If you have and know how to use an ohm meter trouble shooting can be a lot easier. Trailer lights should be wired like home lights where each light has two ground and two hot (I.E. colored wires) going to it. One set actually provides power and other ground and hot wire provides a power and ground to the next light down the line in the circuit. One real problem with all this disconnecting/reconnecting and using lights/fuzes is that if the short is in the first leg you will always have the short regardless of what you do with test lights/fuzes, etc. In this case the only way is to identify where the hot wire from the fuze goes in the first leg in the circuit and that requires disconnecting all the hot wires from the fuze and all the lights and then use an ohm meter with one lead on the disconnected wire on the fuze outlet and then test every other hot wire on all the lights until you only find one that has continuity to it from the fuze side of this first hot wire leg. This will tell you which light is the first in the string and if you disconnect all the wires from that first light and test for shorts between that wire that goes directly back to the converter and the two grounds will tell you whether or not you have a good non shorted first leg in the lighting string. Once you have identified the correct two wires in the initial leg from the converter then the fuze/test light can be used to determine which down stream leg has the short in it. To do this I would disconnect all the wires from all the lights and then tape the hot leads so they can't short. Then tape the hot lead you identified as the first leg, reconnect the hot side to the fuze and insert a fuze which shouldn't blow. Then using the good hot wire in the first light use your voltmeter to find the first leg in the gound circuit and only one of the two ground wires in the light fixture should give you 12V. Once you have a good ground and hot I would attached just those two to the first light with a bulb in it and make sure that first light works which will tell you that the fixture is not shorted. Personally I would just check the light fixture with an ohm meter, but if it's a flourscent light an ohm meter won't work IIRC and the power way is the best. If all is good and you have the first light fixture working then hook up the other two wires in the first light fixture that should provide power to the next light in the line and if you don't blow a fuze find the next light downstream where you have 12V between one of the hot wires and just one ground and continuing doing the same for each light as you did with the first until you blow another fuze which will tell you which leg or fixture has the short in it. To confirm you have the correct leg having the short in it identified isolate that leg and use an ohm meter to confirm that the disconnected ground and hot leads for that leg has the short.
Then you have several options:
1. Leave the shorted leg and all lights down stream from that disconnected and live with what you have for good lights. In your situation if the short is in the leg leading to the slide lights and they are the last two in the leg then disconnecting the appropriate wires from the light fixture that feeds these two lights will disconnect the slide lights from the rest of the lighting circuit.
2. If you want to solve the problem in the shorted circuit you will have to either physically trace the wires to find the short or run a new ground and hot for that leg.
Good Luck and has been suggested you might either have a professional or someone that is comfortable in tracing shorts help you. Sometimes these things can get very time consuming to track down (i.e. $$$$$ if having a professional do it) and fixing the problem can also be a lot of $$$$$ unless it's something very simple.
Larry
2001 standard box 7.3L E-350 PSD Van with 4.10 rear and 2007 Holiday Rambler Aluma-Lite 8306S Been RV'ing since 1974. TRAILER MODS
RGar974417 wrote: You said you have a short.So I assume you mean that when you turn something on,you blow a fuse. That is a short.( most people call any electrical problem a short) If that is the case,then,one at a time disconnect everything that is on the circuit until the fuse does not blow.When the fuse no longer blows,then you found the problem. That way you don't need a meter.
Wouldn't it be better to remove ALL the wires and re-connect them one at a time until the fuse blows? Use up a lot fewer fuses that way.
RGar974417 wrote: You said you have a short.So I assume you mean that when you turn something on,you blow a fuse. That is a short.( most people call any electrical problem a short) If that is the case,then,one at a time disconnect everything that is on the circuit until the fuse does not blow.When the fuse no longer blows,then you found the problem. That way you don't need a meter.
Wouldn't it be better to remove ALL the wires and re-connect them one at a time until the fuse blows? Use up a lot fewer fuses that way.
Yes and that was what my post recommended and to do it most efficiently except for the first leg in the circuit where the problem should show up even with all lights disconnected, but then you have to find where that pair of wires go and it needs to be done in order going from the converter to the first fixture and on in sequential order to the last one and my procedure also independently tests the light fixture one at a time.
I.E. you generally don't disconnect things to determine a fuze type problem, but reconnect to identify quickly where the problem is.
Most of you have made the assumption that the 15 amp circuit has several wires running from the fuse base to the light fixtures. I have never seen a cheap a$$ rv wired this way. One wire run from the fuse block to all the fixtures wired in parallel. And I'm not an electrician.
Since he knows the affected fixtures, he needs to disconnect one at a time at the splice point and use an ohm meter to check that wiring back to the fuse block and ahead to the next fixture. he may not know the exact location of the fixture in relation to the fuse block but at least he pin it down somewhat.
You put the small box's clip on a wire, and it generates a signal that you follow with the long end. When the signal stops, that is where your short is. In theory, of course.
Although I have used the smoke method on a few previous trucks in my past, I am not about to use that on a $35+k 5vr with wires in the wall, roof and basement. Thanks for the memories though!
In my determination to get the bed taken apart yesterday, I didn't think to test another fuse first. However, after getting the bed out of the way, I found the slide lights wires coming up from basement, around the slide mechanism and up into the wall. Pulled those two lights and found at least 3 splices from the bm to the second light. Nice, thanks Gulfstream...
There are no knicks or missing wire protection and the wire nuts are at least taped. So as the storm was starting, I pulled the panel and found only one blue wire attached to the circuit. The blue wire goes into the cubby hole where the main power cord comes in and out. The blue wire appears to attach to a white 2 wire bundle. I did change out the fuse and it held this time. Tonight I hope to operate the bedroom slide a couple of times to see if it blows. If it does, I am just going to remove the bed lights as I don't use them any way.
I like the look of that wire tracer. Looks like this circuit goes up the wall into the ceiling for a ways and then back down into the bm to the front.
There is also a light in the living room slide wall that may be on the circuit as well, but it obviously need a new bulb as it still isn't working. More as I dig deeper tonight!
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