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Old 04-05-2013, 05:36 PM   #1
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Melting light switches

The overhead light switches in my 2012 2604 Rockwood are melting ( It is the little rocker switches in the middle of each overhead light) Two so far, others are hot and wires look burned. I am in the process of replacing lights with LEDs which is very expensive. Is anyone else having this problem?

Jack
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Old 04-05-2013, 05:40 PM   #2
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I just replaced all of my light in my camper with LED's. Thought it was cheap to replace. Only paid about 50 dollars on Ebay. Yes they came from China and it took 3 weeks to get them but they work great. I have the 1156 BA15S style light.
Here is a link in case you may need them.
New DC 12V 1156 BA15S*SMD 18 5050 LED White Light Bulb Car Brake Stop Turn Tail | eBay
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Old 04-05-2013, 05:53 PM   #3
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I like the wrm white better. Needed the 45 led's for my kitchen fixture but used the 15's for the rest.
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Old 04-05-2013, 06:50 PM   #4
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We've starting our 3rd summer with our 2012, 2604 and haven't had any elect issues with the light switches. Are you using a surge protector on your elect sys that will disconnect if the voltage goes over a certain point? If not at one time or another you might have experienced and overvoltage condition that has damaged the wiring.
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Old 04-05-2013, 07:28 PM   #5
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We've starting our 3rd summer with our 2012, 2604 and haven't had any elect issues with the light switches. Are you using a surge protector on your elect sys that will disconnect if the voltage goes over a certain point? If not at one time or another you might have experienced and overvoltage condition that has damaged the wiring.
They are 12 v and the surge protector from my understanding only protects 110v devices. Could be the bulbs are not the right size causing the problem or a bad ground at the fixture.
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Old 04-06-2013, 07:45 AM   #6
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Yep, just experienced the same problem. We have a 2012 2109s Mini Lite and are currently on a southern road trip (Florida). The other day the little rocker switch on the light over the kitchen, stopped working in that it wouldn't turn off. Took it apart to find that the switch itself had melted and that the contacts to the light bulbs themselves were burnt. Somewhat alarming! Luckily enough, a the Camper's World in Destin FL had a replacement LED light which installed easily enough. Cost was about $65.00. Not cheap, but hopefully it will be safer. I'm now concerned with the remaining 4 lights. Forest River should be aware of this and the potential safety risk that these lights pose. After our road trip I'll be going to my dealer to see if this is a warranty item. Expect the answer will be that they have never seen the problem(!)
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Old 04-06-2013, 09:12 AM   #7
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The overhead light switches in my 2012 2604 Rockwood are melting ( It is the little rocker switches in the middle of each overhead light) Two so far, others are hot and wires look burned. I am in the process of replacing lights with LEDs which is very expensive. Is anyone else having this problem?

Jack
You have a very high resistance somewhere or a dead short, this could cause a fire, make sure you find the cause.
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Old 04-06-2013, 09:49 AM   #8
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Guaranteed that the switches are made in China, so may have been from a bad supplier.
If you are not out of warranty, make the dealer replace them. Or a call into FR would probably get you replacements at no charge.
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Old 04-06-2013, 12:28 PM   #9
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We have experienced a problem with one of the reading lights over the sofa in our 2013 Rockwood Mini-Lite 2109S. It burned out the original bulb. We replaced the bulb & it too burned out in a very short time. Replaced it again & it won't light at all. Tried it with bulb from other light to confirm that it was a good bulb, but still no light. These silver fixtures get extremely hot. We never leave one on for very long.
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Old 04-07-2013, 07:01 AM   #10
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Melting light switches

Thanks for the input guys. I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing wrong with my coach other than very cheap and crummy lights which I will replace with LED fixtures.

Jack
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Old 04-07-2013, 07:53 AM   #11
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We have experienced a problem with one of the reading lights over the sofa in our 2013 Rockwood Mini-Lite 2109S. It burned out the original bulb. We replaced the bulb & it too burned out in a very short time. Replaced it again & it won't light at all. Tried it with bulb from other light to confirm that it was a good bulb, but still no light. These silver fixtures get extremely hot. We never leave one on for very long.
Had a similar problem with one of the reading lights over the bed on our 2012 Rockwood 2604. Found out it was the ground wire where it attaches to the fixture itself. Dealer replaced the fixture under warranty.

Might check out that connection on yours.
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Old 04-07-2013, 07:58 AM   #12
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WE changed our kitchen O/H light to a Residential light converted to (12V). Youroo!!
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Old 04-07-2013, 08:24 AM   #13
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Reading lights

Our 2013, Rockwood 2109S, also,has a problem with them! One keeps burning up bulbs. Until now, I thought it was a fluke. For the time being, we're going to replace the light fixture under warranty. I found the switch in the exterior light near the hitch to be corroded! Another warranty issue.
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Old 04-07-2013, 08:30 AM   #14
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You have a very high resistance somewhere or a dead short, this could cause a fire, make sure you find the cause.
Cheap sh&@ fixtures more like. Sound like the fixture itself has inadequate wiring. Take it back and make FR replace it.
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Old 04-10-2013, 07:54 AM   #15
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Just received a message from our dealer, who received a reply from Rockwood re: the melting switches. Rockwood will reimburse for failed switches, provided the trailer is still under warranty (thankfully, ours is), with a picture of the failed switch as well as a receipt for the new one. They also stated that there is no factory recall of the switches in question. That's the latest.
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Old 04-10-2013, 08:04 AM   #16
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They also stated that there is no factory recall of the switches in question. That's the latest.
No more than one would expect from todays companies, they are seldom pro-active only reactive, they will recall after five or so fires caused by CHEAP switches or, someone is injured or worse, todays company ethics or lack there of.
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Old 04-29-2013, 07:15 PM   #17
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I think we have too much current through cheap Chinese switches. We had quite a bit of family staying with us last week, so the CC became a spare bedroom. My daughter came to me one day and said the light switch was getting hot, so I naturally investigated. The one that was getting hot is the one that supplies power to the 6 double lamp fixtures in the kitchen/living room area. Sure enough, it was hot. I removed the panel and found that two crimp connectors had heat damage.


I tried to measure the current draw. My meter is rated for up to 10 amps. I saw 14 point something amps before the meter said OVERLOAD and I quickly disconnected. I checked the specs on the 921 light bulb and found that they draw 1.4 amps each times 2 per fixture and times 6 fixtures equals 18.2 amps at 13 volts. That's a lot of current! flowing through one switch. So I thought to myself, a relay should help that issue. I'll just wire in an automotive heavy duty relay.



So, I wired in a 20/30 amp relay that I had sitting in my parts bin. After I had it wired, I checked the temperatures of the switch, connections and relay using a laser gun. The ambient temperature was right at 80 degrees F. After 15 minutes, the relay was reading about 94 degrees. My new crimp connections were reading about 89 degrees. I shot the ceiling fixtures and they were about 145 degrees! I think I need to convert to LED lamps. The air conditioning would appreciate LED's! I can't believe Forest River wired all that much current through one switch! Check out yours, folks. Lay your index finger and your middle finger on either side of the switch and see if it is getting hot. I don't believe this is safe.
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Old 05-08-2013, 09:18 PM   #18
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Just to let you all know that we are now on day 41 of our road trip and today another light switch failed. Similiar situation, however, the light today, over the sofa, just cut out, and the switch itself is non-operable. The good new is, that we are now about 700 miles from home (2 days) and we won't have to live with this much longer.
Forest River really needs to address this problem before someones TT burns to the ground!
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