RV Tail light Troubles
I'm sure many of the member of this forum have had issues with water intrusion in the tail lights on Forester/Sunseeker models over the last several years. Ever since I bought my RV I've had issues with water in both Command Electronics tail lights but was never able to precisely identify the real issue until recently. One of the lights recently started failing so I had no choice but to finally replace them. On the plus side I was finally going to get to see what the issue(s) really were.
The LEDS in my lower passenger light were not working at all and some of the LED's in the upper light were out as well. After pulling off the light I found several issues. First, one of the top screws had broke off due to rust and the light casing started to pull away from the coach body. Second, a screw on the bottom was never screwed into metal and had pulled though the fiberglass and the casing was pulling away from the body there as well.
Finally, I was able to confirm that condensation was also an issue. It turns out there there was NO insulation between the inside luan wall and the tail light which would explain why I was seeing water inside the tail light when the weather got colder and there was no rain. The inside of the RV would warm up in the sun and the heat would leak through the uninsulated area of the tail light and then condensate on the plastic lens of the light.
I was able to find some replacement lights on Amazon there are the same dimension and have the same screw hole pattern. Even better, these units are flat and sealed would allow me to install some insulation between the inside wall and the light and also eliminate water intrusion into the light. We will have to see how well it eliminates the condensation issue but at this point if should at least be significantly reduced. Finally, the lights even look better although they are not quite as bright.
__________________
2016 3011DS Forester
2014 Honda CRV
Chuck & Lois
|