Some interior lights not working

[moshe1436]

Does anyone know if Forest River Mfg. publishes wiring schematics for their travel trailers? It seems there must be some standardization within a particular model line, ie. Cruise-Lite etc. Thanks!

[clr]

Sadly they do not publish wiring diagrams. I did ask for my unit and they responded that the wiring diagram was not available.

OK I got it no test equipment instructions You could pull the converter fuse box out of the wall and check to make sure all of the wires were connected and tight. Many of mine were not very tight and I went thru and tightened them all. NOTE your ac power should be off if you do this. If you do while you are in there go ahead and tighten all of the ac power wires to the circuit breakers also.
Many of my ghost electrical problems went away after I did this.

[B D HOWie]

Mo
I believe you have indicated that you have two empty fuse blocks. Have you tried putting a low amperage fuse in one of these at a time to see if FR just forgot to install a fuse?
Paul

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by moshe1436

Well- these suggestions by “clr” and “cypressloser” may be great for someone more experienced with electricity and the use of a tone generator and banana than I. I don’t understand how folllowing a wire with a tone device until the tone stops helps me do much about it. The wires are still behind a panel and would require removing them to fix the lose wire.

Regarding using a long negative wire from the battery connected to to the negative multimeter lead and then touching the positive side of the light. How do I know which probe in the light is +? As far as the closest to the fuse panel -one is on the BR ceiling and the other two are in the storage area- neither very close to the fuse panel.

Obviously I don’t know enough about this stuff to follow the logic behind either suggestion. In spite of this I do appreciate these efforts to help me. Maybe more details would enlighten me - or maybe not!!

Mo

What you need is a 12 volt dc circuit tester such as the one below, you can get them from any automotive parts store or walmart. You may need to add extra wire to the alligator to reach a good ground, namely the negative(-) post on your battery. When you touch a positive(+) wire the bulb inside the tester will light, if you touch a negative wire then nothing will happen. If your positive wire is broken somewhere along the line then you can poke the point of the tester through the insulation without causing great harm to the wire. It's a very simple, old fashion way to find open 12 volt circuits.

[moshe1436]

OOHH! I used to have one of those. This is something I CAN do! My assumption is that testing each wire at each light I can determine if the current is reaching it (or not). If I find there is no 12v at any of the wires of the 3 non-working lights what do I do then? I don’t know where the wires are routed behind the paneling making it almost impossible to find out where the break is or where they are connected to a 12v source. Then what?

Sorry to sound so ignorant about all of this but I’m not sure where the 12v source to this circuit is. I would think it would be fused somewhere! But I’ve found nothing inside or outside the trailer.

Additionally I posted asking if there is a wiring schematic for my FR Cruise-Lite but haven’t heard from anyone yet. I suspect there isn’t.

I truly appreciate your continued suggestions! I feel like i’ve outlived my welcome with this topic!!

Mo

[Jay2504]

Moshe1436, what color is the wires at the light? On my 2504s white is ground. Post up a picture or tell me what color they are. Jay

[moshe1436]

To clr:

OOHH! I used to have one of those. This is something I CAN do! My assumption is that testing each wire at each light I can determine if the current is reaching it (or not). If I find there is no 12v at any of the wires of the 3 non-working lights what do I do then? I don’t know where the wires are routed behind the paneling making it almost impossible to find out where the break is or where they are connected to a 12v source. Then what?

Sorry to sound so ignorant about all of this but I’m not sure where the 12v source to this circuit is. I would think it would be fused somewhere! But I’ve found nothing inside or outside the trailer.

Additionally I posted asking if there is a wiring schematic for my FR Cruise-Lite but haven’t heard from anyone yet. I suspect there isn’t.

I truly appreciate your continued suggestions! I feel like i’ve outlived my welcome with this topic!!

Mo

[Jay2504]

No way! Will be glad to walk you through this. Jay

[moshe1436]

Originally Posted by Jay2504

Moshe1436, what color is the wires at the light? On my 2504s white is ground. Post up a picture or tell me what color they are. Jay

The lights are all re-installed but my recollection is there is a white, pink/white and pink. I don’t recall any black. One light has 4 wires with 3 ganged together in a wire nut and the 4th separate, the other two lights each have one less wire than the previous. Boy! This doesn’t make much sense as I reread it. The next time I pull them off I’ll take some pics. Hope you’re still around when I get to it!

Thanks for trying to help!

Mo

[moshe1436]

Originally Posted by Jay2504

No way! Will be glad to walk you through this. Jay

Really appreciate that comment! Thanks!

[Jay2504]

That would help a lot. Are the lights switched individually? Do you have a multimeter? A test light like in the picture? Jay

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by moshe1436

Additionally I posted asking if there is a wiring schematic for my FR Cruise-Lite but haven’t heard from anyone yet. I suspect there isn’t.


Mo

Mo, clr answered this in post #22. Forest River does not publish wiring diagrams or blueprints. Probably because the wiring can be different for each separate RV of the same model, design and layout.

[moshe1436]

Originally Posted by B D HOWie

Mo
I believe you have indicated that you have two empty fuse blocks. Have you tried putting a low amperage fuse in one of these at a time to see if FR just forgot to install a fuse?
Paul

Yes there are two empty fuse blocks but there are no wires connected to those circuits. So I don’t think it would not show anything to do what you suggested. Thanks regardless.

[moshe1436]

Originally Posted by Jay2504

Moshe1436, what color is the wires at the light? On my 2504s white is ground. Post up a picture or tell me what color they are. Jay

Having never attached a picture this may not work! I just realized the pictures have to be uploaded from a computer. Right now I’m in a campground and will have to wait until I get home to my computer. I have a picture of each light’s wiring which will probably help. I believe the ground wires are white as each light with a black lead is connected to a white wire.

I’m going to buy a 12v testing light and probe each wire as suggested.

Thanks to ALL who have given their suggestions!

Mo

[moshe1436]

Originally Posted by Jay2504

That would help a lot. Are the lights switched individually? Do you have a multimeter? A test light like in the picture? Jay

Jay

The lights all have their own switches and I don’t believe any are controlled with a wall switch. I have checked the two leads into each light with a multimeter and got no reading from any of them.

I plan to get a 12v test light when I get home. I used this years ago by using the sharp point to probe into each wire with the negative attached directly to the negative battery post. Hopefully I’ll come up with something useful!

Mo

[Jay2504]

When you get a test light, get one with a bulb not a led. It will be cheaper and more useful in the long run. Also get some wire long enough to reach easily from the battery to the lights in question. First hook up tp the neg post and check wiring for power. Try to avoid piercings into the wires if possible by sticking the point at the Bach of exposed switches and twist locks ect. After checking for power move the wire to the. Pos side of the batt ( be careful and tape up where the test light hooks up to the wire so you can’t short anything to ground) and check if the ground wires will light up the light. If it lights up on the ground wire chances are the ground is good enough for the camper lights and you will know which wires are ground. Let us know what you find, pics if possible. Jay

[3boxerss]

ok I know this is off the wall .. But.. We had some interior lights not working an took it in for repair... They checked it and showed us how it was actually working. We have a remote for the jacks ,awning etc.. Not much paperwork on it.. Turns out it also operates some lights.. So when we were messing with that remote we somehow turned the lights off and the wall switches wouldnt turn on the lights .. So we thought the switch or fuses bad.. Turned out it was the remote we didnt know would shut lights off.. lol Had to turn off at the remote then the darn switchs worked..

[moshe1436]

Originally Posted by 3boxerss

ok I know this is off the wall .. But.. We had some interior lights not working an took it in for repair... They checked it and showed us how it was actually working. We have a remote for the jacks ,awning etc.. Not much paperwork on it.. Turns out it also operates some lights.. So when we were messing with that remote we somehow turned the lights off and the wall switches wouldnt turn on the lights .. So we thought the switch or fuses bad.. Turned out it was the remote we didnt know would shut lights off.. lol Had to turn off at the remote then the darn switchs worked..

The only remote we have is for the CD/Radio! We don't have anything else that works from a remote. Thanks but I'll check that the next time I get to the unit which is now in storage.

Mo

[moshe1436]

Originally Posted by Jay2504

When you get a test light, get one with a bulb not a led. It will be cheaper and more useful in the long run. Also get some wire long enough to reach easily from the battery to the lights in question. First hook up tp the neg post and check wiring for power. Try to avoid piercings into the wires if possible by sticking the point at the Bach of exposed switches and twist locks ect. After checking for power move the wire to the. Pos side of the batt ( be careful and tape up where the test light hooks up to the wire so you can’t short anything to ground) and check if the ground wires will light up the light. If it lights up on the ground wire chances are the ground is good enough for the camper lights and you will know which wires are ground. Let us know what you find, pics if possible. Jay

Jay -- Finally can show you pics.

1st -- light over the bed
2nd -- light in storage driver side
3rd -- light in storage passenger side

I agree with getting a test light with a bulb (made one up myself years ago) with a piercing point that I used to probe the wires. The rest of your directions I will have to study so I understand what you're saying. Appreciate your time with this.

Hope the pics come through. My first time posting pic so let me know if they don't come through.

Mo

[CedarCreekWoody]

That last picture shows multiple wires connected to the black wire, looking like it feeds electricity to other lights. Check it out good with your test light.