Front exterior utility/cargo light dead

[JArry]

My clear light with switch on the front exterior wall of the trailer quit working. The LED bulb I installed a couple years ago worked at first and has seen minimal usage since then. Voltmeter shows no activity at the socket with switch on or off. Any ideas where to look first? The front interior ceiling light works, and its wires run down the front wall apparently on the same path as the exterior light.

[SeaDog]

trace backwards to the next light that works and pull the light assembly and check where the wires are tied together.

[Big Vic]

Every time this has happened to me it was the outside light switch failed due to corrosion.

[JArry]

Originally Posted by Big Vic

Every time this has happened to me it was the outside light switch failed due to corrosion.

Ahh, that seems an obvious check but I hadn't thought of it. I will test "before the switch" on a less drizzly (and even snowy) day than today.

[Road King Russ]

Any chance they are on a separate fuse?

[bikendan]

Mine went out also. Tested and discovered that the rocker switch was bad.

[JArry]

I sort of lucked into getting the light working, and currently (ha-ha) it will turn on and off. But in the process of testing today, I blew one 15-amp fuse, and I had blown the same one at some point a few days ago but wasn't sure when or why it happened at the time.

There seems to be a short with low voltage leakage somewhere in the fixture. I'm not sure where it originates, but I'm getting readings around four volts from certain contact points. I will have to spend some time on the Electrical sub-forum to gain some insight.

[pgandw]

Depending on where you are measuring, 4 volts would not be unusual on an LED array. The LED control circuitry feeds each LED between 2.5-4 volts, depending on LED color and other characteristics. LED control circuits need to limit the current, not the voltage, that flows through the LEDs. Too little current, and the LED doesn't light. Too much current, and the LED "pops", and the magic goes out with the smoke.

That said, LED control circuits on an RV or car are harder to design and make work because the DC voltage coming in can range from 10 to 15 volts. Compare this to your computer where the power supply regulates the voltage to 12V+/- less than 0.1 volts.

Unfortunately, FR used some pretty cheap LEDs with crappy control circuits when they first introduced LEDs into the A-frames. I had interior LED lamp failures on my 2014 A-frame - and that wasn't unusual. So far, my 2019 A-frame LEDs have all held up.

Of course, this doesn't solve your intermittent shorting problem. Probably slivers of stranded wire touching somewhere they shouldn't - at switches and terminations, sometime a "rub through" the insulation and touching the frame.

Fred W
2019 Flagstaff T21TBHW A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time

[JArry]

Yeah, now I'm kind of in an "out of sight, out of mind" mode, but I will need to do some investigating and see if there are any visible open strands, worn insulation, etc.

[cpttimerstraint]

When my step light wasn't working, it was the connector behind the microwave. The wire had come out of the crimp connector.