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Bath Overhead Light Problem 22' Sport
In the 22' Sport the bath overhead light is controlled by two separate switches.
The wall switch resides beside the water-heater on/off switch-and-indicator. This wall switch supplies power to the overhead fixture, a common, plastic RV-type fixture which has two lamps, and which has a 3-position sliding switch. (Off/1-lamp ON/Both On).
While preparing the coach for an upcoming trip I noticed the bath ovhd light is inoperative regardless of switch positions. Checking the lamps proves they are good. Removing the 4 sheet-metal mounting screws drops the fixture from the ceiling and allows checking for current at the terminals/wires.
The wires are color-coded WHITE (Ground) and Blue/Black (power) at the fixture. The white ground conductor checks good for continuity to the metal coach ceiling.
But the blue/black conductor has no voltage supplied regardless of all switches being in the "ON" position.
Removing the switch from the wall requires a phillips screwdriver. Using a meter, voltage was available at the wall switch on it's supply-side (a solid dark-blue wire), and the switch properly sent the voltage on to the blue/black conductor which supplies the overhead fixture. This meant that the wall switch itself was good...but a "break" occurred in the blue/black conductor between the wall switch and the ovhd fixture.
Since the walls are solid, riveted aluminum panels I did not relish the task of locating the break, ... but Providence came through for me.
Why Airstream routed these wires as they did is a mystery but... here's what I found.
Instead of the blue/black wire proceeding from the wall switch directly up/overhead to the light fixture.... AS sends that blue/black supply wire back DOWN the wall to the main wire-loom beneath the wardrobe floor. (If you've never seen below your 22' Sport wardrobe floor, be prepared for a disappointment. It's a spaghetti-bowl down there. For a guy who paid his way thru college and flight school working as a new car dealer mechanic, and later as an aircraft mechanic, and having worked as a construction-site electrician for the IBEW, I thought a high-end RV like an Airstream must surely have an organized electrical system. They do. On paper only.
The electrical schematics are available for free download from the AS website. Fortunately the color codes and schematics are fairly helpful once one learns to decipher them. But that knowledge is completely wasted when observing how careless and sloppy the installers are who build these things. There is little logic in how they throw the wires into a hidden space and close 'er up.)
Anyway, ... the wardrobe floorboard simply lifts up and out of the way revealing the mess below. After a long time spent perusing and sorting thru all the wires I finally located a harness-among-many which had a 4-way male/female connector and also a blue/black wire passing thru it.
This connector is where AS sends the current FROM the wall switch...down into the bowels of below the wardrobe....thru the 4-way connector and then right back UP thru the wall to the overhead fixture. THIS CONNECTOR was the problem. It had a defective male/female tooth/socket which was slightly loose. "Jiggling" the connector would intermittently illuminate the ovhd fixture.
Pulling the connector apart, inspecting and adjusting the mating surfaces of the connector, then providing a small "dab" of electrical-grease (Ox-gard brand) to stave-off future corrosion, and then firmly reseating the connector "did the trick".
Hope this long-winded description helps encourage those of you who find yourselves in a similar predicament. There is a "WHOLE NEW WORLD" below that wardrobe, and it's quite disorganized unfortunately. When I win the lottery and buy out Airstream, I plan to whip the electricians up there in Jackson into shape and teach them to make their work-product "pretty" as well as functional.
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