Spotlight works???

[Isuzusweet]

Four years ago when I first bought the Mistress, the PO never showed me how the spotlight worked; I tried to work it and nothing ever happened, no movement of the head, nothing, zip. I did remember asking about it and Brad suggested I checked the fuse behind the control panel first. I pulled the control panel and the fuse was just fine but no joy on the lamp.I put it down to one system that I would look at eventually.........

Four years later, Sauble Falls Provincial Park this morning and it's check out day and I found the coach without juice; starter just clicked. I after a quick scan of everything I find the converter not in charge mode so I manually set it to boost mode and continued my search for the reason the batteries are almost dead. As I walk around the front end of the coach I looked up to find the spotlamp on WTH! it works????? It turns out my daughter accidently knocked the spotlight switch to the down position. I switched off the lamp and after boosting the coach we set off home with my mind wandering how the motor worked and what it would take to get the spot head to move.

Tonight I turned the switch down and the spot came on; I moved the joystick and nothing moved. I turned the round knob to the right of the switch until it was all the way to the right and tried the joystick again; IT MOVED!!! I then moved the round knob back towards the left, nothing happened to the lamp but when I tried the joystick the spothead wouldn't move. I switched the toggle away from spot towards the top position for flood? No light but I can hear the head move when the round knob is in the fully right position.

I checked the manual but there are no instructions for spotlamp use. No explaination for the round knob, just that the toggle up is for flood and down for spot.

So my questions are:

What does the round knob do to the right of the center toggle and why does it interfere with lamp movement?

If the toggle is up for flood and I have no light, is that part of the dual filiment bulb out or could it be an electrical problem? Remember I do still have movement in the top position.

Cheers
Tony

[bkahler]

Tony, wish I could help but I don't know much about the spotlight units.

Here's one thread on the spotlight showing the controls.

One thing, I don't remember a knob that you could turn. It might help if you posted some pictures of your spotlight control panel, front and back.

Brad

[mehes]

Tony, I looked at mine, an 86 345. There is no knob, only the four way motion joystick, a three position spot, off, flood switch and a green pilot light to remind you the light is on. I looked in the manual for my year motor home and of course it doesn't match what I have. Nor does mine match what is in an 84 manual. Since we all have 'One of a Kind' units this should be expected. What I did surmise from all this is the following:

• The Orange wire goes to the Spot light
• The Grey wire goes to the Flood light
• The Yellow and Blue wires control the Left-Right motion
• The Green and Violet (Red and White in my Case) wires control the Up-Down motion

Perhaps someone played musical wires in the past and moved things around a bit. Hope this gives you a little more to go on and I hope my pictures get posted properly. I haven't posted many and not for quite a while so we'll see what happens.

[Isuzusweet]

Lance I have exactly what you have in your manual picture, but nowhere does it explain what the rotating knob does on the right side?

Cheers
Tony

[mehes]

Here's two more I should have uploaded. You can see the wire colors coming from the light unit all match except for the green-violet pair which I said seem to be red-white. Upon closer examination of the last picture it appears on my unit:

• Red is the Spotlight
• White is the Floodlight
• Yellow-Orange pair is for Left-Right motion
• Green-Blue pair is for Up-Down motion
• Grey wire is the 12 volt return from the Spot/Flood bulb

Glad I was able to make this all crystal clear. No telling what you may find but I'm sure it will be interesting in any event.

[mehes]

Perhaps the knob is purely for amusement.

[mehes]

I looked in both manuals and they make no mention of the knob function even thou it is clearly shown in their diagrams. Must be on of those 'Don't ever touch the red button' deals. Bad things may happen!

[Isuzusweet]

Originally Posted by mehes

I looked in both manuals and they make no mention of the knob function even thou it is clearly shown in their diagrams. Must be on of those 'Don't ever touch the red button' deals. Bad things may happen!

Yeah, I hear ya; stop playing with my knob.

I take inside pics tomorrow and try to make sense of the wiring.

Cheers
Tony

[Vycan]

I am going to bet it's a dimmer, (rheostat) and has developed corrosion with age making power throughput a challenge, thus if you disassemble/clean it will work.

[Isuzusweet]

I thought maybe it was a focus rheostat, but then you wouldn't need a spot and flood switch.

So if it's not a focus rheostat, what other spotlight operation would require a rheostat and why when only turning it a little to the left does it stop all operation of the spot lamp. It doesn't make sense.

Cheers
Tony

[bobmiller1]

Is it supposed to make sense ????? They were probably laughing when they installed it at the factory while smoking their canubus....saying ....let the customer try and figure this one out !!!!! LMAO!!!!! Regards, Bob

[Isuzusweet]

Originally Posted by bobmiller1

Is it supposed to make sense ????? They were probably laughing when they installed it at the factory while smoking their canubus....saying ....let the customer try and figure this one out !!!!! LMAO!!!!! Regards, Bob

From the all knowing, all seeing automotive electrical Airstream guru; I was hoping for bit more than "It'll make sense if you smoke a doobie"........

Thanks for the chuckle Bob.

Here's what I found. I did have a small black wire that seemed not to be attached to anything. The motor didn't work; however when I press the black wire to the body, the motor started working. I then inserted the black wire into the bullet connector with another black wire and the motor stayed working. The motor stops working however if the rheostat is turn anything off full right. I also accidently blew a fuse when trying to return the face plate back into the hole as the connections on the back of the motor joystick made contact with the body; so be careful.

Cheers
Tony

[Isuzusweet]

This week or so I'm going to pull the bulb and check the filaments.

Cheers
Tony

[mayco]

Tony, looks like we have the same control unit for our spotlights. Ive never messed with the round knob and assumed it was a rheostat. My controls all work as they should except when I tested the round knob this morning it didnt have any affect on the light. (or other functions of the switch) I tested the knob with the switch in all three positions and it had no affect on brightness of the light. Then I had Lynn observe the movement of the light with the knob turned all the way in both directions and still no affect on the movement of the light. (I was thinking that maybe it could be a rheostat controling the speed at which the light moved) From your picture it sure looks like the back of a rheostat.

Sooo whatever it is, it doesnt seem to have any affect on the movement or brightness of the light, on mine anyway. Like you said, the manual doesnt give any info on the knob control. Of course mine might be defective also but its not doing what you describe.

Not much help other than we know a couple more things it DOESNT seem to do.

Mike

[Isuzusweet]

A real head scratcher. If it has no effect of the light or movement thereof, why have a rheostat wired to the main toggle.

Maybe it was designed for deer poachers in states that didn't allow night hunting with an AR-15, and Mike's right; it controlled brightness so they wouldn't get caught.

Thanks Mike for clearing that up for me.

Mental picture of Mike's neighbours looking out their front window, wondering why Lynn is standing in front of the Airstream staring intently at the roof gesturing and shaking her head.

Cheers
Tony