Lights go on & off ???

shinybean · 11-26-2006, 08:41 PM

Okay, I had something a little strange happen today. I was working in my AS with the AC power connected. I had been working for about 2 or 3 hours, when all of the lights inside turned off by themselves. Then they came back on, but started turning off and back on about every 15-20 seconds. Each time they turned off and back on, I heard a clicking sound coming from the voltage converter area. I just purchased the trailer (my first), and it does have a battery connected, but it is dead. Has anyone ever had this problem? Thanks!

steelbird312 · 11-26-2006, 09:57 PM

Shineybean,
What you have is a circuit breaker in the circuit, and, instead of burning up a lot of fuses, it is cycling on and off; much like a flasher does on your turn signals on your TV.
Actually, since it took a while to happen, I would be prone to looking for a light or outlet that has too much resistance, thereby causing the breaker to trip after the resistance caused enough heat to up the amperage used. It is actually possible that the only problem
is a loose conection.
Good luck,

Fyrzowt · 11-26-2006, 10:32 PM

Good reply, in addition - how much current are you using? Heavy tools? Many lights? Is there an overload where the breaker is tripping normally as it is designed, or might it be a defective breaker?
There may be a variety of causes, and you may get other replies with more ideas. Good luck with it.
Dave

klattu · 11-26-2006, 11:42 PM

Oh cool!
You have a ghost!

HowieE · 11-27-2006, 07:05 AM

With a dead battery and ALL the lights on in the trailer the convertor is being asked to do too much and blowing the circuit breaker. Convertors are battery charger and not designed to run sustained loads without a battery in the circuit as the main current source. Install a battery and have it charged before you attempt to have such a load on the convertor.
If you don't want to install a battery now consider using houeshold, 110 volt, light during you work.

Lumatic · 11-27-2006, 06:47 PM

I had an occassional problem in my 73 Sovereign. About 3am the middle ceiling light would turn itself on. My battery would also seem to mysteriously go dead without warning and then come back to life. Even more mysterious this appeared to be related to the light above the sink/stove area. Rather than a forest gremlin it appears to be related to a faulty rocker switch on the sink/stove light. I have not yet replaced the switch but diconnected it and have not yet have repeat problems.

shinybean · 11-27-2006, 09:45 PM

Thanks for the tips so far. As soon as I get a chance, I'll check those things out. To answer some of the questions:

> I had all of the interior lights on. (Those small little bulbs are just so darn dim, I need all of them on to even get a little light in there...)
> I did not have the heat or air running. I assume the fridge was running though. (Original fridge, and I did not have gas connected to the trailer).
> I did run the shop vac for a couple of minutes at a time here and there.
> I also had a work light (garage type, hang-up light with a cage around a 75 watt bulb) turned on most of the time.

Does the household 110V light use less power than the interior lights? The bulbs that I have in my AS are the #1141 automotive light bulbs. (I have a 1969 25' Tradewind) It just doesn't seem like these would consume enough power to make this happen. But, like I said, I'm still learning...

Thanks again for the tips!