Possible faulty fuse or short in lights? HELP!!

[chuman70]

I got no replies to this thread in the lighting forum, so I thought I'd try it here.



On my 74 Tradewind, the bathroom and 3-way ceiling light in the 2 twin bed bedroom are not working. It just happened over this weekend as we camped last weekend and all the lights worked fine. The other two ceiling lights are working fine and the reading lights above the twin beds are working fine. Does anyone know if these are on a fuse and if so, where do I find it to replace them? I figured that I might have some blown bulbs, but I doubt all 6 in the ceiling fixture and all 3 in the bath would all blow at the same time. Any ideas/solutions?

[Ganglin]

Hi,

Do you not have a fuse block at or near the Univolt or whatever brand converter you have in the trailer. Although, that seems like a very light load on one fuse....

[chuman70]

I don't know. It is very dark in that little univolt cave and I haven't really had much time to do any work on it searching. I agree about that being a light load on just one fuse, but all the other lights work fine Just those 2 are out. We just got our camper fixed up to a useable state 4 weeks ago and have been camping 3 out of the last 4 weekends. I work full time and have not had the time or will to work on it in the evenings with the 100+ degree temps and HIGH humidity we've been having here for the last week or so. I was hoping someone else might have ahd this problem and it was easily diagnosed. If it is a short, I may never find it.

[Ganglin]

Check for a fuse panel at the Univolt. If it's not a fuse we can walk you through finding the short - it won't be that bad - just time consuming. You'll need a cheap continuity tester and some length of small guage wire to find a short.

[chuman70]

OK. Cool! I'll check it out tonight and get back to you this evening or tomorrow.
Thanks!
Matt

[Ganglin]

OK - looking at the wiring diagram for your model from the 1972 manual. Not as light a load as thought on that circuit. For 72 it shows the bath light, bath fan, 12 volt outlet and first ceiling light from the rear on one fuse. 99.9% sure it's the fuse that's bad. Manual shows it to be a 20 amp. fuse. Good luck.....

[overlander63]

And if it's not a fuse, it could be that three way switch is bad. I've had two of them give me problems at the same time, you could have the same issue.

[aturner4u]

Was it a fuse? We currently are having a problem where several of our lights are not working. They worked fine and then we pulled in from a trip and noticed the lights weren't working. The fuses looked okay but we didn't investigate too much since it was 100 degrees outside. We will look at it further next week but would like to learn from your experience.

[john hd]

more often then not you folks with original univolts will find the fuse fine BUT the rivets holding the fuse holder have loosened up.

turn the circuit on and wiggle the fuse holder with a pencil, if you find the lights flicker re rivet the fuse holder.

john

[peegreen]

On my '74 Tradewind, the trailer was divided into 3 DC circuits. Provided a PO didn't make any radical changes, the distribution was quite simple. One circuit was for all forward lights, 12v fans etc; the second was for mid coach and the third for the bath. The fuses are behind the metal access door on the Univolt. Get down low on your knees with a flashlight, one fuse (I think for the foward circuits) is in the upper portion of the fuse block and can be easily missed.

[vswingfield]

Originally Posted by overlander63

And if it's not a fuse, it could be that three way switch is bad. I've had two of them give me problems at the same time, you could have the same issue.

Good call, Terry,

I have had at least 4 go bad over the years in the Trade Wind.

Vaughan

[DreamStreamr]

Ganglin,
You wrote "Check for a fuse panel at the Univolt. If it's not a fuse we can walk you through finding the short - it won't be that bad - just time consuming. You'll need a cheap continuity tester and some length of small guage wire to find a short."

I need help locating and correcting short in my 2005 International 25. The short blows 12v circuit #2's fuse when I turn on any of several of the lights on that circuit. I used ohmmeter and continuity tester, think I have it narrowed down to a twelve foot section from the bottom of the fridge cabinet to the curbside roof. I am am praying it is in the fridge cabinet and not above the ceiling or under the floor. Or, I'm afraid I must have drilled into it mounting solar panels on roof aft of the a/c unit. That would narrow it down to eight chances of which the four forward holes seem most likely.

What does the length of small gauge wire do? I would love to be able to further narrow down the fault location and go after it.

Jim