Puzzler for you electrical gurus....
A year ago I bought a 12v LED light strip (18" long) and mounted in the van I use an another RV. I like it so much I bought a couple more of them to use to mount in my Bigfoot pictured below. These ...
Forum Discussion
HMS Beagle wrote:
It is possible that it considers 13.4V to be over voltage...
I'm with this answer. Light emitting diodes are VERY sensitive to voltage. White LEDs themselves operate from 2.9 - 4.2 volts (source: Wikipedia). They do not run at the voltage your camper runs at. They are not like incandescent bulbs which can run at a wide range of voltages (though too high of a voltage causes a short life). Connecting an LED (just an LED, not a 'LED bulb') to 12V power will immediately burn it out.
That is why LEDs have been so difficult to get into the marketplace. Our home fixtures run at 120V AC, and automotive (including campers) are all over the board from 10V to 15V at the extremes. Within each bulb is technology to adjust the voltage so that the LED is happy with the voltage it receives.
If that technology is good, then an under/over voltage will shut off the power to prevent damage to the LEDs. If it is cheap technology, then it will allow a shift in supply voltage to exceed the capabilities of the LED and damage it. And that is the reason why some of the LEDs on my camper bulbs have gone dark - I bought the cheap ones!
For the OP, I think the charging voltage it too high for the LED bulb to handle, so it is shutting itself off to protect its LEDs from an over voltage. The on-battery voltage is within spec, however. See if your battery charger has different power modes. Mine has a 'quick charge mode' and a 'maintenance mode'. Switching between them changes the voltage reading of the 12V circuits. I'll bet plugged in, set to maintenance mode will do the trick.
HTH,
-Eric
