FIve lights out at once

[wayneandylarson]

Last Saturday morning we notice that five SATCO 10W/12V ceiling lights stopped working during the night. We were at a nice campground with 50 Amp service. We have rarely replaced one bulb much less five. All other electrical systems were fine. The dead bulbs were in the front and back of the rig. A couple bulbs in both areas still worked. Was this just bad luck? Thoughts? Theories? Thanks in advance.

[wayneandylarson]

RoyB wrote:
I agree with you having five lights go out at the same time is very suspicious.

I went looking on GOOGLE SEARCH for your SATCO 10W/12V ceiling lights to see if I could find a DC VOLTAGE operating range and could only come up with 12V. Even AMAZON which is always pretty good with their product description only listed it as 12V.

Alot of lights will have a DC VOLTAGE range of 9V-30V and maybe even just 12V-14V like my LED PANEL BOARDS do... Even AUTOMOTIVE type bulbs should list a DC OPERATING VOLTAGE RANGE in their specs...

My on-board CONVERTER/CHARGER unit PD9260C when connected to SHORE POWER for a long period of time will do a "EQUALIZE MODE 14.4VDC EVERY 21 HOURS FOR A PERIOD OF 15 MINUTES TO PREVENT BATTERY STRATIFICATION" On some different CONVERTER/CHARGER manufacturers this DC VOLTAGE may be as high as 15.5VDC. If your lights are borderline on their DC VOLTAGE OPERATING RANGE this may be what happened... Of course only the lights that were turned ON would be affected...

Most often however DC POWER SURGES is closely associated with a shorted BATTERY CELL and the on-board CONVERTER/CHARGER is trying to compensate for the shorted battery. The battery that has a shorted core will gas out with a real bad smell and the battery case will get very hot. If being continuously charged they could even explode on you. You might want to check your battery fluids and look around the battery to see if you see signs of fluids around the case. A fully charged battery will measure across its terminals into an open circuit 12.6-7VDC. It has been my case that a shorted battery cell will only read 5-6VDC across its terminals into an open circuit.

Another thing to check is CONVERTER/CHARGER unit. Your 2008 model may only have a standard constant DC VOLTAGE type unit installed that only puts out 13.6VDC. If this is what you have then you would be wise to replace it for a good working (NOT WFCO) SMART MODE multiple charge mode converter/charger unit. These units will almost take care of your batteries automatically. Progressive Dynamics and IOTA are great models to use with great reviews.

Most RV UNITS come out with the WFCO Converter/Charger units which no one can seem to get them to go into SMART MODE charging. That was my case at least... I changed out my WFCO converter unit only for the PD9260C 60AMP unit just a few months after I purchase my trailer in 2008 when I lost one of my batteries due to an internal cell shorted out..

Just a couple of things to check on...

Roy Ken

Thanks for the insights. I will check the house batteries when I return home on Thursday and report back the findings.

[RoyB]

I agree with you having five lights go out at the same time is very suspicious.

I went looking on GOOGLE SEARCH for your SATCO 10W/12V ceiling lights to see if I could find a DC VOLTAGE operating range and could only come up with 12V. Even AMAZON which is always pretty good with their product description only listed it as 12V.

Alot of lights will have a DC VOLTAGE range of 9V-30V and maybe even just 12V-14V like my LED PANEL BOARDS do... Even AUTOMOTIVE type bulbs should list a DC OPERATING VOLTAGE RANGE in their specs...

My on-board CONVERTER/CHARGER unit PD9260C when connected to SHORE POWER for a long period of time will do a "EQUALIZE MODE 14.4VDC EVERY 21 HOURS FOR A PERIOD OF 15 MINUTES TO PREVENT BATTERY STRATIFICATION" On some different CONVERTER/CHARGER manufacturers this DC VOLTAGE may be as high as 15.5VDC. If your lights are borderline on their DC VOLTAGE OPERATING RANGE this may be what happened... Of course only the lights that were turned ON would be affected...

Most often however DC POWER SURGES is closely associated with a shorted BATTERY CELL and the on-board CONVERTER/CHARGER is trying to compensate for the shorted battery. The battery that has a shorted core will gas out with a real bad smell and the battery case will get very hot. If being continuously charged they could even explode on you. You might want to check your battery fluids and look around the battery to see if you see signs of fluids around the case. A fully charged battery will measure across its terminals into an open circuit 12.6-7VDC. It has been my case that a shorted battery cell will only read 5-6VDC across its terminals into an open circuit.

Another thing to check is CONVERTER/CHARGER unit. Your 2008 model may only have a standard constant DC VOLTAGE type unit installed that only puts out 13.6VDC. If this is what you have then you would be wise to replace it for a good working (NOT WFCO) SMART MODE multiple charge mode converter/charger unit. These units will almost take care of your batteries automatically. Progressive Dynamics and IOTA are great models to use with great reviews.

Most RV UNITS come out with the WFCO Converter/Charger units which no one can seem to get them to go into SMART MODE charging. That was my case at least... I changed out my WFCO converter unit only for the PD9260C 60AMP unit just a few months after I purchase my trailer in 2008 when I lost one of my batteries due to an internal cell shorted out..

Just a couple of things to check on...

Roy Ken

[DrewE]

Are the lights all on the same switch and hence on at the same time?

Light bulbs that operate together do tend to burn out around the same time. Possibly there was a somewhat higher voltage than usual, and the bulbs were all old and nearing the end of their life, and that put them over the edge.

If the lights work fine with new bulbs, I wouldn't worry too much about it unless the new bulbs also start dropping like flies.

[dave17352]

Have you checked the bulbs to make sure they are burnt out? Maybe a fuse or a broken wire.