Looking for speculation/opinions on what might be going on here....
It all started when the HW heater blew its fuse. I determined the cause and fixed it. Not having any spare fuses, I pulled a fuse from a spot marked "SPARE" in the panel. I suspected it wasn't really a spare because there was a red wire attached to the lug that disappeared into the wall. But, removing the fuse didn't really seem to affect anything - at least at first.
So I'm replacing my toilet. Another long, boring story about a project that should take 15 minutes but is dragging on into days. But I digress. While working in the RV I noticed that the lights were flickering and eventually went out. Upon closer inspection, the lights that were "out" were very dimly lit - they were getting a tiny bit of power from somewhere. The other light circuit - powering the other half of the RV - was fine. I unplugged the shore power and plugged it back in and everything was fine again.
Well, it did it again this morning so I thought about what might be different. That fuse. I yanked the fuse from the WH spot and touched it to the "SPARE" spot. All the lights turned back on. But get this - I didn't install the fuse - just touched the contacts momentarily. WTH? Because it was obvious that this fuse is of great importance to the balance of my lighting universe, I reinstalled it. But the question is - what is it powering that has this effect on just one lighting circuit?
Ideas?
It all started when the HW heater blew its fuse. I determined the cause and fixed it. Not having any spare fuses, I pulled a fuse from a spot marked "SPARE" in the panel. I suspected it wasn't really a spare because there was a red wire attached to the lug that disappeared into the wall. But, removing the fuse didn't really seem to affect anything - at least at first.
So I'm replacing my toilet. Another long, boring story about a project that should take 15 minutes but is dragging on into days. But I digress. While working in the RV I noticed that the lights were flickering and eventually went out. Upon closer inspection, the lights that were "out" were very dimly lit - they were getting a tiny bit of power from somewhere. The other light circuit - powering the other half of the RV - was fine. I unplugged the shore power and plugged it back in and everything was fine again.
Well, it did it again this morning so I thought about what might be different. That fuse. I yanked the fuse from the WH spot and touched it to the "SPARE" spot. All the lights turned back on. But get this - I didn't install the fuse - just touched the contacts momentarily. WTH? Because it was obvious that this fuse is of great importance to the balance of my lighting universe, I reinstalled it. But the question is - what is it powering that has this effect on just one lighting circuit?
Ideas?
wa8yxm wrote:
My guess is the "Spare" is not powering anything,,,,, it is ACCEPTING power from your converter.. Is it, per chance a 30 amp fuse?
Oh, and the key word in the above is: GUESS
It's a 20-amp fuse at the top of the panel. But the weird thing is that if I touch the fuse to the contacts (not install it) the lights come back on. I haven't figured out what the trigger is for them going back out. And, the real mystery is that only one light circuit goes out. All other circuits remain powered. And by "out" they're not completely out - just really dim.
It's an old-school fuse panel that looks a lot like the breaker panel in a house. Big black wires feed lugs that distribute the power to the fuse holders. There's a bar up the left side and the circuits are fed from the right side The red wire is definitely a "goes outta" not a "goes inna". It appears to have been added post-manufacture because all the other wires enter and exit through the ceiling. This one goes through the wall. I can't get to the other side of it because it goes between the closet and shower.
The curiosity is killing me but I have bigger fish to fry currently. I discovered the issue while replacing my toilet and the bathroom light went out. Still in the middle of that job.
