Roadtrek 190. Electrical issue behind shower

[jderrick]

Hi folks. I have a 1991 roadtrek 190 independent.

The layout is similar to the top picture here

There is a light above the cargo door, and a light outside the shower. These lights come on and off randomly. The light above the bed on the same side is ok. If I push on the right side of the wooden panel in the top of the toilet compartment, I can cause the 2 lights to come and go.

The shower looks similar to this (Not my picture)

And the 'point' where I can press is behind the towels in that picture

From what I can tell, I have a break in the 12V wire running behind the shower.

Is there an easy way to remove the back wall of the shower to get to the electrical here? If I cut the silicone lining the back will I be able to pry it off?

[jderrick]

Thanks you for the suggestion. I contacted Roadtrek and they were helpful.

They suggested I cut the panel in the bathroom to get at the wiring behind. I did that and was able to get to the broken link. I had to pull out the splice from behind the shower, but I was able to get to it completely.

Unwrapping the splice I found the problem right away. The scotch lock quick splice had worked itself out. My best guess is that being wedged between the chassis and the shower wall had done it over the 23 years, as well as heat and plastic depolymerization.

I stripped off some insulation from both wires, wedged the single-ended wire through the main, and soldered it up as a 'better' splice. Then taped it up and reassembled. The Roadtrek team suggested I add another panel to cover the cut. I may do that eventually, but for now it doesn't look too bad

This is just after removing the panel. I used a utility knife as suggested by Roadtrek. I was extremely nervous that there were other wires I would have cut, but the ones at the top were behind the insulation, and the offending taped splice at the bottom was behind where I ripped the panel off at the bottom.

Here's a picture of the scotch lock. You can see it's pretty mangled

Reassembled. I put a piece of tape behind the cut so that it would block the light from through the fiberglass

[TinyoneRV]

You might try contacting Roadtrek with your VIN number and see if they can tell you how the system is wired. Might help your troubleshooting.

[jderrick]

Some more pics:

In this picture the wiring at the top goes to a light. The wiring underneath the fabric goes back behind the center of the shower and presumably connects behind the shower

In this picture I've removed some of the parts of the bathroom. The chassis can be seen which is used to hold wiring for the water pump. The wooden panel on the back actually extends behind the shower and all the way to the cabinets above the bed. I've tried removing all the screws visible here and above the bed, and sliding this panel out, but it wouldn't budge. Guessing there's a few screws behind the shower. Just below the panel on the right, you can also see here that there is a black-taped wire bundle that seems to go behind the shower. The point I can press is a bit above this black-taped bundle.

Here's another picture