roof clearance lights

[B_B_Upch]

I'm trying to change out my clearance light on the roof of my 96 allegro bay. It is leaking & when I checked it the base is busted so no quick fix. It needs to be replaced. The only problem is that it seems to screw in from the bottom? There is a thick washer & then a small washer that seems to hold the screw in? Ant clue on how to get these lights off? Or do I have to take apart my ceiling inside the rv to get them off? Thanks

[Dutch_12078]

BigRabbitMan wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:

BigRabbitMan wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:

B.B.Upch wrote:
OK so I figured out how to get the old ones off & I got the new ones in the mail.
New problem
The old ones have 2 wires (black & white) &
The new onea have 1 black wire.
An suggestions on how to wire them in? Thanks

One of the mounting holes has the ground wire attached to it. Crimp or solder a ring terminal on the coach ground (white) wire and secure it under the ground mounting screw. Or cut the wire loose and connect it directly to the coach ground.

The white or ground wire is not necessarily attached to one of the mounting holes. Mine does NOT. I am in the same process. My old lights have both wires attached to the light itself.

That metal bodied fixture is grounded by the mounting screws when attached to grounded metal surface, just as it is when the ground is on a metal eyelet that the mounting screw passes through on a plastic body. The same method of attaching a ring terminal to the ground wire and putting under the mounting screw will work in either case.

Except that with a foam gasket between the light metal body and the fiberglass coach body, the probability of losing that ground connection is much greater than if the ground wire is soldered or directly attached to the light's metal body. Should the foam soften or shrink over time, the connection relying on a ring terminal being press up against the metal body of the light fixture is asking for early failure.

I agree, direct wired/soldered is better if you have that capability...

[BigRabbitMan]

Dutch_12078 wrote:

BigRabbitMan wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:

B.B.Upch wrote:
OK so I figured out how to get the old ones off & I got the new ones in the mail.
New problem
The old ones have 2 wires (black & white) &
The new onea have 1 black wire.
An suggestions on how to wire them in? Thanks

One of the mounting holes has the ground wire attached to it. Crimp or solder a ring terminal on the coach ground (white) wire and secure it under the ground mounting screw. Or cut the wire loose and connect it directly to the coach ground.

The white or ground wire is not necessarily attached to one of the mounting holes. Mine does NOT. I am in the same process. My old lights have both wires attached to the light itself.

That metal bodied fixture is grounded by the mounting screws when attached to grounded metal surface, just as it is when the ground is on a metal eyelet that the mounting screw passes through on a plastic body. The same method of attaching a ring terminal to the ground wire and putting under the mounting screw will work in either case.

Except that with a foam gasket between the light metal body and the fiberglass coach body, the probability of losing that ground connection is much greater than if the ground wire is soldered or directly attached to the light's metal body. Should the foam soften or shrink over time, the connection relying on a ring terminal being press up against the metal body of the light fixture is asking for early failure.

[Dutch_12078]

BigRabbitMan wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:

B.B.Upch wrote:
OK so I figured out how to get the old ones off & I got the new ones in the mail.
New problem
The old ones have 2 wires (black & white) &
The new onea have 1 black wire.
An suggestions on how to wire them in? Thanks

One of the mounting holes has the ground wire attached to it. Crimp or solder a ring terminal on the coach ground (white) wire and secure it under the ground mounting screw. Or cut the wire loose and connect it directly to the coach ground.

The white or ground wire is not necessarily attached to one of the mounting holes. Mine does NOT. I am in the same process. My old lights have both wires attached to the light itself.

That metal bodied fixture is grounded by the mounting screws when attached to grounded metal surface, just as it is when the ground is on a metal eyelet that the mounting screw passes through on a plastic body. The same method of attaching a ring terminal to the ground wire and putting under the mounting screw will work in either case.

[rgatijnet1]

B.B.Upch wrote:
OK so I figured out how to get the old ones off & I got the new ones in the mail.
New problem
The old ones have 2 wires (black & white) &
The new onea have 1 black wire.
An suggestions on how to wire them in? Thanks

That is why I mentioned to get the TWO wire replacement lights back on page one of this topic. Since these will be mounted on the fiberglass portion of your coach, you do not have the ground available like you have with a steel vehicle surface. You will now have to fabricate some type of a wire connection between the ground wire on your coach to a location on your light fixture that will act as the ground. The black hot wire will hook up to the 12 volt connection.

[BigRabbitMan]

Dutch_12078 wrote:

B.B.Upch wrote:
OK so I figured out how to get the old ones off & I got the new ones in the mail.
New problem
The old ones have 2 wires (black & white) &
The new onea have 1 black wire.
An suggestions on how to wire them in? Thanks

One of the mounting holes has the ground wire attached to it. Crimp or solder a ring terminal on the coach ground (white) wire and secure it under the ground mounting screw. Or cut the wire loose and connect it directly to the coach ground.

The white or ground wire is not necessarily attached to one of the mounting holes. Mine does NOT. I am in the same process. My old lights have both wires attached to the light itself. I am in the process of attaching a second wire to the body (metal) of my lights. You can do the same if yours have a metal body. If not, you will have to find a spot to solder/attach the second ground wire to the light socket. The reason some of the lights only have one wire is that it is anticipated that the light will be attached to the metal cab of a truck and not a fiberglass cab or body.

Caution: do NOT let one of the wires fall back into the body of the coach. When you clip the wires loose from your existing lights, put tape around them and tape then to the roof so that they don't disappear into a "black hole".

[Dutch_12078]

B.B.Upch wrote:
OK so I figured out how to get the old ones off & I got the new ones in the mail.
New problem
The old ones have 2 wires (black & white) &
The new onea have 1 black wire.
An suggestions on how to wire them in? Thanks

One of the mounting holes has the ground wire attached to it. Crimp or solder a ring terminal on the coach ground (white) wire and secure it under the ground mounting screw. Or cut the wire loose and connect it directly to the coach ground.

[B_B_Upch]

OK so I figured out how to get the old ones off & I got the new ones in the mail.
New problem
The old ones have 2 wires (black & white) &
The new onea have 1 black wire.
An suggestions on how to wire them in? Thanks

[D_E_Bishop]

Just saw your request for where to buy the trifold blind rivets, I get mine at a RV surplus and salvage place but they are available online and at various stores like, Fastenal. It would be best to do a search on Google(or your favorite search engine) for trifold blind rivets or pop rivets.

I'm not sure about drill size for drilling the rivets out but there may be a piece of the shaft that goes thru the rivet still inside the shank of the rivet. Sometimes you can drive those out with a pin punch, sometimes not. A I/8" rivet uses a #30 or 1/8" drill bit there are several sizes of rivits and naturally they used sifferent size drill bits. I sometimes use my dremel tool to cut the head and sometimes, like in soft plastic I use a small hole saw intended for removing broken screws from wood. You just have to be careful not to damage the skin of the MoHo.

[dougrainer]

B.B.Upch wrote:
Awesome thanks for all the good info. Now that hall know what they are can u please tell me how the heck to get them out lol?
& what I can go back with? & where I can get them? Thanks a ton. Would like to get this done before the rain sunday

You drill them out like regular rivets. Doug

[B_B_Upch]

Awesome thanks for all the good info. Now that hall know what they are can u please tell me how the heck to get them out lol?
& what I can go back with? & where I can get them? Thanks a ton. Would like to get this done before the rain sunday

[dougrainer]

http://s16.photobucket.com/user/apalach/media/2ndPull1541.jpg.html

[dougrainer]

That is just an expandable rivet. Yes, now that you show the Teardrop style clearance light, that is how Tiffin installed them. I thought you had the older Bargman rectangular lights. That is what confused me. Doug

[D_E_Bishop]

rgatijnet1 wrote:
It is similar to a Rivnut but I don't remember seeing a Rivnut that is split. I know there are Rivnuts with a floating nut plate.

You are quite right regarding a Rivnut. You are also right about the trifold poprivets not leaving behind a threaded nut. However the molly jack nut can be installed using a tool that looks exactly like a wellnut or rivnut tool.

It's mainly a matter of who calls each of the other blind rivits.

Here is a link for the Jack nut which is in effect a trifold rivet.link

[rgatijnet1]

It is similar to a Rivnut but I don't remember seeing a Rivnut that is split. I know there are Rivnuts with a floating nut plate.