manual

[bpyaroslaw]

I have a 1979 dodge ram 200 360 Class B motor home. My electrical lights for inside of camper have shorted and thus have no dome lights. Connections come from the reserve battery.Tec says they would need to remove all interior wiring to fine the problem, and costly, so need a manual. Or where can I get one?

[Grit_dog]

Bummer dude, but a camper almost as old as I am, I wouldn't know where to find a manual. However, you can find basic 12V electrical schematics and put 2+2 together to apply to your situation.
Get a multimeter and some extra wire, couple alligator clips maybe and start tracing the problem. Lights are either daisy chained from the same switch or from separate switches.
Start at the fuse panel find the light circuit(s). CHeck fuse, check power to the circuit. Go to switch, check power in and out of switch.Go to first light, check same. Find bad leg, check continuity to see which wire.
A manual won't help you out anyway except maybe to identify which fuse is for the lights if that's not marked.
This is basic 12V electrical troubleshooting.
You can do it with some research. And the tech is an idiot. Fishing wires through RV walls is already tricky. Certainly don't want to do more of that than necessary. Plus you'd never know where the problem is, if you havent done the troubleshooting first.
Could be a connection, switch, blown fuse, loose ground, bad light bulb receptacle and not necessarily the wire.

Good luck man!

[ksg5000]

Matt_Colie wrote:
BP,

As a Class B is basically a camper built inside a van shell, the dome lights may OR may not be OE. That much is just a crapshoot. If you can get that manual, it may indicate where the wiring is/was supposed to run. Don't count on it.

If it is shorted, it is blowing fuses. If this is true, I suggest that you connect test leads to a light bulb and watch it as you take apart every bit of the system you can fine. When that light goes out, you located the problem.

I had an issue like this that an owner asked me to look at. The above method was no help at all. So, I got out a wire tracker that puts a signal on the wire and you follow it with a hand held receiver. First I tracked from the power end and put a piece of tape where I lost the signal. Then the same from the nearest fixure....
Between those two was a hook that someone had screwed in. When it was removed, so was the short. They had nailed the wire.

Matt

x2. The old Dodge Van's had pretty simple electrical setup. My tenant had 79 Dodge Camper Van and I think the only electrical stuff was a couple of overhead lights and maybe a battery isolator in the engine compartment.

[Matt_Colie]

BP,

As a Class B is basically a camper built inside a van shell, the dome lights may OR may not be OE. That much is just a crapshoot. If you can get that manual, it may indicate where the wiring is/was supposed to run. Don't count on it.

If it is shorted, it is blowing fuses. If this is true, I suggest that you connect test leads to a light bulb and watch it as you take apart every bit of the system you can fine. When that light goes out, you located the problem.

I had an issue like this that an owner asked me to look at. The above method was no help at all. So, I got out a wire tracker that puts a signal on the wire and you follow it with a hand held receiver. First I tracked from the power end and put a piece of tape where I lost the signal. Then the same from the nearest fixure....
Between those two was a hook that someone had screwed in. When it was removed, so was the short. They had nailed the wire.

Matt

[bikendan]

bpyaroslaw wrote:
I have a 1979 dodge ram 200 360 Class B motor home. My electrical lights for inside of camper have shorted and thus have no dome lights. Connections come from the reserve battery.Tec says they would need to remove all interior wiring to fine the problem, and costly, so need a manual. Or where can I get one?

how is anyone going to help with a manual for the camper part, if you don't even post what brand and model of motorhome?
all you've given is the year and make of chassis and engine.

[Admin]

Clicky
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Admin
RV.net

[BarabooBob]

Even if you do find a manual, you will find that it isn't worth the paper it is printed on. You will probably not find a schematic.

[Lwiddis]

Bad news...I don’t think you will locate a manual. FORTY years old.

[enblethen]

Going to be hard to find the manual.
I would remove all the light bulbs from the fixtures. I am guessing that one of the lamps is the incorrect configuration for the socket. Look inside the socket to see how many small "dipples" there are. The lamps have to match that configuration.

[Lynnmor]

bpyaroslaw wrote:
I have a 1979 dodge ram 200 360 Class B motor home. My electrical lights for inside of camper have shorted and thus have no dome lights. Connections come from the reserve battery.Tec says they would need to remove all interior wiring to fine the problem, and costly, so need a manual. Or where can I get one?

I doubt that you will find a manual, what I do think you need is a technician that doesn't want to gut the wiring and will only fix the problem.