I bought my first popup camper back in late January (2005 Coleman Utah). I checked EVERYTHING out before purchasing and all was well. Before bringing it on its first trip, I popped it up in the driveway for a few sleepovers for the kids. One of these sleepovers, I noticed that the lights, when turned on, suddenly stopped working. While I walked to the other side of the camper to check what was going on, the lights fired back up. I'm thinking.... hmmm... is there some sort of electrical short that is occurring when I'm walking? So I jumped up and down and noticed that the lights went on and off while I jumped. Anyway, I left it alone, the lights decided to stay on, and all was good for the next few sleepovers and camping trips............ until this last weekend. The two ceiling lights would not turn on when we got to our camp site, and no amount of walking and jumping up and down in the camper would make them turn on. All other electrical items function correctly (outside light works, water pump works, battery status light works, storage box light works, etc)... which again points to some sort of electrical short. I checked the fuses, and all are intact, and also replaced the bulbs; still, they are not working. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I could start searching for a common failure point? It seems it would be a bit difficult to locate, no? Just curious if anyone has any suggestions. Thanks in advance!

You have a poor connection, not a "short circuit"A short circuit is when the pos and neg wires touch each other where their not supposed to, and in turn will blow a fuse.Look for a poor connection at the main fuse panel, or the lite switch, or at the lite fixture itself.

There must be a loose connection at the switch by the sound of it.

It could be the fixtures themselves. I'm assuming they are 12 volt lights. We have had to replace a couple of those fixtures because they just didn't work right anymore. Your symptoms are what we also had prior to them just not working at all.

Not a short as that would blow a fuse. You have an intermittent open circuit.Popups sometimes have some kind of switch to prevent the overhead lights from working with the top down. The Palomino my in-laws had used a plunger switch under the flip-over sink. Sometimes the sink would land on something and not fully push the switch.It’s also possibly just a loose or broken wire since the wires to the ceiling lights have to move up and down with the top.Looks like Coleman uses the galley kill switch.

like it has been saidyou have a loose//missing connectionnot a short, a short will blow fuses,burn wires, stat fires etc..maybe this will help you rememberif you take a short cut to your favorite 'watering hole'you take a different route to get there fastera short circuit is a faster way for power to get back to the other side aka complete the path to battery / groundif you can't get to your watering hole because the street is blockedthat is the same thing as a loose connection, power can't get where it needs to godont worry we get a lot of people that ask about 'short circuits'when its a bad/loose connection problema short is electricity going someplace its not suppose to aka working too hard too fast getting something HOT,no electricity is like a clogged water line

Inside ceiling lights not working - do I have a short?

funperro
Explorer
Jul 10, 2018
4x4van wrote:
funperro wrote:
...the lights, when turned on, suddenly stopped working. ...the lights fired back up. ...I jumped up and down and noticed that the lights went on and off while I jumped. ...I left it alone, the lights decided to stay on, and all was good ...until this last weekend. ...no amount of walking and jumping up and down in the camper would make them turn on.
And yet, amazingly, they didn't fix themselves. :S

Yeah weird I know. Why can't everything be as easy as just jumping up and down a few tines.... Ha! In all honesty, I knew it would bite me in the ass (not fixing it just then) but the reality of the level of busyness that comes with being a dad to 4 young kids just made me decide to ignore it to focus on the thousand other things always going on in the house! Lol
4x4van
Explorer III
Jul 10, 2018
funperro wrote:
...the lights, when turned on, suddenly stopped working. ...the lights fired back up. ...I jumped up and down and noticed that the lights went on and off while I jumped. ...I left it alone, the lights decided to stay on, and all was good ...until this last weekend. ...no amount of walking and jumping up and down in the camper would make them turn on.
And yet, amazingly, they didn't fix themselves. :S
funperro
Explorer
Jul 10, 2018
wnjj wrote:
funperro wrote:
SoundGuy wrote:
funperro wrote:
I'll update everyone on whether the switch fixed the problem. Oh, which reminds me, where can I find one of these switches to purchase?

It's just a momentary on rocker switch but since Coleman / Fleetwood Folding Trailers / FTCA has been out of business since 2011 original parts for these trailers can be difficult to find. :( In this case though here's ***Link Removed*** you want.

Excellent find, thanks for digging that up! I had just found the part number myself, then you sent that link.... made my job even easier!

Thanks. I posted it in the 3rd reply on the first page, along with my thoughts that your issue could be that switch. ;)

Before you order a switch, simply jump between the 2 wires connected to it (temporarily only!j to verify it’s open.

Well, dang, I didn't even notice the link you provided. Thanks to you and all the others for the help. I like your idea about jumping the 2 wires, I'll try it out before ordering. My money is on the switch being broken... we will see!
wnjj
Explorer II
Jul 10, 2018
funperro wrote:
SoundGuy wrote:
funperro wrote:
I'll update everyone on whether the switch fixed the problem. Oh, which reminds me, where can I find one of these switches to purchase?

It's just a momentary on rocker switch but since Coleman / Fleetwood Folding Trailers / FTCA has been out of business since 2011 original parts for these trailers can be difficult to find. :( In this case though here's ***Link Removed*** you want.

Excellent find, thanks for digging that up! I had just found the part number myself, then you sent that link.... made my job even easier!

Thanks. I posted it in the 3rd reply on the first page, along with my thoughts that your issue could be that switch. ;)

Before you order a switch, simply jump between the 2 wires connected to it (temporarily only!j to verify it’s open.
RoyB
Explorer II
Jul 10, 2018
My 2008 STARCRAFT 14RT has the momentary push button switch that gets depressed when the sink cabinet is folded over. This completes the 12VDC circuit for the ceiling lights in my trailer...

It looks something like this...

Google image

The purpose of this switch is to disable the !2VDC going to the ceiling light fixtures when lowering the roof to make for travel or storage mode. My original ceiling lights had the standard 921 incandescent automotive bulbs installed and they got extremely hot when turned on. This could start easily a fire on the top of the tent bed mattress when pushed in for lower the top. My ceiling light fixture actually touch my mattress when the top is lowered.

I replaced my ceiling light fixtures with LED VERSION lights and this is what my ceiling underneath the original light fixture looked like... Both of my ceiling lights looked just like this photo... Those scorch burn marks are from the very hot automotive type bulbs being used...

Google image

I have three LED ceiling lights now in my OFF-ROAD trailer. Two on each end of the ceiling and one directly above the kitchen sink area. Mine use the cheap LED boards that you find on-line for $4.95 each. Mine do 'NOT' have the 12VDC DC VOLTAGE REGULATOR chip components on the board. Those type regulators caused RADIO and TV INterference for me so went with a non-regulator board that was spec'd to operate between 9-14VDC operating voltages. Bought extra boards but all has been working just fine since 2009 when I installed them. I used double sided tape to hold the board up inside the light fixture.

Google image

Roy Ken
SoundGuy
Explorer
Jul 10, 2018
funperro wrote:
Excellent find, thanks for digging that up! I had just found the part number myself, then you sent that link.... made my job even easier!

When FCTA closed the factory doors in Somerset in 2011 the owner's of the Aliner brand of hard wall folding trailers which is located nearby purchased the engineering rights and much of the tooling used to produce the former Coleman / FFT folding trailers. AFAIK Aliner continues to produce limited numbers of these trailers which they call Somerset Camping Trailers and many former FFT dealers are now Somerset dealers so are therefore authorized to source parts for these trailers from the current manufacturer. I doubt that Somerset Camping Trailers would sell parts direct but you could always ask, otherwise ask for the name of a local dealer that can sell you parts, for future reference.

Somerset Camping Trailers
funperro
Explorer
Jul 10, 2018
SoundGuy wrote:
funperro wrote:
I'll update everyone on whether the switch fixed the problem. Oh, which reminds me, where can I find one of these switches to purchase?

It's just a momentary on rocker switch but since Coleman / Fleetwood Folding Trailers / FTCA has been out of business since 2011 original parts for these trailers can be difficult to find. :( In this case though here's ***Link Removed*** you want.

Excellent find, thanks for digging that up! I had just found the part number myself, then you sent that link.... made my job even easier!
SoundGuy
Explorer
Jul 10, 2018
funperro wrote:
I'll update everyone on whether the switch fixed the problem. Oh, which reminds me, where can I find one of these switches to purchase?

It's just a momentary on rocker switch but since Coleman / Fleetwood Folding Trailers / FCTA has been out of business since 2011 original parts for these trailers can be difficult to find. :( In this case though here's the exact part you want. OTOH if it proves to be the connector near the roof you likely won't find an exact replacement but can instead use any other 2-conductor connector set.
tomman58
Explorer
Jul 10, 2018
I go with the first guy check the obvious first if they are all going off and on. Then I would see if I could reduce the lights in involved by going to one and opening the circuit then jump again to see if the others were affected if not then it is in the other one do a process of elimination. Good luck
6_2Superduty
Explorer
Jul 10, 2018
Sound guy,not soundly
Darn spell check.