light won't go off

[rwiegand]

On my new-to-me Lance 851 there's a single light on the right side (facing the back door) that is on much of the time, randomly. It runs the battery down.

Oddly, it is on at about half power, there is a lighted rocker switch inside that is also on at half brightness when in the off position. Turning that switch on brings both the switch light and the light on the back to full brightness. Turning it off drops them to half. I need to hit the battery cutoff and unplug from shore power to get it to go off fully. Sometimes though it is off all by itself. I haven't had a chance to look at the switch behavior when it starts from an off position.

I've never seen that behavior in a light before-- not even sure how you would get to halfway on. Any thoughts?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Yikes in a house with four granddaughters(!)

What sank me back into this chair vibrating with laughter was the thought of a barking dog at 0300

But your reply made me smile. Thank You!

[rwiegand]

That's easy enough-- here you go: http://voccalight.com

(still working on the eggs, I imagine)

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Touch sensitive? Outside? I just gotta order me a 2016 model Ouija Board, for troubleshooting.

I wanna system where I can yell

"LIGHTS! BRIGHTEN!"

"LIGHTS! DIM!"

"LIGHTS! STOP"

"ON LIGHTS! OFF LIGHTS!"

"STOVE! THREE EGGS SCRAMBLED! AND MAKE IT SNAPPY"


Just funnin' 🙂

[rwiegand]

These are switches that go on when the turned on, so you can tell whether your outside lights are on I expect.

Probably found the culprit-- turns out this camper has an outside touch-sensitive switch on the back of the camper that are apparently notorious for having odd problems. It's a small silver-colored patch that you are supposed to just touch with your finger to turn the light on. (It's not at all obvious, if (like me) you didn't know what it was or what it was supposed to do you'd think it was just an oddly placed reflector) Apparently if the contacts in the touch switch get damp from condensation it can result in this condition. This would help explain the intermittent nature of the problem, we've been having some heavy dew and fog with the arrival of fall weather. Should know before long whether fixing or deleting this feature will fix the problem.

[ledcomp]

Sounds like the indicator light and the lamp got wired in series. I would look at the lighted rocker switch wiring.

[bigfootford]

K Charles wrote:
Get a new switch.
Unplug the switch and see if the light goes out.

Yep,

Probably the led/light and some resistor to dim/bias the led/light , maybe someone miss wired it some how. So 12vdc on the switch light all the time. thus passing some current to the outside light.

Jim

[MEXICOWANDERER]

What sorta bothers me about the switch idea is resistance = heat.

[wnjj]

Probably a bad switch and when at half brightness, the switch light and main light are in series. Don't lit switches usually go out when on?

Or it could be a bad/loose connection at the switch. Pull it out and have a look.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Open circuit switch would need what, 100,000 volts to jump the open contacts path? The fault has to be between the load side of the switch and the load. A faulty switch itself is included in this scenario. If there are additional wires connected between the load side of the switch and the load (lamp) then alternate paths come into play. A negative manifolded into several paths either works or it doesn't regarding the switch. Permutation possibilities of alternate current paths resolves troubleshooting in a hurry.

[time2roll]

The bulb is getting grounded or power through the second bulb.
This is why it is half bright as the power is going through both filaments.

Loose connection or crossed wire somewhere. Most likely at one of the fixtures or switch. Longshot would be if someone inserted a screw etc in a wall and it struck the wire. So look at repaired or new items added.

[rwiegand]

Not new, and no warranty so it's my problem. I will take it apart and see if I can isolate the problem. Not used to partial shorts with electrical stuff, seems like something that could be heating something up somewhere, so I'll keep it powered down until I can either figure it out or disconnect it upstream. Probably going to take me a while to get to it, as the camper's going to the shop this afternoon for some surgery to allow it to work with my trailer hitch.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

It could be a short if negative is switched. Short positive to the switch and ya gotta blown fuse. Short positive after the switch ya gotta blown fuse when the switch is turned on and dark when the switch is turned off.

JOB ONE

Take switch loose and see how many wires connect to the terminals on the back and report back.

"Take it back to the dealer for warranty" sometimes costs fifty dollars in fuel and blows a whole day. You and a hundred others line up for Saturday warranty work. If not on salary, missing a day of work can get a little pricey. Especially if the boss has scales and 3 inch incisors.

[jimh406]

It may be obvious, but pull the bulb if you can't figure it out. I agree it's probably a short.

[Reddog1]

Moved from TC Forum.

Wayne
Moderator