Coachmen Viking problem & correction
Update: see end of post
I could barely get my 30Amp cord stowed on my brand new 2017 Coachmen Viking 21RD. I decided to pull the sofa out to see what the problem was. Pretty clear this stupid little box is too small for a 30' cord.
There was also this sloppy job of getting the wires through the wall.
I got the box unscrewed and ripped apart and started to make room for a larger compartment for my cord. That is when I saw this!
Obviously someone made a boo-boo and just swapped the polarity of the wires right at the panel. You've got to be kidding me! In the factory a fuse blows so they clip the wires and swap them around to fix it. Terrible! :h
I go to the switch bank up front and pull it out and find another example. :M
I pull a few lights down since this is the ceiling light circuit. Most of them have black wires so they are switched at the switch bank. Even after I clipped the wires at the switch bank the orange/white wire at the fuse panel was still going to ground. Gammit!
I've been around long enough to know this could easily turn into a giant goose hunt. Pull the fridge access: nothing. Remove cover on frame junction box near tongue: nope, not there. Pull out radio: not there either but something does look wrong. I'll get back to that.
Finally I spot the likely culprit; the amber light outside the door. The trailer does have aluminum siding so if that is wired backwards the hot side would be grounded. Sure enough someone working at Coachmen wired the outside light backwards.
On an interior light like this it wouldn't matter because it would be screwed to a cabinet. Since it was on the outside the automotive socket sent the orange/white wire to ground through the aluminum siding. That would cause the fuse to blow when orange/white is hooked to power at fuse box.
I switch the wires so they are correct on the outside light, the switch bank, and the fuse panel. No more blown fuse. I'm so impressed with myself;)
Wait; now the light in the bathroom and the light under the radio don't work. :? I thought it was weird the way that light was wired in there. I pull it down and the polarity is reversed. 12V LEDs won't work if the polarity is backwards. Fix the polarity on the two non-working lights and now everything is good.
Now doing my best Peter Faulk here is what happened:
1 Someone at Coachmen wired that outside light backwards sending the power feed to ground through the aluminum siding.
2 Everything else was wired correctly. I'll explain how I know that in a minute.
3 When the fuse was put in it kept blowing because it was going right to ground. Some genius clipped the wires and reversed the polarity of the circuit now the fuse won't blow.
4 The ceiling lights now wouldn't work so the polarity was switched at the switch bank to get the ceiling lights working.
5 Now the light under the radio and the bathroom light won't work because their polarity is backwards. They get pulled down and the wires switched. I know they came down because when I pulled them there was a second set of holes for the screws at each light. The Jagoff couldn't even be bothered to try and line up the holes after he just butchered the lighting circuit.
I can't imagine that just one guy at Coachmen did this. At some point somebody had to say 'Hey bill, why aren't these lights working?"
There are wiring standards for a reason and it is completely unacceptable that somebody butchered this wiring so badly. Six hours of my day spent chasing down and fixing something that never should have happened. Sure a simple mistake like wiring the outside light backwards can happen. But once that fuse blew on the line they should have traced the problem down and fixed it properly instead of butchering the entire lighting circuit.
Rant off.
Update:
I had some meaningful communication back & forth with the factory. I was pleasantly surprised at how responsive they were to the consumer. Of course they had to look into the situation and get more information from me and from the people at the factory. When all was said & done they are going to make things right by me.
For the price I paid and the features of the camper I'm still satisfied.
I could barely get my 30Amp cord stowed on my brand new 2017 Coachmen Viking 21RD. I decided to pull the sofa out to see what the problem was. Pretty clear this stupid little box is too small for a 30' cord.
There was also this sloppy job of getting the wires through the wall.
I got the box unscrewed and ripped apart and started to make room for a larger compartment for my cord. That is when I saw this!
Obviously someone made a boo-boo and just swapped the polarity of the wires right at the panel. You've got to be kidding me! In the factory a fuse blows so they clip the wires and swap them around to fix it. Terrible! :h
I go to the switch bank up front and pull it out and find another example. :M
I pull a few lights down since this is the ceiling light circuit. Most of them have black wires so they are switched at the switch bank. Even after I clipped the wires at the switch bank the orange/white wire at the fuse panel was still going to ground. Gammit!
I've been around long enough to know this could easily turn into a giant goose hunt. Pull the fridge access: nothing. Remove cover on frame junction box near tongue: nope, not there. Pull out radio: not there either but something does look wrong. I'll get back to that.
Finally I spot the likely culprit; the amber light outside the door. The trailer does have aluminum siding so if that is wired backwards the hot side would be grounded. Sure enough someone working at Coachmen wired the outside light backwards.
On an interior light like this it wouldn't matter because it would be screwed to a cabinet. Since it was on the outside the automotive socket sent the orange/white wire to ground through the aluminum siding. That would cause the fuse to blow when orange/white is hooked to power at fuse box.
I switch the wires so they are correct on the outside light, the switch bank, and the fuse panel. No more blown fuse. I'm so impressed with myself;)
Wait; now the light in the bathroom and the light under the radio don't work. :? I thought it was weird the way that light was wired in there. I pull it down and the polarity is reversed. 12V LEDs won't work if the polarity is backwards. Fix the polarity on the two non-working lights and now everything is good.
Now doing my best Peter Faulk here is what happened:
1 Someone at Coachmen wired that outside light backwards sending the power feed to ground through the aluminum siding.
2 Everything else was wired correctly. I'll explain how I know that in a minute.
3 When the fuse was put in it kept blowing because it was going right to ground. Some genius clipped the wires and reversed the polarity of the circuit now the fuse won't blow.
4 The ceiling lights now wouldn't work so the polarity was switched at the switch bank to get the ceiling lights working.
5 Now the light under the radio and the bathroom light won't work because their polarity is backwards. They get pulled down and the wires switched. I know they came down because when I pulled them there was a second set of holes for the screws at each light. The Jagoff couldn't even be bothered to try and line up the holes after he just butchered the lighting circuit.
I can't imagine that just one guy at Coachmen did this. At some point somebody had to say 'Hey bill, why aren't these lights working?"
There are wiring standards for a reason and it is completely unacceptable that somebody butchered this wiring so badly. Six hours of my day spent chasing down and fixing something that never should have happened. Sure a simple mistake like wiring the outside light backwards can happen. But once that fuse blew on the line they should have traced the problem down and fixed it properly instead of butchering the entire lighting circuit.
Rant off.
Update:
I had some meaningful communication back & forth with the factory. I was pleasantly surprised at how responsive they were to the consumer. Of course they had to look into the situation and get more information from me and from the people at the factory. When all was said & done they are going to make things right by me.
For the price I paid and the features of the camper I'm still satisfied.
