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Puzzler for you electrical gurus....

deserteagle56
Explorer II
Explorer II
A year ago I bought a 12v LED light strip (18" long) and mounted in the van I use an another RV. I like it so much I bought a couple more of them to use to mount in my Bigfoot pictured below. These light strips are specifically designed to use as under-counter lighting in RVs. This morning I tried to mount one of the light strips in the Bigfoot but I cannot get it to come on and cannot figure out why. I removed the OEM light fixture (designed to use a #1141 12v bulb) to access the wiring and spliced into it. Nothing. My test light tells me there is power and the OEM fixture works fine. If I connect the light strip directly to a 12v battery just by touching the wires to the battery posts it works fine. So what is different with the power going to the original light fixture?? What do I have to do to make this thing work?

Thanks in advance!
1996 Bigfoot 2500 9.5 on a 2004 Dodge/Cummins dually
17 REPLIES 17

ScottG
Nomad
Nomad
I suspect the 12V wires are reversed at the old fixture. Just reverse your connections and see if it works.

d3500ram
Explorer III
Explorer III
Rather than use a test light at the source, use a volt meter (digital if you have one) and take an actual reading. If the source is less than 12 volts then perhaps it is enough to power the test light but maybe not enough to run the LED??? I dunno if this makes sense, but I am trying to ascertain a possible answer from the facts you provide.
Sold the TC, previous owner of 2 NorthStar pop-ups & 2 Northstar Arrows...still have the truck:

2005 Dodge 3500 SRW, Qcab long bed, NV-6500, diesel, 4WD, Helwig, 9000XL,
Nitto 285/70/17 Terra Grapplers, Honda eu3000Is, custom overload spring perch spacers.

Trackrig
Explorer II
Explorer II
Try reversing your connections. Standard RV / automotive bulbs don't care which way the electrical current flows into them. LEDs have to + to + and - to - for them to work.

Bill
Nodwell RN110 out moose hunting. 4-53 Detroit, Clark 5 spd, 40" wide tracks, 10:00x20 tires, 16,000# capacity, 22,000# weight. You know the mud is getting deep when it's coming in the doors.