I learned an important lesson today..... everything you see isn't necessarily as it is!!!

Last week getting the 5th wheel ready for it's 1st outting next weekend I found one of the 3 dimmable puck ceiling circuits not working. I broke out the Volt-Ohm meter and sure 'nuff.... no power to the output side of the dimmer. Good 12v to the input side. Go to AMAZON and find an LED 12 dimmable module and also ordered 3 LED lamps to go with it.

Got it all installed and it works OK. Wait until dark last night to take the wife out to show it off - oh-oh. No lights! Went out today to check out why. Check for 123v at the input to the module. No 12v. Check multiple electrical connections from the factory...all OK. Now I'm at the fuse box.
The fuse to that circuit is one of those new ones that had an LED built into it - it glows when it has power going thru it. It's glowing.... touch it and it's NOT glowing. Touch it again and it glowing. Pull the fuse and I get the fuse but the legs stay in the connector!! Replaced the fuse - after spending 1/2 the day making the new LED module fit better into the place the old one came from and soldering all the connections.

Yes, I waited until last to REALLY check that fuse. If I had just pulled it and ohmmed it out I would have fixed it then and there. NOW I wonder....was that the original problem??????

 

If it is any consolation, I worked on one last week with a bad circuit in the box. Intermittent now you have power, now you don't.

Good job you know you check a fuse using a meter. Every time someone calls me and when I ask about the fuse they say they looked at it and it was good, my jaw immediately clinches and I think bad thoughts.

Steve

 

Really didn't need the meter saw the LED on the fuse blinking on and off! BUT.... evidently it has been doing it for a number of day and I didn't have the cover off the panel to see it! Even when I did use the meter using the ohmmeter I was pressing the fuse enough with the probe leads to make it contact....

Sometimes electricity don't play fair!

 

Shoot, electricity never plays fair. That is what makes it fun.

Steve

 

I had a circuit blow due to an overload (by me). Could not find the issue. Press this GFI..no help, press that one, no help.

Look at the fuse block all looks ok.

Do it all again...finally pulled the fuse and all is well. Must have looked at it three or four times.

 

What's bad is when they even TEST good with a meter and are still bad!

All this good/bad stuff is getting me dizzy!

 

Fun? That's what it is... fun.

Did I mention my Lippert 6pt was constantly cutting out? Like the 50 amp resettable fuse was bad. Except, the rear slides (also hydraulic) were also blowing an inside 10 amp fuse.

Replaced the 50 amp resettable fuse with a new one. No change.

Hunh, must be the pump going bad, drawing many amps to try and run.

Ok, take to dealer. It sits for 3 weeks. They finally get to it. Replace new 50 amp fuse, with another new 50 amp fuse.

All ok now.

What?! How could a bad 50 amp resettable fuse cause the inside 10 amp fuse to blow? And when did I kick God's dog, to get a bad, brand new resettable fuse (that I just had to pay some guy to install another). Oye.

 

Don't worry it will start blowing again. That is so commonplace it is all over the Internet and I see it on the lot all the time. Some are recommending the system needs two fully charged batteries due to the amp draw and a single battery or old batteries can't keep up with the draw and it amps up due to voltage drop given you can have two identical campers the same brand same model and system right next to each other and one does it and one doesn't.

But of course that makes no sense and Lippert is the only manufacturer I have this kind of problem with and only on Forest River products. Drives my dealer crazy. I have not found changing the resettables fixes the problem, but maybe the moon was in the wrong position for something at the time.

Steve

 

Thanks for the encouragement Steve.



It has slowly gotten worse over the last year and half. Really bad last fall. Probably because as the fuse keeps resetting, it gets weaker everytime?

Anyway, it got so bad this spring it would barely lower the landing legs before popping and resetting, much less go through the auto level.

But right now, it is working like new. For now. I will definitely keep replacing the fuse if it starts again.

I do have two 12volt. I had both load tested last year, wondering if that was the problem. Of course, more waste of time and effort as they were fine. Maybe someday go 6 volt.

It was weird that it would blow a 10 amp fuse on the panel, when opening the rear slides. Don't understand how that would be related to a bad 50 amp resettable fuse coming right off the battery's. But that is not happening anymore either. Oh electricity, thou are a fickle bitch.

 

Ya but if electricity doesn't play fair, plumbing is the Master of unfairness. Fix it in one place and it starts to leak elsewhere.

I appreciate those with good electrical knowledge but I'm really impressed when a plumber makes his profession look easy.

 

Have you soldered anything upside down lately??? Just think about it!

 

Ain't that the truth!

Just got back from a trip and had similar experience in a campground. Not everything in the camper was working and we had been over some really rough stretches of highway that day so I assumed the worst. After checking a number of things, pulling a lot of hair I have too little of to waste, checking things again, I finally got to checking the what I should have checked FIRST. The campground 50A hookup had a bad hot leg and only half the panel in the camper was hot as a result. Stupid thing, on my part, is that the power cable has LEDs and I didn't even think to start with the obvious. Lesson learned. The campground jumped right on it when I told them and had a new breaker in place in no time at all.

 

Chalkie - you're MY kind of man!! Been there....done that!