Most clearance markers/lights not working

[olhillbilly31]

Sent: 5/22/2008

have you ever had one of those days. i got some new bulbs for the few that were not working. yesterday i went out to replace them. turned the lights on to check them to make sure i was changing the right ones. now i have hardly any working. but when i got the bulbs i only had 3 not working.

is it better to just change out all the lights, the whole things not just the bulbs.  i know a lot of the time the grounds for these are corroded and messed up. i was going to go get it inspected but now with most of the clearance lights not working....

[MN Tom]

Sent: 5/22/2008

In the same area, but with maybe a different problem. I think Billy (?) definitely has a ground problem due to the fact that they WERE working until he "disturbed" them, and some of them still work. Billy, as long as you know you have fire at the socket (grounded test light) try jumping a ground wire (long if necessary) from the light fixture to a good clean known ground. My guess is that the bulb will light. If that be the case, consider running a new common ground cable to all the lights and do away with the problem once and for all. I think it was slantsixness or clydesdalekevin said he did that.

With me though, NONE of Sunny's clearance lights are working. Head: check. Tail: check. Signals: check. License plate light (recently purchased and installed by moi due to a totally absent one): check.  Clearance lights, front, rear, and sides: nope.

Now, Sunny DOES have a totally new roof. My first question (especially for those who have seen their Winnie topless (woohoo!) is; where is the wiring for these lights? Is it possible that it ran along the roof-line and my farmer PO cut the wiring out and forgot to reinstall it? I can't find any sign on the inside walls of sockets or wires, not in the eyebrow (front lights), rear cabinet above the back window (rear lights) or anywhere on the sides. Maddening. Ideas, guys?

[MN Tom]

Sent: 5/22/2008

Billy,

Just read your OP again. To answer your question, changing ALL of the fixtures out may be the easiest fix, though not the cheapest. Here they go for approximately $3 each. Sunny has 18, I think it is, if you count the low ones as well on what would be the "fender area". $54 + tax. That's for a generic oval shaped or rectangular fixture, which might create issues with the original round hole that the bulb popped into. All in how creative you want to be. First make sure you have fire and a good ground. New fixtures won't help a lousy ground.

MN Tom

[olhillbilly31]

Sent: 5/22/2008

yeah I'm fixing to go out and see if i can find a bad ground on them, will use some fine sand paper while at it and sand the contact points....if i change them out completely i may go with those new fangled led lights, i like the way they look, but really hate the price of them..lol will keep you posted.. hope its a easy fix, i want to go out next weekend..
billy

[Slantsixness]

Sent: 5/23/2008

If you look around the message search, you'll find a thread on how to fix the ground issues...

But.. in a nutshell, I pop rivet a ground wire to the body (rivet fits through a round wire lug... (all aluminum lug) that's wired to the marker light ground ( other end soldered to the metal light clip) and then, no more ground problems!

I do have one Fidgety clearance light on my rig. It hates me... only goes out when I'm not looking, and always comes back on when I climb the ladder to fix it! The answer is simple... replace the whole damn light... (I have a whole set from Sparebago that are pristine)... but it always works when I find the time to F with it...grr!
One time... in the dark on a morning before a 200 mile trip in Smurfy... I walked around the rig to find the damn marker out yet again, and I simply yelled at it and it came back on (but I can't say here what I yelled at it..!) So.. yes... yelling at the rig does work?!

Funny thing is... during the entire 850 mile recent trip home to FL, that damn light never went out, nor did any others...

FL Tom (the original Tom... Nah.. MN Tom is older...hee hee!)

[olhillbilly31]

Sent: 5/24/2008

ok played with the lights last night...replaced a couple more bulbs, and on the rear top lights i chose to start with the middle one.. closest to the ladder.. as i was trying to get the cover off, they all came on but that one. i changed the bulb and now i got lights.. well except for to of the front ones where the metal strap that holds them in place broke. i can get new yellow lights for 4.00 so will be doing those, red ones are 5.00.
i like the led, but at 11.00 each, i might be to cheap for those...

[olhillbilly31]

Sent: 5/24/2008

today i put on 6 new amber, 2 different types, no where did they have 7. Walmart is cheapest at 2.25 each. so the 3 from Walmart went on the top center. the parts store ones going on the top outside, and lower front. i also put in new bigger screws on the rear red ones.
billy

[tiinytina]

Sent: 6/1/2008

I did Gone's Marker lights last spring... bought new on ebay.. trouble was once I started taking off the old ones there were 2 different types, ones with ground wires some without, some had nice holes in the back, some didn't... so back to the store... and yes no store has as many of the type you need, so several stops....  But.. they all still work with the exception of one bulb which I replaced already... and yes yelling at them does on occasion work!

tina

[lucidsodemite]

Sent: 6/4/2008

ok i have no marker light function at all now. i lost my taillights and brake-lights as well as signals at approx the same time. i have since repaired the brake-lights, it turned out to be the switch, and the turn signals in back, it was more of the same poor wiring i have run into everywhere on the RV same with running lights. but i still have no marker lights. i had them at one time but now nothing. is each light individually grounded? or are they linked in series? i think it must be either a short or a ground issue as they have all gone at once. all help as always really appreciated.

[denisondc]

Sent: 6/4/2008

I believe the marker lights are all grounded only by being screwed into the aluminum skin. Somewhere that skin must be grounded, though I have never seen such a ground wire on mine. I think mine is typical in having a relay under the dashboard that turns on the marker lights - when the headlamp switch is in position to turn on the running lights or headlights. So I would check for a loose wire to that relay, or a rusted up relay. And check both the 12 volt supply wire, as well as whatever grounds the relay. About once a year I used to have to remove the covers from a marker light and clean up the contract between the light and the aluminum skin.

[lucidsodemite]

Sent: 6/5/2008

thank you i will try those suggestions. i also had to replace the tail light assemblies as when i took a look inside them they were both broken and had been jerry rigged. so much stuff on this RV has had the hand of a fool on it. it takes almost as much time to jerry rig something as it does to remove and replace and repair properly. i really don't understand why anyone would ever do anything that way.

[Slantsixness]

Sent: 6/5/2008

" i really don't understand why anyone would ever do anything that way"

Neither do any of us...
But you know.. when you're on the road and broke down, and all you have is duct tape and Popsicle sticks.... we all do it too!

I don't think I've EVER seen a rig that wasn't brand new (and some of them come butchered too...) that the electrical system wasn't molested in some way, or horribly butchered.

There was one member who gave up on a rig because the wiring was so bad... of course he got another rig and is still here... [uh...no... I won't say who, but if he chimes in... then that's his call]

ElectricallyProfficientTom