Interior Electrical Woes

[Sitah]

Hey Folks,

I'm doing some last minute stuff to our trailer and have found that our interior lights DO NOT work. I have checked all of the hot wires and they are hot, so I figure it must be the ground. The lights worked before. I'm not sure where to start in terms of checking the ground connections. I did install a new battery, but I don't think that would affect it, would it? Obviously, I don't know much about it. If anyone has any suggestions as to some troubleshooting I can do, it would be appreciated. In the meantime, I'm going to keep checking all of the wires I can.

Thanks

[Benny K]

Did you try running a length of any type of covered wire, i.e. speaker wire, from any of the ground points of the lamps to the battery? ...or other known proper ground....just to see if that is the problem?....Benny

[Sitah]

Benny,

I will do that. I noticed that the ground from the hitch wire harness (6-pin) spliced into the negative lead from the rv battery... is this okay? I also noticed the blue wire from the hitch wire harness was spliced into the ground as well... I disconnected that and the lights actually worked, but then didn't and still don't. I'll try the long wire to a light to find out.

Could the converter box have anything to do with it? It's pretty old.

[Benny K]

Your problem could be for a lot of reasons and using a ground wire for a test is very simple....if it works with this ground wire then I would search out the ground wire splices and then test from there...you should be able to narrow it down and if need be, rewire a new ground wire right to the battery and just cut the other one out.....I had a tail light problem in my small Boler on the road and ran another ground wire temporarily to a ground terminal strip that I`d put in....lights work and the temporary wire is still there after almost 4 years and I guess I should get rid of the old ground wire one of these days.. ....Benny

[Sitah]

Thanks. The ground test worked, but for some reason the lights are working now! I ASSume there is a loose ground connection somewhere. I will check as many of those points as possible. Running a new ground wire would require tearing out the inside insulation/wall covering... not sure if I want to do that right now. Thanks again.

[Mike_L]

In my experience, the ground wire(s) is the most likely cause of your problem. I'd try that first.