Dumb question #1

[Jim K in PA]

OK, here it is.  New guy.  Dumb lighting question.

Pup = 2006 Viking 2170ST

Length of ownership = 8.75 hours.

What do I have to do to get my interior lights to work off of the battery?  Is there a switch I have to throw somewhere?  My manual says the lights work off of 12 volts, regardless of whether I am hooked up to 110V.

Yes, the battery is good.

The vent fan works.  The bunk fan/light that plugs into the cabin light works on fan only (might be a bad bulb?)  The fridge works on 12v just fine.  I just cant get the interior or patio light to work.

Feel free to flame & spank away.

Jim K in PA

[jerkin]

Yeah, there's a kill switch somewhere. My Fleetwood has a galley that flips up/down and activates the switch in the up position.

[brainpause]

I'm not sure the Rockwoods have the kill switch like the Colemans do (on the galley).

As you alluded to, check the bulbs. If your fan is running, then there is a reason the bulbs aren't working.

Occasionally you will find some switches just inside the door on a cabinet, or also on the converter, wherever that is located.

Sort of a strange problem.

Larry

[harleywolf]

The kill switch would kill the whole lighting system so the fan-light wouldn

[CajunCamper]

On my Coleman Santa Fe I have this issue from time to time and here's the cause of my problem. For some reason perhaps it's from raising and lowering the roof, the wire that feeds my lights becomes disconnected. It's a simple connection that's easy to plug back in. On my Santa Fe the wire comes up out of the body of my camper through the opening where my rear left lift bar is. The wire then runs up from there through a little sleeve in my canvas up to the roof. Right where the wire runs into my roof to supply my light with power, there is a little connection. I  just simply reach up plug it back in and problem solved. By the way this little operation is performed outside of the camper.

Give it a try that may be the problem. Let me know if this works.

CajunCamper

[jerkin]

If you don't have a kill switch like some of the other campers it should be pretty easy to check and see if it's just bad bulbs. You can buy a cheap test light for a couple bucks and check the receptacles to see if your getting juice. Or better yet pick up a multimeter that you can use for many other things. The local Sears in my area is having a one day sale today and has them for $15. I'm not sure if that applies everywhere or not. I'm going up today to get one just to leave in the camper and keep an eye on battery voltage while camping.

[Jim K in PA]

OK.  I figured out the problem.

The problem is me first.  Joe engineer did not bother to check the voltage on the battery.  

It was 6.7 vdc  :yikes:

That explains why the DC fan motors would turn (slowly), but the bulbs did not have sufficient current to brighten.  I hooked up the battery charger and voila, lights.  And fans that actually do something!

BTW, there is no master kill switch near the entrance, but there is a switch that is activated when the swing level galley is put in place.  Yes, it does work.

I confess to not thinking far enough along the diagnostic path to check the battery voltage.  This was due to an ASSumption on my part.  

The battery is/was brand new from the dealer.  When we got it home, we discovered that the fridge was cold.  Hmm.  Yep, it was on 12v power since we picked it up at the dealer.  It could have been on for 24 hours or more, I have no idea.  I should have checked the battery voltage as soon as I discovered that the fridge was running.  Lesson learned.

That was the dealership's first strike.

Strike two came when I went to light the cooktop.  It was supposed to have a full tank of propane.  It turns out the bottle was dead empty.  Totally dry.

Morons.

Thanks for all the input and suggestions.  I'll keep trudging up that learning curve.

Jim K in PA

[austinado16]

Glad you got it resolved.

You probably already know this, but it's worth mentioning.  When diagnosing something:
1) Always confirm the customer's complaint
2) Work from the most simple "cause" toward the most complex "cause."

I almost said something when I read that you'd discovered the fridge works on 12v.  I was thinking, "Man, how long has that fridge been left running, that's it's actually making cold?"  Typically, they will kill a battery in 4-5hrs.

With that battery held at such a deep state of discharge, that's not good. They can only survive so many really low cycles like that.  I'd give it a good charge asap and check the water level.  Distilled water only!

Your 12v fridge function is only for when you are towing to the campground.  It maintains the cold that you created by running the fridge at home on 120v or propane for 24hrs prior to leaving on your trip.

Those little D-cell battery power refrigerator cube fans really help the fridge be efficient and evenly cold inside.  They run about $15 and the batteries last a long, long time.

[tlhdoc]

Welcome to the world of PU camping.  Where did you get the camper?  If you are interested in camping with a group, feel free to join us on a COTOC (Campers of the Original Colonies) trip.  You can find us in the club section here at PUT.

[Jim K in PA]

Austinado - thanks for the input.  I broke several of my cardinal rules, including looking for the simple stuff first, as well as asking questions before completing step #1.

tlhdoc - I noticed the COTOC section, but have not stopped in.  I will make a point to do so.  Thanks for the invite!

Jim K in PA

[austinado16]

Austinado - thanks for the input.  I broke several of my cardinal rules, including looking for the simple stuff first, as well as asking questions before completing step #1.

Hey, been there done that.  On our last outing, by the time we got all set up it was getting dark and we had the lights on inside.  All of a sudden *poof* everything went out.  My first thought was, "Great.  Been here an hour and already there's something wrong."  I reached for a flashlight and was getting ready to tear into things when I thought......"Wait a minute.  Our daughter is standing in front of the converter panel which has a "Battery/Converter/Off" switch right in the front, about shin high.  Maybe she just bumped into with her leg."

Sure enough, that was all that had happened.