Fuse panel issues?

[Tiger Rag]

After buying my 2012 Camplite TC10 truck camper I had a few issues.  Something blew the first night and the main light bank (overheads - switch by the door) went out.  BTW, the kitchen light and bathroom light still work but the other 4 on the same switch by the door went out (have checked switches on the fixture themselves as well).  I checked the fuse panel and breakers (we were on shore power) and no issues.  After getting home with the camper, I pulled all the fuses and found an undocumented blown 15a fuse at the bottom of the board ( I originally thought these were just spare fuses).  I replaced it but still nothing.  I rooted around in the old forum and found out about the 7 way plug fuse hidden under the sink - sure enough, that was blown as well.  Changed it out and still no interior overhead lights although I didn't expect that given the listed task of this fuse (camper not on truck either).

I have dropped the 2 main light fixtures and found the aluminum shavings many have mentioned and cleaned that up.  I checked bulbs of course and they were fine but I replaced them with LED's while I was at it.  I haven't pulled the ones in the cabover bed yet but I will to clean aluminum shavings and replace bulbs. 

I had some charge in the battery early in the trip when I bought the camper (took a long road trip to buy it) but it completely died at some point.  When I got home there was no acid over the plates and even after replenishing with distilled water it wouldn't take a charge so I expect it shorted along the trip.  I, in turn, bought a Lifeline group 31 XT that fits in the battery box and have battery power in the camper now. 

I should also mention that the TV fuse blew during the trip for some reason.  I guess we had a power surge from something?   

I guess my questions are, has anyone experienced anything similar?  Could it be a power surge took out this circuit?  It seems like the 15a fuse would have blown.  I can see a small discoloration beside the fuse holder on the circuit board but it's not green like corrosion and it's not on the fuse holder.  It's a small dot of red beside the fuse.  I haven't pulled the whole fuse box yet to view it from behind yet but I guess that's next.  I was thinking I could always pull the wires from the fuse box and connect them to a separate fuseable link but I'm not sure how that would affect the A/C circuit?

Anyway, any suggestions or things to check are greatly appreciated.  I'm running out of ideas.

Many thanks, Matt

[DavidM]

Well, I think that the next step as you suggest is to pull the fuse box out so you can get to the terminals. Then with a voltmeter check that you have incoming power. It should be on a buss that feeds all of the fuses and if you have any lights at all inside you should have power at that buss. Then check to see that you have power on the load side of each fuse. This will confirm that the fuses are good.

Then look for any loose wires on the load side. That is a likely cause. If those are ok, then my guess is that somewhere inside the camper a wire got pinched, didn't short or shorted briefly and then severed the connection. I think I would first contact LL and see which fuse supplies that bank of lights. That will then tell you which wire to track down from the fuse box. From there it is just grunt work tracing wire and looking for the problem.

David

[Merlin]

So, assuming replacing the TV fuse fixed that circuit for now, you basically have one circuit not working-the main lighting circuit-and yet all the fuses are good? That would indicate a cut wire or loose connection somewhere in that circuit. Do you have power as far as the light switch? I'll bet not. I suspect somewhere between the fuse panel and that switch, there is a bad connection.

The unlabeled blown fuse at the bottom of the fuse panel may have been from a previous owner's problem; I assume it's a used camper?

Those aluminum shavings are bad news. Good to get those cleaned out.

Not sure why the TV fuse blew? It's more likely a short circuit than a power surge, so maybe some Al shavings in that circuit too?

It takes a huge surge to blow a fuse; that's why surge protectors work better than fuses for surges.

[Tiger Rag]

Thanks for the pointers and basically verifying my methodology!

[lymanguy]

I also have a livinlite 10', 2013, with exactly the same problem. Yesterday morning, we were using the interior lights as we were getting ready to go. When we got to the campsite, the fuse, #6, had blown. It was for the interior lights only. Replaced the fuse, turned on the switch by the door, and heard the fuse pop. Made sure all the lights were off, put another fuse in, hit the door switch and it popped again. Went thru 4 20 amp fuses. My next step is to pull the lights and check the connections to see if there is a short somewhere. I will do that when we get home from this weekend. Everything else is ok. I had the same problem with the under the sink location for the 7 pin fuse. I probably found the same post that told me where to look. I sent an email to livin lite asking them to include the 7 pin fuse location in their manuals. Heard nothing back. I hate to go to a dealer with $110 an hour, but if I can't find the problem.......If I find that aluminum shavings left behind in the building process made this happen, I will not be happy.

Overall, we have been happy with the livinlite camper for the last 2 years. But we have also found that they, and probably everyone else, use the most inexpensive materials for the water system shutoff valves, and have had to supplement the 2013 interior storage problem with a lot of "home remedies". I submitted an article to truck camper adventures about what we have done for the inside and outside that should be in sometime. You can see what we have done to mod our 10' up.

Have you found the problem on your camper?

[lymanguy]

Ok, now I have at least one fix for the ceiling light fuse blowout problem. There is a yellow wire for the switch on the right side which controls the on/off for all lights. I removed the covers in the wet bath along the ceiling. These are held on by the torx self drilling screws. These covers are above the back door, and 2 in the bathroom. The wiring was held in place against the wall in back of the covers by electrical tape, and a pretty crappy job of it. One of the two yellow wires was wedged in two places. One place was where it wore thru on the left side where it pulled a right angle to the back of the camper, and the other was on the right side of the wire, where it was tightly wedged thru the wall toward the kitchen. The wire was pulled pretty taut in the back, and thru to the kitchen, all of them were tightly wedged against the aluminum wall. I wrapped around the wires with some gorilla tape and taped them higher against the side wall so they would not fall into the wedge to be cut again.

I will put some more official cushioning, with some more electrical tape. Taking the panels off is easy. This could have been prevented by making the wires not as tight, and by putting some cushion in the edges of the bathroom, where the wiring passes.

[Tiger Rag]

Finally got to working on my lights. Finally figured I had power at each fixture but had a short in the ground somewhere between the fuse panel and the cab over bed lights. Ended up just running a separate ground for those lights. That fixed that. Replaced bulbs with LED. Much better, very little heat. Obviously low power draw.

[Tiger Rag]

I should also add that it is ridiculous how rough cut the holes are for the wires coming into the fixtures and zero conduit or loom to protect them. Very disappointed in the lack of craftsmanship there. Makes you wonder what else is going to be an issue.

[Tiger Rag]

Lymanguy, really appreciate your account on your repair!

[Paul]

Glad you were able to fix your issue!