Electrical Lights out! Help needed pls

[DWWood]

Hi guys. Been a while since I've posted.

2014 17.56.1 Outback. Been in storage for about 4 months under a cover plugged in with power the whole time to keep batteries topped up. Uncovered van today and went to turn lights on and nothing. It's only the 3 lights on the ceiling, the 2 way lights. The ones at either bed end work, microwave works, aircon works, lights and fan in range hood work, just not the 3 on the ceiling. Switch inside door is on. Checked fuses but nothing.

Any ideas? Do these things go kaput?

 

[Drover]

Are they the type that you need to tap on a dimple on the lens to turn on/off ??

 

[DWWood]

Are they the type that you need to tap on a dimple on the lens to turn on/off ??

Nah, they have a 2 way switch. One normal white LED and the a blue LED.

 

[mikerezny]

Hi,
is your external light working?
If not, you have no 12V supply throughout the van.

If so, you will have 12V available.
Now, all three lights will be fed from one cable going from the Setec power supply up to the roof.
Also, all three lights will be powered from one of the load fuses in the Setec fuse compartment.

If you have a multimeter, check every load fuse in the compartment, noting that one of the fuses is not a load fuse and is actually the battery supply fuse.

If not, turn the external light on, and pull each fuse one at a time until you find the fuse position that supplies the external light.
Then put each load fuse into that position and confirm that each fuse is ok.
If all fuses are ok, put them all back in. The problem lies elsewhere, probably in the wiring.
If ypu look around the canvas, you should be able to find the cable going up though a sleeve into the ceiling.

Silly question, but, since the lights were last known to be working, has any work been done on the roof that involved drilling or putting in screws? If so, it might be that a screw or drill has gone through the cable.

take care
Mike

 

[DWWood]

Hi,
is your external light working?
If not, you have no 12V supply throughout the van.

If so, you will have 12V available.
Now, all three lights will be fed from one cable going from the Setec power supply up to the roof.
Also, all three lights will be powered from one of the load fuses in the Setec fuse compartment.

If you have a multimeter, check every load fuse in the compartment, noting that one of the fuses is not a load fuse and is actually the battery supply fuse.

If not, turn the external light on, and pull each fuse one at a time until you find the fuse position that supplies the external light.
Then put each load fuse into that position and confirm that each fuse is ok.
If all fuses are ok, put them all back in. The problem lies elsewhere, probably in the wiring.
If ypu look around the canvas, you should be able to find the cable going up though a sleeve into the ceiling.

Silly question, but, since the lights were last known to be working, has any work been done on the roof that involved drilling or putting in screws? If so, it might be that a screw or drill has gone through the cable.

take care
Mike

Thanks Mike. Didn't try external light. Will give your suggestions a go tomorrow in the daylight. Cheers.

 

[mikerezny]

Thanks Mike. Didn't try external light. Will give your suggestions a go tomorrow in the daylight. Cheers.

Hi,
oops, instead of the external light, you can also do all of what I suggested previously by using either of the two bed end lights.

And since you have already stated that both of these lights are working, then we can also assume that you have 12V available in the van.
That certainly simplifies things!

take care
Mike

 

[Drover]

and if you have an ensuite if the light and fan don't work then I would be heading for the cable run thru the roof skirt.

 

[BJM]

Do your switches at the door have the batteries in them ,? If so may need new one

 

[mikerezny]

Do your switches at the door have the batteries in them ,? If so may need new one

Hi @BJM,
did they have those fancy switches on 2014 models?

take care
Mike

 

[chartrock]

Hi @BJM,
did they have those fancy switches on 2014 models?

take care
Mike

We have a 2014 OB Journey and it has the fancy light switches at the door.

 

[DWWood]

Just thought I'd update. Had a mobile caravan repair bloke come over, basically the wiring in the ceiling for those 3 lights has a break in it somewhere and as there's no conduit, I can't pull the wiring through and feed new wires so I have to run the new wires external unfortunately.

 

[DRW]

Just thought I'd update. Had a mobile caravan repair bloke come over, basically the wiring in the ceiling for those 3 lights has a break in it somewhere and as there's no conduit, I can't pull the wiring through and feed new wires so I have to run the new wires external unfortunately.

My expanda did exactly the same thing, two choices, un peal the roof or if you’re lucky as I was I ran a single wire from the switch to the a wire going into the roof and it fixed them, then I sold that van

 

[Drover]

Thats not good, did he remove and check connections on each light and if the cable was live up to where it entered the roof ??? Often the break is in the roof skirt....... and they tend to come to a decision but don't check everything out as its a lot of stuffing around for a quote, replpacement is easier than a search and discovery, repair..

Pull the light thats closest to the switch and tap some power up to the feed, if the other lights still fail then the break is between the first light and the switch, if only the first works then you move on till you can narrow the break........... If the lights haven't been removed and connections checked the break maybe just a broken connection or a crushed one....

Re running cable thru the roof can depend on how straight a run, tap a wire or thin whipper snipper cable onto the cable and see if yu can drag the lead out, then the whipper snipper cable can pull the new stuff through......

 

[DRW]

You can’t run anything through the ceiling you have to remove the fibreglass shin on top it’ll be a screw connector that’s either come lose or got wet and corroded they are a prick of a thing the roof peel isn’t that bad if you’re game

 

[Drover]

One I had a look at was just like a fridge panel, styro sandwich job with some framing, suppose roof size would be the thing.......

 

[DWWood]

Thanks gents. Had a sparky mate come over and confirm what the van repair guy did, who was also a sparky. Third light closest to back of van is wired to 2nd light then 2nd & 1st light is wired to a connector somewhere in the ceiling then single wire to junction in cupboard.

Not going to pull ceiling apart so I'll run wiring from 1st and 2nd lights through duct taped to ceiling and get it sorted that way, shouldn't look too bad.

 

[Drover]

Theres some good unobtrusive cable runners around which once up you hardly notice and can look like panel joiners.......most vans makers use the shortest amount of cable so doesn't take very much movement for conections to come apart or wire break.... They skimp on it like a lot of things.