Electrical Short

[Dexter]

1999 Gulfstream 38 bus. The basement lights are all on the same fuse and it appears to be shorted. Does anyone have a neat way to locate.

Any help or advice would be appreated.

[larrybell]

On my 2002, there are fuse panels located in an outside compartment just behind the driver's side front tire.

[David Bott]

I think he meant a trick to find the short itself. To that, I wish I could help but am at a loss. That could end up being a pain to find as I am sure you already knew.

Sorry

[Dexter]

You are correct David, to find a short in a circuit that includes all those lights and the lenght of the couch twice. I once knew a mechnic that tried to find a short in a, new still on the lot Cadilac deville. he worked on it for two days and decided that he would by-pass the fuse and then find the smoke. He did find the short after he burned the head liner out, to the tune of 1500.00 to repair the damage. I may just rewire the lights to differant hot wires that I can find in any handy location.

[DelJac]

Dexter: I have a buddy with a CAT powered Beaver that had fuel problems. He spent over 1000.00 trying to find it. After all the trouble and cost he found it to be a wire connector that was crimped on . It looked good on the outside but shorted in the connector. This may give you something to go on. Wiring is always a nite & day mare in our older MH's so good luck. Jack

[11B]

Not trying to be a smart a$$ here but my friendship has a button up front that lets you shut off all the basement lights at one time. Have you checked to see if you possibly have one of these and have shut it off inadvertantly.

[Dexter]

Never think you are being smart a$$ for pointing out the simplest solution to a problem. For me and many others thats usuallly where the trouble is. (Is that the Ocoams Razor thing) But not in this case My bus also has that switch in the footwell in the exit right where you could bump it with your foot. ( poor design if you ask me)

[87sunsport]

If each individual light has a switch, try turning them all off. If the fuse blows when the main switch is turned on, then it isnt any of the lights themselves. That would indicate a broken positive wire, probably grounding out through where the wire comes through the metal wall of the compartment. Also check to see if any wires could be rubbing against the slideroom mechanism.

[RJ82much]

Dexter,

You could go thru a heap of fuses removing lamps one at-a-time. I'd say Sunsport is on the right track with the advice to first turn off all the lights to see if the fuse still blows.

If not, turn on lights one-at-a-time till fuse blows. Examine the lamp and the fixture on the culprit - replace or eliminate.

I am not familiar with your model, so I don't know if each light is individually controlled with a switch as part of the basement fixture (like my Sun Voyager) or if there is a panel within your coach with many switches? Do you have a master switch to turn off all power to the lights?

[David Bott]

From what I have seen in our 2008 TM, the 12v lights in the basement cargo area are run from the same line with just branches off it for each light. As such, you have one master switch and each light can be controlled at the light itself. You could turn them all off at the lights themselves and still blow a fuse when you turn on the master switch if the line is shorted anywhere alone the way.