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Old 04-10-2022, 10:23 PM   #1
Secondwind962
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M.O.C. #30103
12v circuitry

Is there a general drawing of how Montana wired these units at the factory? I have a 2017 3820 and all three sets of LED puck lights in the kitchen started to dim and blink, when their related switches were on a few days ago. Since they’re on separate switches, I’m at the conclusion that the issue is in that particular 12v “zone” and not in the fixtures themselves. Now as of this afternoon they won’t come on at all. Additionally, tonight, the front max air exhaust fan began beeping. Nothing would silence it until I took it apart and disconnected the 12v circuit to it.
I do see that I have two line cables at the fan and one line and 3 load cables at the wall switch by the door.
Any ideas or input?
 
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Old 04-10-2022, 10:59 PM   #2
Lee-CI
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Possible loose connection on the DC output side of Converter for that particular leg. I'm sure others will chime in with other possibilities as well. Good luck. Let us know when and where you find the gremlin.
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Old 04-10-2022, 11:44 PM   #3
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Check the fuse panel and ensure all the wires (both Pos and Neg) are tight. I am assuming oyur are on shore power and the battery is being charged.
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Old 04-11-2022, 02:19 AM   #4
Secondwind962
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Yes, I’m a full timer while my house is being rebuilt from a fire.
I’ll open the fuse box up today and check the outgoing terminals. I had already checked the fuses to see if they were tight and if any fault lights were on. The puck lights under the counters are working fine. I found the fuse for them as I pulled each “zone” fuse, the upper lights staying half intensity as the counter lights went out. Living room lights appear to be on a different circuit as well.
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Old 04-12-2022, 04:23 AM   #5
Secondwind962
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Well, here’s the update....

Pull the inverter/panel box and checked all the connections. Everything looked good.
As it turns out , the 3820 has three interior light zones, fuses 1,2, and 3.
Zone one is the kitchen. It includes the overhead lighting, the dinette lighting, the sink lighting, both under cabinet lights, the 12v accessory outlet at the dinette tv, and the kitchen roof fan.
Zone two is the middle living area. Over head lights, interior cove lighting, entertainment center lighting, hall and bath lighting, slide out lighting, and both living area and bathroom exhaust fans.
Zone 3 is the rear bedroom lighting.

Now, on zone 1, the circuit goes in two directions behind the inverter. One pair of wires to the under cabinet by the stove and one pair to the light on the side out serving the buffet area. The 3 switches by the door is the end of the circuit which comes from the exhaust fan. The wire feed the exhaust fan comes from the 12v accessory in the ceiling by the refrigerator. The cable feeding that, I think, comes from the under cabinet light by the stove. My problem is that I’ve got fluctuations in the voltage at the 12v accessory , which is affecting everything downstream. It can go anywhere from 13 to 2 volts. If I can get 13 at the light switch, it goes to 8 as soon as I put any load on it. The intensity of the under cabinet lights never change though. I guess my next step is to pull the light down by the stove and see if I can separate the circuit there.
Thoughts?
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Old 04-12-2022, 05:37 AM   #6
RipNC
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My friend Arch would say "it is always the ground". Double check the negative side of that circuit - most of my negatives terminate on a ground bus behind the panel (mine is screwed to the floor). Check those terminals.
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Old 04-12-2022, 05:47 AM   #7
Secondwind962
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I did. Mine is attached to the wall back behind the inverter. The other thing that tells me it’s not there is that the under cabinet lights work fine. I’m hoping that I’ll find a loose negative wire at the cabinet light, or at the least, I can use the negative at that location as a reference.
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Old 04-12-2022, 05:56 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RipNC View Post
My friend Arch would say "it is always the ground". Double check the negative side of that circuit - most of my negatives terminate on a ground bus behind the panel (mine is screwed to the floor). Check those terminals.
^^^Good thought Rip.

There are instances where the high impedance from a VOM will trick one into thinking there is good voltage because it is designed not to put a load on a circuit under test. I'd suggest taking accurate impedance checks from one of the faulty lights back to a known good ground location on the ground wire side of the switch. Easily accomplished with a long jumper wire to extend the length of one of the multimeter leads.
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Old 04-17-2022, 06:39 PM   #9
bowlesj
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Hey SW962,

You probably have a bad or corroded crimp on a splice in the belly area laying on the coroplast. The area can get wet for many reasons.

You'll have to trace the wires from the switch as best you can and look for the splices. See pics of flickering, dim, out condition on living room lights in a 3820fk. Splice located aft of basement aft wall.
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Old 04-17-2022, 08:23 PM   #10
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Check batteries make sure they are full and them converter is working
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Old 04-17-2022, 08:34 PM   #11
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There could be a loose connection at any point along that electrical run. I would pull fuses until I found the one that affects that particular leg to see what else is connected along with those lights. Then I would start pulling the lights, or whatever the fixture is that is ahead of the dimming lights and see if there is a loose connection. A little tedious but there’s got to be a bad connection somewhere.
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Old 04-18-2022, 04:37 AM   #12
Secondwind962
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I’m on JSB’s train of thought. I’ve got it traced between the light that’s under the cabinet by the sink and the tv antenna booster by the refrigerator. I need pull the light down and check the splice. Not sure why it would gotten corroded there but stranger things happen in these things. There’s only one circuit #1 wire coming up from the “basement “, and that light is working fine, so I’m pretty sure it’s between those two. I know there’s only one wire because my hot water heater decided to start leaking in the middle of all this and I had to redirect my efforts to replacing it. That’s a whole other discussion. All the wires and cables for the front of the unit go right through the hot water heater area.
Bowles, that’s the exact same model as mine but is that your electrical panel in the basement by the vacumn ?? Mine is back in the hallway. The wire you had an issue with looks to be the one that feeds the 12v light in the DS living room slide, yes?
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Old 04-18-2022, 08:35 PM   #13
bowlesj
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The panel in the basement is the In Command BCM relay panel. Yes that wire and splice is power for both the DS and CS living room slides. The bad splice in this case supplied power to each slides light switch.

You would be amazed how many types of failed crimps I find in various RV's from all mfgs.

Good luck.

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