lights dimming

[menace]

after lights have been on for awhile they become bright than eventually they dim again. any ideas thankyou

[r time soon]

Noticed that this is your first post, so welcome to the Redwood forum. I assume you have a Redwood. Can you please provide more information and specifics? Like year and model of your Redwood. Are you hooked up to shore power at a campsite or other? Did you just purchase this Redwood and don't know about the condition of your battery or batteries? Just trying to help you out. Let us know more and I am sure others will chime in soon.

Chris

[Shane Wood]

Does the dimming and brightening continue or just happen once. Usually this is a sign of an open neutral or ground. Check to make sure all your ground connections to the chassis at the battery's are tight. Battery connections tight. Ground connections at convertor and transfer switch are tight if happening while plugged in. Also as mark said a little more info would help.on shore power only, battery's only. Only using lights or dims when air or furnace kicks in etc.

[menace]

We have a Redwood 38 gk 2014. Just purchased it back in July. We are in a campground plugged in. The lights go bright than back to dim at anytime. Furnace does not affect lights when it cuts in. Will check grounds and battery condition. A neighbor has a load tester. thank you for the ideas.

Dennis

[sinder]

Are you on a surge protector?

[RCAircraft]

Ours were doing the same. The connections on the copper bus bar/circuit breaker bar were seriously loose. Bus bar located just behind the battery boxes. Now on my monthly check list.

[mhs4771]

We were getting some funny voltage readings and other weird things happening with our previous 36RL. Turned out to be the connections at the battery disconnect switch, one nut was almost totally off the terminal, thus the cable was just making loose contact.

[mesg]

so... has anyone ever discovered the result of the lights dimming??? since day 1.. we have had this issue.. dealer looked at the coach said he fixed it.. riiiight, after the 4 month stay (when new) at the redwood warranty facility to fix what should have done on the assembly line, ( I had to re-do most of the repairs myself once I towed it 17 hours home) they too said it was repaired... ( i was later informed they could not duplicate the issue). hence the successfull repair.

I have gone through the entire coach.. replaced all the bus bar breakers... tightened up all the connections.. in the bulk head/genny areas, tightened all connections on the power panel/controller... yes.. virtually every connection from the battery cut off switch.. to the power panel was loose. I have replaced the actual light switches in the entire coach and re-did-improved upon.. all the wiring connections for the interior lighting that I could access in the walls and control center. we have a 2013 36fl.. a.k.a. my worst nightmare..

The diming at times is so dramatic, we have resorted to only using 110 desk lamps in the coach to keep constant lighting, and keep a led flash light handy for the kitchen counter.. sad but true...

both batteries had be to replaced last year as both had dead/dry cells.. we only used it for 2 quick weekend trips last year, it is plugged in to shore power 24/7

according to the power meter I installed, and the level up display i`m only getting 13 volts...and after leveling the coach voltage drops to 10.5 -11 volts for 10 mins or so... seems kinda low but it does recover.. in time..back to 13 volts

Oh JOY!!! i forgot to mention.... last fall when i was detailing it i noticed 2 wires hanging down just in front of the curbside tires... sob!!! both are ground wires... which lead back to the power inverter/charge control located in the corner pantry.. Both where never connected!!!!!!!! Both where coiled up and taped together with electrical tape and secured to the minimal underbelly insulation with a single screw.. both had !! the tab connector on the wire but where never bolted to the frame
According to Redwood both of these wires are part of the overall ground system for the coach and need to be secured to the frame at least 12 inches apart. bolting the to the frame.. hence adding the required ground circuit.. did not change to light dimming/fading..

and notice the fine collection of rust???? for a 3 year old unit stored in door..heated.. i`m more than shocked and saddened .

[BugSplatter07]

Did you clean under all the ground connections? If not I would try it, although you are tighten the connection it still might not be making good connecting to the frame. Remove the connection from the frame and clean the paint and rust. Get it down to bare metal, then re-attach.

I have seen a simple ground wire do crazy things.

[hoosierguy]

Originally Posted by mesg

so... has anyone ever discovered the result of the lights dimming??? since day 1.. we have had this issue.. dealer looked at the coach said he fixed it.. riiiight, after the 4 month stay (when new) at the redwood warranty facility to fix what should have done on the assembly line, ( I had to re-do most of the repairs myself once I towed it 17 hours home) they too said it was repaired... ( i was later informed they could not duplicate the issue). hence the successfull repair.

I have gone through the entire coach.. replaced all the bus bar breakers... tightened up all the connections.. in the bulk head/genny areas, tightened all connections on the power panel/controller... yes.. virtually every connection from the battery cut off switch.. to the power panel was loose. I have replaced the actual light switches in the entire coach and re-did-improved upon.. all the wiring connections for the interior lighting that I could access in the walls and control center. we have a 2013 36fl.. a.k.a. my worst nightmare..

The diming at times is so dramatic, we have resorted to only using 110 desk lamps in the coach to keep constant lighting, and keep a led flash light handy for the kitchen counter.. sad but true...

both batteries had be to replaced last year as both had dead/dry cells.. we only used it for 2 quick weekend trips last year, it is plugged in to shore power 24/7

according to the power meter I installed, and the level up display i`m only getting 13 volts...and after leveling the coach voltage drops to 10.5 -11 volts for 10 mins or so... seems kinda low but it does recover.. in time..back to 13 volts

Oh JOY!!! i forgot to mention.... last fall when i was detailing it i noticed 2 wires hanging down just in front of the curbside tires... sob!!! both are ground wires... which lead back to the power inverter/charge control located in the corner pantry.. Both where never connected!!!!!!!! Both where coiled up and taped together with electrical tape and secured to the minimal underbelly insulation with a single screw.. both had !! the tab connector on the wire but where never bolted to the frame
According to Redwood both of these wires are part of the overall ground system for the coach and need to be secured to the frame at least 12 inches apart. bolting the to the frame.. hence adding the required ground circuit.. did not change to light dimming/fading..

and notice the fine collection of rust???? for a 3 year old unit stored in door..heated.. i`m more than shocked and saddened .

Unfortunately, all of the checks you have made have to be done on most RV's made by the RV industry.

Relative to the dimming issue...........during our second year of Redwood ownership, our 12 VDC lights started flickering. I did several checks and narrowed the issue down to the convertor. When I took the coach into the factory service center that fall for its annual inspection, I requested they check the convertor and they found it was defective. So, they replaced it under warranty.

You could check your convertor by disconnecting the coach from external shore power. Your lights will now be operating just from the battery source. If the dimming stops, the convertor is the problem and will need to be replaced.

Hope this helps.

[semi retired]

did you find out what was causing the low lighting? and what was the cure?? i think i might be experiencing the same problem with my 2013 36fl. sounds like i have done most of what you have done.. inverter replacement or???? pls im details.. or post here.

[semi retired]

any chance you could im me with the solution you came up with???? we have the same dilemma... and after the checks... im sure it`s not the inverter i have done all all the checks/ground wire connections.. but still... problem remains...