Running Lights not working

[wdw0528]

Forgive me if this has been addressed but my search didn’t return a good result.

on a recent trip our curb side running lights on the front of hull #319 (2018 LEII) stopped working while all other exterior lights seem to be fine.

Anyone else experience similar problem?

How do you access the bulbs?

Is there fuse that may affect only those?

Any troubleshooting tips appreciated.

Thanks,

Darrell

[Mike and Carol]

I’d check the switch first.  Flick it on/off several times.  If that doesn’t do it,  check to make sure the wires are connected securely to the back of the switch.  Mike

[mossemi]

4 hours ago, wdw0528 said:

our curb side running lights on the front of hull #319

Are you referring to the round amber dots located on all 8 corners?  I say all 8 corners because the dots are both high and low.  I understand it is just the curb side, but the round dots do not have a switch.  They are powered by the 7 pin connector attached to the tow vehicle.

Mossey

[Ollie-Haus]

Just from a general trouble shooting approach, the running lights feed directly from the same pin on the trailer plug as the tail lights, all one circuit. If you have good tail lights both sides and running lights operating on the rest of the trailer, the problem is probably at the point where the wire going to that side of the trailer connects to the main branch. Not having our Ollie yet I would only be able to guess that this connection would be near the tongue of the trailer, possibly a covered distribution block. Others that are familiar with the Oliver wiring harness could add clarity to this hopefully. It's unlikely the that multiple bulbs would burn out, especially since they are LEDs. 

[ScubaRx]

I've encountered marker light problems with the OOII several times thru the years. I like the way Mossey described their locations, so I'll be using his nomenclature. First it was the front port upper corner. Now, (several years later) it's the bottom front both corners.

The first time turned out to actually be a burned out LED. That was surprising. The second instance is going to be tougher but, since it is both sides, I suspect it will be a loose wire. All these lights have their wiring run before the outer upper hull is installed and can make rewiring a challenge.

[mossemi]

14 minutes ago, ScubaRx said:

The first time turned out to actually be a burned out LED

I haven’t had the opportunity to work on any of the marker lights, but I believe someone on the forum, maybe topgun2, mentioned that the lights are installed from the outside and pushed into place.  Is that the case?

Mossey

[mossemi]

I believe I have circled the marker lights in red in the attachment.  If someone has a different thought, please share it.

Mossey

 

[wdw0528]

Thanks for the input guys!!

I like referring to them as marker lights too…. and since both upper and lower lights went out together I assumed something other than a bulb was likely.

I was hoping to pull the bulb and check for power there. Do they just pop out from the chrome frame?

Thanks for the schematic Mossemi - I think your red circles are correct. Does anyone know if the first joint in that line is accessible in/under the tounge of the trailer’s exterior ….. or if there is any chance the wire is actually green?

[Geronimo John]

7 hours ago, Mike and Carol said:

I’d check the switch first.  Flick it on/off several times.  If that doesn’t do it,  check to make sure the wires are connected securely to the back of the switch.

Spot on.   Had the same issue with some interior lights.  Just took my small needle nosed vice grips and gave the connections a bit of tightening and all fixed.  

[ScubaRx]

6 hours ago, mossemi said:

I haven’t had the opportunity to work on any of the marker lights, but I believe someone on the forum, maybe topgun2, mentioned that the lights are installed from the outside and pushed into place.  Is that the case?

Mossey

Yes, the light has to be removed from the chrome bezel first. This is not easy because there’s nothing to grab hold of to pull it out. You just have to keep at it and tease it out. If someone knows an easy removal method, please share. Once out, clip something to the wires so they don’t disappear back down into the hole. The bezel can now be easily removed. 

[mossemi]

9 hours ago, wdw0528 said:

Does anyone know if the first joint in that line is accessible in/under the tounge of the trailer’s exterior ….. or if there is any chance the wire is actually green?

The large 7 wire cable enters the hull under the bathroom sink so there isn’t anywhere outside to test.  Oliver’s wiring schematic’s are pretty accurate color wise, so I believe you should start looking under the sink or the front dinette seat for the green wire leaving the large bundle of wires in wire loom.

Mossey

[John E Davies]

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/5271-how-to-junction-box-for-the-7-wire-trailer-harness-under-the-front-dinette-seat/

From that thread, here are the outside running light connections for the left front (LF) ones (I THINK  both top and bottom lights connect here.). The LR and RR will be reasonably easy to access. The RF one is buried under the closet floor I believe.

 

If you do open up that wire loom cover for a look inside, please make sure Oliver did not mess up like this:

FYI, Oliver’s color coding for the 7 pin wires inside the trailer is wacky and nowhere close to the industry standard.

John Davies

Spokane WA

 

[Geronimo John]

We have seen this below splice issue before.  I decided that my added 175 amp 4 AWG power and ground wires to the Orion D/C to D/C charger would be more than enough to mitigate the below issue.  But what about those that don't have such a set up?  Has this issue been rectified by OTT for new trailers than ours?

We pretty much all agree that we can not rely on the metal to metal ground of the hitch to provide an adequate ground.  Also that the brakes alone require enough power that a 14 AWG wire is too small per Dexter (who requires 12 AWG per their info.  

Now we add to the problem that OTT has used a 12 Ga/10 Ga crimp connection for a 14 Ga wire.  Is this mistake common for all or just some of the OE2's?

John How much white 12 GA wire did you need to replace the 14, and which connector did you use?  (EDIT:  For both the hot and negative 10 ga wires?)  GJ

 

GJ

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Geronimo John
Clarity of question.

[John E Davies]

26 minutes ago, Geronimo John said:

 

Now we add to the problem that OTT has used a 12 Ga/10 Ga crimp connection for a 14 Ga wire.  Is this mistake common for all or just some of the OE2's?

John How much white 12 GA wire did you need to replace the 14, and which connector did you use?

See the thread above, I rewired that whole circuit, I used 10 AWG charge and ground wires back to the Oliver bus.

I moved those buried splices to above the sewer pipe and secured them up high for easy future access.

FYI it is “possible” to make a secure splice of a too small wire into a larger butt splice, you strip it extra long and fold the wire back on itself. But that is the redneck way, I would not endorse it.

John Davies

Spokane WA

 

[Geronimo John]

My bad, your amazing pictures blinded me to the thread link.... Yep, that's my story line and I'm sticking with it.   🙂

But then, the answer to the question posted is...............

Good Safety post.

Safety John     errr GJ

[John E Davies]

We should all think hard about all aspects of each our mods. We really don’t want to annoy, burn, damage, explode or kill anybody. Adding extra access points or ID labels to boxes and wires for future owners is always in my mind, these trailers will be around looooing after all of us are gone to the Happy Trails Above. For example:

But you also need to have a *** LOT *** of spare time. No hourly RV tech is going to do this stuff for you.

John Davies

Spokane WA

 

[Ollie-Haus]

12 hours ago, John E Davies said:

See the thread above, I rewired that whole circuit, I used 10 AWG charge and ground wires back to the Oliver bus.

I moved those buried splices to above the sewer pipe and secured them up high for easy future access.

FYI it is “possible” to make a secure splice of a too small wire into a larger butt splice, you strip it extra long and fold the wire back on itself. But that is the redneck way, I would not endorse it.

John Davies

Spokane WA

 

John, I like what you did with this particular upgrade and the other electrical improvements you've shared in previous posts. This is the exact junction box I was referring to in my comment above, that I would have expected Oliver to use as a distribution point for the trailer plug harness to branch to the other areas of the trailer.

To say the least, I'm a little disappointed at some of the low quality connections used in the wire harness as is being reveled in these threads. And I'm even a little concerned that these connections are randomly buried throughout the trailer in loomed harnesses that would be very difficult to troubleshoot should there be a bad connection. With the potential for exposure to moisture due to condensation, I would have expected these connections to be made with heat shrink sealed type connectors. I see some improvement projects in my future I'm afraid. At least I know what to expect. I'm already working on a number of electrical upgrades/additions anyway so it will all be part of the project. 

[SeaDawg]

10 hours ago, John E Davies said:

We should all think hard about all aspects of each our mods. We really don’t want to annoy, burn, damage, explode or kill anybody. Adding extra access points or ID labels to boxes and wires for future owners is always in my mind, these trailers will be around looooing after all of us are gone to the Happy Trails Above. For example:

But you also need to have a *** LOT *** of spare time. No hourly RV tech is going to do this stuff for you.

John Davies

Spokane WA

 

Agreed

 We experiment with "stuff," (not as extensive as you, probably. ) But, we started with a very basic trailer. 

Like you, we report the good and bad.

 

 

[Rivernerd]

13 hours ago, Ollie-Haus said:

To say the least, I'm a little disappointed at some of the low quality connections used in the wire harness as is being reveled in these threads. And I'm even a little concerned that these connections are randomly buried throughout the trailer in loomed harnesses that would be very difficult to troubleshoot should there be a bad connection.

I shared your concern, based on those same threads, until I took delivery of our 2022 Elite II, Hull #1291, last November.  My inspection of the factory wiring, bus bars and other electrical components visible through the access ports and hatches in our trailer appears to me to be done with greater care, and often with higher quality components, than are shown in John Davies' photos from his 2017 Elite II.  This suggests to me that Oliver has raised the production quality of the electrical installations in the interim.  It made my feel a bit better about paying so much more in 2022 that Oliver was charging back in 2017!

In fact, my impression upon inspection was that the electrical issues noted in John Davies' many posts appear to have been passed on to the "right" people at Oliver, and that they have since implemented needed improvements in component and production quality.  Time will tell if our 2022 electrical system is less trouble prone than earlier models. 

Ollie-Haus, I hope you are pleasantly surprised by the quality of the electrical components and work in your 2023.  As you are obviously more knowledgeable about such things than I am, I look forward to reading your observations following delivery!

[Ollie-Haus]

11 hours ago, Rivernerd said:

I shared your concern, based on those same threads, until I took delivery of our 2022 Elite II, Hull #1291, last November.  My inspection of the factory wiring, bus bars and other electrical components visible through the access ports and hatches in our trailer appears to me to be done with greater care, and often with higher quality components, than are shown in John Davies' photos from his 2017 Elite II.  This suggests to me that Oliver has raised the production quality of the electrical installations in the interim.  It made my feel a bit better about paying so much more in 2022 that Oliver was charging back in 2017!

In fact, my impression upon inspection was that the electrical issues noted in John Davies' many posts appear to have been passed on to the "right" people at Oliver, and that they have since implemented needed improvements in component and production quality.  Time will tell if our 2022 electrical system is less trouble prone than earlier models. 

Ollie-Haus, I hope you are pleasantly surprised by the quality of the electrical components and work in your 2023.  As you are obviously more knowledgeable about such things than I am, I look forward to reading your observations following delivery!

Thanks for the reassuring words. I'm confident that Oliver is trying to bring their standards up when and where they see the need. I'm not as worried as I may have come across but I'm realistic when it comes to quality control. I've worked in industrial manufacturing for over 40 years and know first hand that people have bad days, and some will take short cuts when the bosses aren't looking. People are people. Besides, compared to most RVs on the market the Olivers are better by far in every way. 

I am a trouble shooter by birth I think, guilty of taking my toys apart when I was a kid just to see how they worked. "Fixed" my first small engine when I was about 12 years old. After replacing a broken connecting rod, valves and bearings, dad's rototiller went on to several more years of summer gardening.

I'm actually looking forward to digging into the hidden areas of the Oliver to learn my way around and make an improvement here or there when I see the need. My goal will be to become very familiar with where everything is, and prevent those situations that happen on the road when trouble shooting and repairs are much more difficult. Entering week two of construction on Monday and counting down the days. No worries, just excitement. 

[Rivernerd]

3 hours ago, Ollie-Haus said:

I'm actually looking forward to digging into the hidden areas of the Oliver to learn my way around and make an improvement here or there when I see the need.

Last November, I, too, looked forward to the opportunity to thoroughly inspect the build quality of our new Elite II.  I found several issues while camping over a long weekend at David Crockett State Park.  It took two work days, but they were all promptly addressed by the Oliver Service team once we returned the trailer to Hohenwald the following Monday.  My report of that experience is detailed here:

I am looking forward to your post-delivery report, given your experience and training.  I expect I will learn things that enable me to address potential issues while our Elite II is at home with access to all of my tools, rather than out on the road.