lighting gremlin

[flyfshrockies]

HI all, haven't been around for a while but things are getting squared away so back to using the 2600RB again. I have a gremlin in my ceiling lights lately. When the water pump cycles on and off the ceiling lights give a small flash. The one nearest the door is brighter, as the distance increases to the other lights it gets dimmer. the water pump, ceiling lights and slide motor are on the same 30 amp fuse and circuit. This occurs on both 12 and 110 volt, day or night. The ceiliing lights are unaffected when ON. I have done the following, 1,, checked all connections and fuses in breaker box, 2, checked all connections in junction box under the frame, 3, removed and inspected control panel for burns or smoke thinking it could be a visibly bad resistor, 4, checked water pump connections, 5, checked connections to and from the batteries and looked for any possible shorts, moved wires around etc., 6, pounded head on wall to make sure it's not in my head.

So......could it be a bad resistor in control panel, could it be a short somewhere hidden away. Is it harmful in someway?

Any thoughts or assistant would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Dave

[TucsonJim]

Wow Dave - Good to see you back.

This one is a real "gotcha". I'm going to be following along to see if you can get it resolved. My first thought was to just rewire the pump on it's own circuit.

Jim

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Are the ceiling lights flashing when they are off?

[ncitro]

flyfshrockies I agree with Jim, the first thing I thought of was to move the pump to its own circuit. The high draw of the pump could be causing the voltage to drop enough that on your aged lights the driver is flickering. If not that I would say you have a negative shorted to ground somewhere that high resistance or intermittent which would be a nightmare to track down.

[StephenO]

We have the same issue with our lights when using the water pump, in that when the pump kicks in, the lights dim and start to flicker at a frequency that corresponds to the "Brrrrr" of the pump (you know, the noise the water pump makes. Highly technical, I know )

Along with what ncitro and TucsonJim are recommending, my plan is to try and get a new positive wire from the power distribution center to the switch in the control center for the pump. Last year I opened up the control center and could see they used the same positive connection for the lights and water pump, and a few other items.

[StephenO]

The ceiliing lights are unaffected when ON.

On second read, I see your statement here. Are you saying that the light flicker you see is occurring when the switch is in the off / open position? If so, that is a real conundrum, and I would first replace the switch, since it sounds like it's not fully opening the circuit when switched off.

[TedS]

flyfshrockies maybe the switched wires cross each other and abraided through, making a loose, high resistance connection. When the pump is turned 'on' voltage is applied at the same time to the lights. When the lights are turned 'on' the same happens to the pump, but not with enough current to run the pump. Pull out one of the switches and tug on its output wire to break the cross connection. Or tug on the + wire to the pump to break the cross connection. Just musing this one.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

When a motor stops there is a pulse of energy from collapsing magnetic lines within the motor. Is the flash ONLY when the motor stops running?

[TedS]

StephenO The lights and pump share a common + connection somewhere, like a busbar to which the battery is connected. A dirty, or corroded, or loose connection could make a high resistance and drop voltage when the pump is turned 'on' causing the lights to dim and flicker with pump current draw variation.

[Cate&Rob]

From the original post . . . this light flash is only happening when the switch is off . Is it possible that if the wiring to pump and lights runs parallel for some length, there is an inductive power transfer to the light circuit? Just guessing at this one . . .

Rob

[Yoda]

HI all, haven't been around for a while but things are getting squared away so back to using the 2600RB again. I have a gremlin in my ceiling lights lately. When the water pump cycles on and off the ceiling lights give a small flash. The one nearest the door is brighter, as the distance increases to the other lights it gets dimmer. the water pump, ceiling lights and slide motor are on the same 30 amp fuse and circuit. This occurs on both 12 and 110 volt, day or night. The ceiliing lights are unaffected when ON. I have done the following, 1,, checked all connections and fuses in breaker box, 2, checked all connections in junction box under the frame, 3, removed and inspected control panel for burns or smoke thinking it could be a visibly bad resistor, 4, checked water pump connections, 5, checked connections to and from the batteries and looked for any possible shorts, moved wires around etc., 6, pounded head on wall to make sure it's not in my head.

So......could it be a bad resistor in control panel, could it be a short somewhere hidden away. Is it harmful in someway?

Any thoughts or assistant would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Dave

When I first read this I thought the light were flickering when ON, (normal IMO) but now that I read again I am stumped. However also check the negative return (white) wiring, especially at the pump.. Loose grounds have a habit of letting the gremlins out

Keith

[flyfshrockies]

Thanks Jim. Thanks for the reply's everyone. I've been stumped quite badly by this one. I'm thinking I will try moving the neutral if possible. I did think about the inductive transfer of power as I am familiar with that concept from transformers we use to use at work. Too bad it is not a simple switch replacement but the on/off is in the control panel near the entry door. The control is in the transistors or whatever, the control panel has power in and control signals out, only 2 very small wires exit the system. If/when I come to a solution I will report back.

Dave

[TedS]

flyfshrockies the neutral should not be involved. It's part of the AC wiring, not the DC wiring.

[Jlawles2]

Any resolution?

1st thing I would do is isolate the negative on the 2 circuits. Quite possibly the pump is partially using the negative for the lights to run. Think of how screwy the lights on a trailer get when you loose the ground from the TV.

2nd thing would be to break the positives to ensure that they have not crossed somehow creating the issue.

Unfortunately I am not familiar enough with the boards and how they are configured to know if it's a positive or negative switched system.

[262BKS]

My LED lights are flickering when my water pump is running.