3740BH-R Ceiling Light issues.

[BDewitt]

We just took ownership of our new 2023 3740BHR. Have the Lippert one control pad mounted by the main door. I am currently changing out all of my LED light for 12V halogen puck lights. 12V 20W halogen bulbs and only one per puck light. (Medical reasons.) Right now, 7 living room/kitchen ceiling lights will not stay on longer than one second. Control pad stated a fault occurred, but I cannot see any fault codes or get to a screen that tells me more. 4 Master bedroom lights stay on for about 1.5-2 minutes and then shut off by themselves, funny thing is if I move the switch to the other position, they come back on, and cycle repeats however long I want to play that game. Half bath with halogen puck lights installed in bunkhouse, fan switch causes a momentary single flash from the bunkhouse ceiling lights, which are still LED. Have not switched them out yet. All of the lights that I have installed so far are wired the same throughout the rig. Under cabinet lights are having no issues staying on when switched on. No 120V breakers are tripped, and no 12V blade fuses are blown either.

Talking to dealer, salesman not service tech, he stated that the rig is set to sense the low wattage for the LED lights, not the halogen lights I installed and kicks off lights as a safety measure. I do not know if this is correct. Has anyone else had this happen to them? If so, what was the fix? If this is true, why do I not have access to these settings through the control pad? Or am I not doing something right?

[Country Campers]

There is a big electronics board I believe in the pass thru storage behind the rearward wall that will have all kinds of stuff on it. What I am guessing is that the relays that control the lights is not large enough in wattage to handle the increased load that the halogen bulbs are putting on the circuit. I am not sure if there is anything outside of changing these relays that will fix the problem. There are plenty of electrical geniuses here that should be along to better help you out.

Brian

[howson]

BDewitt

Your 3740BH has a Lippert OneControl X1 board that is used to power the lights. I know this since the lights are controlled via the OCTP (OneControl Touch Panel).

According to the manual (available for download from Lippert here: https://lci-support-doc.s3.amazonaws...cd-0002697.pdf ) the light circuit is protected by a 5A self-resetting circuit breaker. Exact verbiage from the manual:

Low Current (LC) Latching Outputs (Fig. 3): Connections are available for four low current (5A maximum) latching outputs. This is a +12V output.

Each of the 20W halogens is likely pulling close to 1.6A of current (20/12=1.6), so more than 3 lights on at any one time will open the breaker on the OneControl board. (It will reset itself.)

That's a long way of saying "I agree with your dealer." (First time I think I've written that statement!)

If you'd like to know more about this forum, please check out the Welcome Letter to New Members here: https://gdrvowners.com/forum/main-fo...to-new-members

[howson]

BDewitt -- as a point for comparison, the 7 LED lights in the living area (controlled from the Convenience Panel in my 315RLTS) use less than 2A when turned on full bright (they are on a dimmer).

[Jlawles2]

As an alternative you could use the one control board to trigger a separate relay fed by an alternative power source on it's own fuse. These relays can be placed next to the one control board thus allowing use of the existing wiring to the puck lights.

[BDewitt]

So here is the update: Talked with GD and they passed me over to Lippert for the OneControl aspect of this issue further stating that it sounds like I need to run my own wires to the ceiling lights to have them wok. Talked with Lippert this morning and we went through the configuration settings, and I am unable to increase the amp fuse setting high enough to handle the incandescent amp draw. They also stated that I need to run separate wires to the ceiling lights to fix the issue. They cannot mod the Unity X1.5 board to increase the amp setting, they have nothing to replace it with that has a 15-amp setting currently. This means that I have to bypass my current setup for my lights. I do not want to bypass the board completely as I want it to run the other items within the rig. Awning, awning lights, slides, exterior lights, etc. On my 3740BHR, ceiling lights are split into three areas, bedroom, living room/kitchen area, and bunk house. The wires going into the configurable input port of the X1.5 on the left side, pins #3, 7, & 8. these are also tied into the 5A latch port upper top Right side of the panel.

My thought is to remove the ceiling light wires from the configurable and the 5A latch ports and tie them into the 12v board directly. This, IMO, would allow me to use the existing wires and switches within the rig and be the least invasive to the system. Can someone smarter than I, check me on this please?

[howson]

So here is the update: Talked with GD and they passed me over to Lippert for the OneControl aspect of this issue further stating that it sounds like I need to run my own wires to the ceiling lights to have them wok. Talked with Lippert this morning and we went through the configuration settings, and I am unable to increase the amp fuse setting high enough to handle the incandescent amp draw. They also stated that I need to run separate wires to the ceiling lights to fix the issue. They cannot mod the Unity X1.5 board to increase the amp setting, they have nothing to replace it with that has a 15-amp setting currently. This means that I have to bypass my current setup for my lights. I do not want to bypass the board completely as I want it to run the other items within the rig. Awning, awning lights, slides, exterior lights, etc. On my 3740BHR, ceiling lights are split into three areas, bedroom, living room/kitchen area, and bunk house. The wires going into the configurable input port of the X1.5 on the left side, pins #3, 7, & 8. these are also tied into the 5A latch port upper top Right side of the panel.

My thought is to remove the ceiling light wires from the configurable and the 5A latch ports and tie them into the 12v board directly. This, IMO, would allow me to use the existing wires and switches within the rig and be the least invasive to the system. Can someone smarter than I, check me on this please?

I like Jlawles2 (Joseph's) idea. All you have to do is add a relay to the existing circuit. The output of the X1 board (that currently directly powers the light) will trigger the relay to pass the power to the light circuit. The relay trigger requires very little power so the X1 board's light output connection will work with no issues. Connect a sufficient power source the input (power) side of the relay and the existing wire that originally went to the light circuit on the output of the relay--and you're in business.

Only caveat is to ensure the total amperage of the lights you're adding don't exceed the amperage carrying capacity of the wiring in the ceiling. (15A?)

I'd add a fuse, too, between the power source and the relay input. Below is a simple block diagram showing the existing (top) and proposed (bottom). Any competent RV technician should easily be able to wire this up for you.

[KSC_Travels]

Personally, I would be concerned about the gauge of existing wires in the ceiling. It sounds like the Lippert tech suggested they would need to be increased in size. I am guessing existing is either 14awg (maybe 12awg if you're lucky). That run is likely 20 to 25 ft (x2 for return path) so upwards of 40-50' in length. For 15A that would suggest 10awg is needed (but someone smarter than me can check that - maybe 12awg would be okay).