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Porch light repair

FWC porch light

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#1 Lighthawk

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Posted 01 December 2015 - 04:17 PM

Our 2008 Hawk has the stock FWC rear porch light with amber lens.  I replaced the bulb with an LED replacement several year ago.  My problem is that the switch is intermittent.  Sometimes I will flip it a dozen times and it will come on.  Other times, I can't get it to work at all.  I've poked around at the wiring coming into the switch and I can get the light to come on by pushing the wires so it seems like a poor connection.  No position or tweak seems to keep the light working.  

 

I've seen a few other similar comments about switch failure on the porch light.  Has anyone found a repair or replacement option?  It would be nice to have a little light on the back of the camper.  


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2021 RAM 3500 Crew 4x4, 6.4 hemi/8 speed trans with 4.10 gears, Timber Grove bags, Falken Wildpeak 35" tires.

OEV Aluma 6.75 flatbed, Bundutec Odyssey camper on order for 2024

For this year we're still using our 2008 FWC Hawk with victron DC-DC charger, 130w solar, MPPT controler

with 2000w inverter and external 120v output and 12v solar input with 100w portable solar.   http://lighthawkphoto.com


#2 Wandering Sagebrush

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Posted 01 December 2015 - 04:22 PM

Andy, there are tons of replacement lights, I'd just replace the fixture. Save the LED that you installed for an interior light or a spare.
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#3 billharr

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Posted 01 December 2015 - 05:36 PM

+1

Andy, there are tons of replacement lights, I'd just replace the fixture. Save the LED that you installed for an interior light or a spare.

 

If you are going to change the switch go fancy. Make it a 2 way switch with one inside and one outside. No more opening the door is you forget to turn off the light.   You want two double throw single pole switches. 

 

switch_two_way_off_on.jpg

 

2way-switch-conventional-en.png


Edited by billharr, 01 December 2015 - 05:39 PM.

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#4 Lighthawk

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Posted 01 December 2015 - 05:39 PM

Andy, there are tons of replacement lights, I'd just replace the fixture. Save the LED that you installed for an interior light or a spare

 

+1

 

If you are going to change the switch go fancy. Make it a 2 way switch with one inside and one outside. No more opening the door is you forget to turn off the light.

 

77853wayrockerswitchkit.jpg

 

2way-switch-conventional-en.png

 

Is that the stock replacement switch, Bill?  If I could just replace the switch, I could be happy with the existing fixture.

Otherwise, per WS, I could look for a new fixture and am open to specific suggestions that have worked for others.


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2021 RAM 3500 Crew 4x4, 6.4 hemi/8 speed trans with 4.10 gears, Timber Grove bags, Falken Wildpeak 35" tires.

OEV Aluma 6.75 flatbed, Bundutec Odyssey camper on order for 2024

For this year we're still using our 2008 FWC Hawk with victron DC-DC charger, 130w solar, MPPT controler

with 2000w inverter and external 120v output and 12v solar input with 100w portable solar.   http://lighthawkphoto.com


#5 MarkBC

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Posted 01 December 2015 - 06:44 PM

My camper porch light started failing in the same way within a couple of years of new.  Periodically it would work again, but it's been years since I've seen any life in it.  Years earlier I had the same trouble -- early death -- with the dome light in my pickup canopy.

 

Seems odd that such a simple device would fail -- since none of the other electrical devices in my camper have failed, but porch-light failure seems common.


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#6 billharr

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Posted 01 December 2015 - 07:38 PM

Andy.

You should be able to find a replacement switch is that is all that is bad. If you have a radio shack around they would have one. If not lots on Amazon, 


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#7 Taku

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Posted 02 December 2015 - 12:17 AM

Not sure what kind ATC puts on, but our amber porch light uses a simple rocker switch on the bottom. Good so far.


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#8 PaulT

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Posted 02 December 2015 - 03:54 AM

New led fixture with switch http://www.campingwo...mber-lens/75706

They have one with photocell, and motion detection that you just leave enabled & it flips its own switch. ;)

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#9 fish more

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Posted 02 December 2015 - 05:45 AM

Andy,

 

Make sure you have a good ground, I do like the LED unit w/motion sensor


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#10 bfh4n

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Posted 04 December 2015 - 02:03 PM

Those rocker switches that fit in a 1/2" x 3/4" hole are pretty common. It should be easy to get a replacement. (Try DigiKey, Mouser Electronics or even Amazon.) The wires were originally soldered but, if you can't do that, you could get a switch with slip-on terminals and crimp slip-on connectors on the wires. The new switch will probably last longer than the original because the LED draws a lot less current. The original switch switched the higher incandescent lamp current for several years.

 

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