Interior light wiring help!

[oldglory]

I have a light fixture that goes over the sink. It has an outlet, the bulb socket and a switch. Each of these have two wires coming from them, socket and outlet one white and one black. From the ceiling I have three black wires, two white wires and one green. A green goes to the switch for ground. The white from the outlet and the bulb socket connect to the white from the ceiling. A black from the socket and the outlet go to the blacks from the ceiling. Both wires coming from the switch are black. Do they both go to the black? Here is a lousy picture, but maybe you can see it well enough to understand what I am talking about.

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[schweetcruisers]

One black wire coming from the switch should be connected to the black in the ceiling and the other black coming from the switch should be connected to the black at the socket.

[schweetcruisers]

Sorry a little more explanation, all whites should be connected together, the black coming from the ceiling should be connected to the one of the black from the switch and black from the outlet, the black from the socket should be connected to the second black at the switch. Hope this make sense.

[Deleted]

[oldglory]

Mission accomplished. I looked at that thing when I took it down and said "You'll remember". Of course I didn't when I went to put it back up! :)It was that one black wire that connecting the switch and the socket that threw me! I just knew I could count on someone from this forum to guide me! Thank you!!

[buggirl7]

Alright knowledgable ones, I jave this same light fixture on the shasta that I bought last night. So today when I was cleaning it up I look the fixture down and hooked up a ceramic light fixture...I only used one set of the wires from ceiling and grounded the copper ground to the a screw in the housing. When I turned it on it didnt work so I unhooked the wires I had and tried the other set.... no go, I put the original light fixture back on and it still wont work. When I did this the out let that I was using for something else stopped working as well.....
What would cause this and how do I fix it?

[dawgpound]

It sounds like you may have crossed some wires when you were installing the new fixture, thus tripping a breaker. Look for the breaker panel box and see if one of the breakers was tripped.

[buggirl7]

Can you tell me where I may look for a breaker box? I've been all over the inside of the trailer and it's a pretty small one. Are they normally inside or outside? Sorry, Im a first time owner of a camper and I've only had it 48 hrs!

[cowcharge]

Aren't many places one can hide it... Under dinette seats or in closets are the usual places.

[Deleted]

Without knowing the year or model of your camper--- Most are tucked away, but are fairly obvious once you get there. It will be located inside. Some had them inside the closet or wardrobe, near the ceiling. Usually there would have originally been one breaker switch showing in the panel.
If you have a model that has the front dinette, it may be underneath the dinette seat bench, most likely on the streetside.

[vikx]

It might look like this breaker box:

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[vikx]

Or a fuse block. Don't panic, this one needed work...

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[mobiltec]

For a couple of years now I have been pondering the idea of doing a tutorial on trailer electric. After this weekend I have decided that there are just some things that should be left to professionals or at the very least, this is not something that is easy to teach in short weekend.

This weekend I reworked all the electrical in a 57 Jewel. We converted all the lighting to 12vdc using 50 watt DC bulbs available at Home Depot or any RV store. We added two 110vac outlets and installed an Intellicharger from VTS and a 30 amp breaker box. I also fished new wiring in to lower the outside plug in from up high over the kitchen window to down low. Everything came together under the street side dinette seat as the water tank is under the bed. Sweet...

Only problem is the owner wished to learn as he has multiple trailers to work on now. He got the bug pretty bad and bought 3 at once. So I told him I would teach him as we go. It was TOUGH! REALLY TOUGH to try to exlplain color coding and the whys and hows and where-fors. Especially being that the running lights color codes are different than the present electronics color codes and completely different than the 110vac color codes which confused him to no end. The difference between Alternating Current and Direct Current, white is ground on trailers, green is ground in DC electronics and White is neutral in 110vac and so on and so forth. It was so hard to try to have him understand what was going on that it helped me decide that I won't be doing a tutorial on Trailer Electrical. I am afraid someone's trailer will burn to the ground and then it's gonna be my fault for not explaining it right.

Some things should just be left to the pros in my humble opinion and if you are hell bent on doing your own, then you need to do a lot of reading and educate yourself in order to be safe.

[vikx]

Well said Mobiltec.

Anybody wanting to do electrical work should study and learn the electrical code before attempting wiring. It is always better to use a pro if you have ANY doubts at all...