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Topic ClosedA few questions..
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Joined: 08 Jun 2012
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Posts: 13 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: A few questions..
    Posted: 14 Jun 2012 at 4:30pm

So, have spent the last weekend cleaning, familiarizing ourselves with our new 'used' 151... A couple of questions I hope y'all might answer for us...  
1) the rear left brake light / turn signal seems to be not working - I mean those two go on but the headlight component has left us in the dark ( sorry!) A neighbour checked the wiring for us and said they seem to be ok and that we need to buy a new circular LED light. Has this happened to anyone else? Relieved the brake light is working..

2) the better half was playing with the interior switches of all things electrical while the pod was plugged in in our driveway ( not all at the same time ) and then it sounded like a fuse blew after a few minutes after the AC was on... Everything ok as far as fuses in the house, but we have no idea where to check on our new camper. Do we have to 'flip' something ?

p.s. decided to hold off on the interior renovating for awhile, but still want to change out the tin blinds that are there.. Camping world a good place to go? Or Home Depot? And where would one get a LED light? Forest River doesn't seem to have much as far as accessories ...

Thanks for any advice that may be sharedWink
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jun 2012 at 5:32pm
In regards to the rear light, the only thing that comes to mind is that some of the early Pods had issues with water getting in the fixture and ruining the LED array. Other than contacting FR for a replacement, you could look online at places like etrailer or google LED lights and see if you can find something the same size.
 
Would it be safe to assume the Pod's AC stopped working?  The electrical distribution panel for both the DC and AC systems will be a brown rectangle and likely have WFCO on it.  There will be circuit breakers for anything that runs on 120vac and automotive type fuses for the DC stuff.  Just press on the brown door and it will fall open.  Be careful where you put your fingers....best to unplug the Pod from the house before poking around. 
 
If it did trip the breaker, I would be wondering "why".
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bhamster View Drop Down
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Posts: 165 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jun 2012 at 5:50pm
1) I'm not sure what you mean by "those two go on but the headlight...". The rear lights have two intensities (a brighter one for braking, and a dimmer intensity for running/parking lights). Does at least one of the levels work, or is it completely dead?

2) How were you connected to the house? Were you using an extension cord (what length)? Was it connected to a 15/20 amp outlet or a 30 amp outlet? If you were using a standard extension cord, the current surge from the AC would cause a voltage drop in the circuit that would cause it to draw even more current (potentially damaging). There are circuit breakers in the electrical panel (I think under the dinette in the 151) that you can check.

We got our shades at Lowes. I couldn't stand the noise of the mini blinds for more than a couple trips.

You can get the LED lights just about anywhere these days, but we ordered our's from superbrightleds.com
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Posts: 13 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jun 2012 at 6:27pm
Thank you both for some valuable info...  1 level of the light intensity works on the Left light( braking) and both work properly on the Right side.. If the left blinker wasn't working we'd only be doing right hand turns to the next camping spots!!!
And to answer the second part to my question, we did use the extension outlet that came with the Pod, if its 15 or 30amp, not too sure... but of course was not long enough to reach the house, so the better half used a regular extension cord to connect to the higher amp one. Hmmm... probably not a good thing to do...
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Posts: 165 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jun 2012 at 7:59pm
If the left light turns on during braking then the LED's are fine. In the incandescent days they used separate filaments, but in modern LED fixtures they share the same LED's. To achieve the lower intensity there is a bit of circuitry in the fixture that pulses them on/off very rapidly for it to appear dim. Either that circuit is busted, or the connection is faulty. I would pull the fixture out and check the connections. There should be three wires (high, low, and ground). If you have a multimeter handy then that should make quick work of it. Let me know if you need more specifics.

Be careful running the AC on an extension cord. It needs a 30 amp connection to work properly. Here's what a proper 30 amp extension cord looks like:


If you're plugging it into a regular household outlet or using a conventional extension cord then you'll probably run into some potentially dangerous issues (including hot/sparking extension cords). Hopefully it didn't damage the AC. We added one of these to protect against it:


It will not only protect from surges, but also disconnect the power if the voltage gets too low (like your situation). I've even had it kick on when I tried to run a small space heater over an extension cord (they can sometimes use 1000-1500 watts!).
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Posts: 165 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jun 2012 at 8:06pm
I should mention that connecting the trailer to a regular extension cord is fine for running the fridge, lights, water pump, charging the battery, etc... but it's not safe for high power usage (AC, electric heaters, blowdryers, etc...)
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Posts: 9059 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jun 2012 at 12:07pm
While I wouldn't run the electric element in the water heater, or the microwave, when plugged into a 15 amp outlet at home, the A/C shouldn't be a problem.  I measured mine at 1000 watts running with the fan on low, which is well within the limits of a 15 amp circuit breaker.  Of course, that is assuming nothing else shares the same circuit in your house.
 
You can install a 30 amp RV outlet at home to make things easier.  If you can install it inside your garage you don't even need to get a weatherproof enclosure.
Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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