New members with lots of questions (starting with porch light problems)

Topic: New members with lots of questions (starting with porch light problems) (Read 1407 times) previous topic - next topic

New members with lots of questions (starting with porch light problems)

October 08, 2017, 06:43:21 pm

Hi,

We Just purchased our 2001 Foretravel Motor Home, and are in the process of working out a few bugs. We put a call into Foretravel tech support, but did not get a call back. Do you have to belong to their club before they will talk to you? Is it worth the yearly fee to join? We're currently trying to fix the porch light that is not working properly. We've already gotten lots of good information from this forum on other issues. Thanks for all the help!

[edited topic title to reflect subsequent discussion - Michelle]

Re: New members with lots of questions

Reply #1 – October 08, 2017, 07:31:48 pm

Quote from: 2inIllinois – October 08, 2017, 06:43:21 pm

We're currently trying to fix the porch light that is not working properly. We've already gotten lots of good information from this forum on other issues. Thanks for all the help!

Just ask away for free here on the forum - LOTS of knowledge and experience here. There are occasionally issues that stump the membership where a call to the factory might help, but for the most part the collective knowledge of this group is priceless (and price-free

)

I do recommend starting a topic about your porch light in Tech Talk (and additional topics for anything else you're working on). Also, you can use Search (left side, hover over "Community", click "Search", put in your terms and use Advanced Search if you want to select most recent rather than most relevant and search for previous posts about some of the "fun with porch lights" folks have had (although it sounds like you're already using Search, so my apologies if you already did but didn't find something that helped).

Also, go into your forum profile and put your coach year/model in your signature - this will help folks easily see what coach you have so they can tailor their answers to your questions

Welcome to ForeForums!

Michelle

Re: New members with lots of questions

Reply #2 – October 08, 2017, 07:53:26 pm

Quote from: 2inIllinois – October 08, 2017, 06:43:21 pm

We're currently trying to fix the porch light that is not working properly.

On our '91 U300 (yours may be different) we had the inside switch AND a switch on the outside light. The outside switch had become flaky after years of exposure to the elements. I took the light cover off and bypassed the outside switch and the light worked perfectly again.

Re: New members with lots of questions

Reply #3 – October 08, 2017, 09:43:15 pm

This 2001 U295 has the inside switch and also a "touch" feature. When you touch the outside handle(i believe), the handle and the porch light lite up. My problem was both stayed lit all the time. After hours of lead tracing, voltage measurements, etc. I found the following. There is a cup holder by the passengers seat with a 110vac outlet, and another jack. Above that are two rotary controls. None of this had a thing to do with the porch light. As you plug in the fuse on the front of the bed, you could hear a 'tic' noise. As I touched the fuse to the socket several times, my wife located the tic. Inside the cup holder stand was a touch device and a relay. When you put the fuse in the relay came up putting battery on the outside light and safety handle. Access to the relay and touch device was poor. After much deliberating, I took a 3 inch hole saw, carefully cut a hole in the face of the cup holder, reached in , pulled the four prong connector off the relay, and the single white lead to the touch box. All works well from the switch only and that is just fine with me. I wish there was a schematic of this option. Shoot this trouble from the hip is difficult. As far as the 3 inch hole, I will cover it with a matching brown solid electrical cover and all should look fine.
Thanks for your input.
Alan

Re: New members with lots of questions

Reply #4 – October 08, 2017, 09:59:03 pm

Welcome to the Forum! You get a free complimentary membership in the Motorcade Club when you buy a new or used Foretravel coach. Follow the link and read down the page to the bottom for info.

Foretravel Motorcoach - Foretravel Motorcade Club

Re: New members with lots of questions

Reply #5 – October 08, 2017, 10:07:12 pm

Alan, wait until January to sign up for your free Motocade year, that way you get a whole year.

Ask away, the more descriptive of the symptoms are and what you think the proble might me or what you think should happen will help us be as specific with answers as we can. More helpful both ways.

Welcome to our community. Your 2001 coach is a good year.

We had a similar issue. I disconnected the ground wire in the lower part of the handle to shut it off and disable to touch function. There was enough moisture in there to make it misbehave. The switch still works the light.

Re: New members with lots of questions

Reply #6 – October 09, 2017, 12:32:17 am

Quote from: 2inIllinois – October 08, 2017, 09:43:15 pm

pulled the four prong connector off the relay

I have the four prong connector inside the cup holder column, but nothing is plugged into it. What relay was plugged into yours?

Thanks,

Trent

Re: New members with lots of questions

Reply #7 – October 09, 2017, 09:04:56 am

Quote from: 2inIllinois – October 08, 2017, 09:43:15 pm

This 2001 U295 has the inside switch and also a "touch" feature. When you touch the outside handle(i believe), the handle and the porch light lite up. My problem was both stayed lit all the time. After hours of lead tracing, voltage measurements, etc. I found the following. There is a cup holder by the passengers seat with a 110vac outlet, and another jack.

Quote

Access to the relay and touch device was poor. After much deliberating, I took a 3 inch hole saw, carefully cut a hole in the face of the cup holder,

Yes, many square drive screws holding it together. It *is* possible to get inside the box without cutting a hole, but it isn't easy.

Quote

I wish there was a schematic of this option. Shoot this trouble from the hip is difficult.

Check the media section for schematics - we do have one somewhere. It's an Intellitec module.

ETA - here ya go

Door handle patio light touch switch-how to fix it

Re: New members with lots of questions (starting with porch light problems)

Reply #8 – October 09, 2017, 09:54:59 am

Just as an aside .... when we were having issues with our automatic awning on our '02, the fine gentlemen at ZipDee were troubleshooting the front power arm. They discovered that the wiring that went from the arm INSIDE the body of the coach and to the power source (original stuff) was brittle and breaking ... interrupting the power and commands to the arm. They wound up replacing as much of the wiring as they could. You may find that there are issues with "old wire". Who knows?? The adventure begins!! You are not having fun unless you are fixing something!

Re: New members with lots of questions (starting with porch light problems)

Reply #9 – October 09, 2017, 11:32:24 am

Quote from: Roger & Susan in Home2 – October 08, 2017, 10:07:12 pm

Alan, wait until January to sign up for your free Motocade year, that way you get a whole year.

Ask away, the more descriptive of the symptoms are and what you think the problem might me or what you think should happen will help us be as specific with answers as we can. More helpful both ways.

Welcome to our community. Your 2001 coach is a good year.

We had a similar issue. I disconnected the ground wire in the lower part of the handle to shut it off and disable to touch function. There was enough moisture in there to make it misbehave. The switch still works the light.

This may have changed as we bought our coach in July and got our Motorcade membership at the same time. When I went to renew my membership in January Beverly Koonce said I was good for the next year as we did not receive a full year with our original membership.

Re: New members with lots of questions (starting with porch light problems)

Reply #10 – October 09, 2017, 05:20:07 pm

Quote from: SteveB – October 09, 2017, 11:32:24 am

When I went to renew my membership in January Beverly Koonce said I was good for the next year as we did not receive a full year with our original membership.

Is she a relative of yours? I bought my Foretravel on 8/8/14, and renewed at the Grandvention later that year.

The free one year of FMCA was for a full year.

Trent

Re: New members with lots of questions (starting with porch light problems)

Reply #11 – October 09, 2017, 05:35:46 pm

We a;so disconnected the outside ground wire. Switch works fine.

Check out Barry and Darlene Brideau's Personal Website for technical tips.

Re: New members with lots of questions (starting with porch light problems)

Reply #12 – September 23, 2018, 11:37:03 am

Our porch light has been on for the last 3 days. Heavy rain here. Pulled the fixture apart. Replaced the bulb for the handle - from Reilly's - push in type. Cleaned up the lower fixture and reassembled about 5/6 times trying different ways to NOT ground and light the light but finally cut the wire. Now works only when the inside switch button is pushed. Got tired of playing with it. May put it on the list for MOT to repair.........

Thanks forum members - the Search function provides the answer(s) again.

Re: New members with lots of questions (starting with porch light problems)

Reply #13 – September 23, 2018, 07:38:49 pm

Funny story here.
Bought out new-to-us '93 U225 and drive it home, park, plug in and take one last look around repeating over and over "God, she's lovely" as I shut down the lights.
Go to leave and the porch light is on.
Go back in, check the switches, nada.
Go to leave, look up and the porch light is on, again. Daym.
Repeat a few times with growing frustration and feeling of stupidity. Yes, you guessed it, I was touching the outside handle resetting the timer and keeping the light on.
That, friends, is why I ever son rarely answer technical questions.

But I DO say "HOWDY"!
Howdy, Newbies!

(Oh, and I'm going to change my sig.file. Now)

Re: New members with lots of questions (starting with porch light problems)

Reply #14 – September 24, 2018, 07:49:24 am

We have a 2001 also. I had a problem with the light over the door, too. It had been working fine, including the grab handle switch. I first checked to see if I had power from the inside switch. Next, I pulled the bulbs, with the intention of replacing them. How would you know if the bulb(s) were bad? Still didn't work. THEN....Twig, who was guiding me through this, suggested that I tighten the contacts at the ends of the bulbs. Noting that BOTH bulbs have to work......guess what? He was right. Original bulbs. Works fine now. Sometimes it's the easy stuff. Now I want to switch it out to LED .Welcome to my world. You will LOVE the coach. We do. why is this post from a year ago??

Re: New members with lots of questions (starting with porch light problems)

Reply #15 – September 24, 2018, 08:25:59 am

Mine is dated a year old also.
To really mess up, you need a computer.

Re: New members with lots of questions (starting with porch light problems)

Reply #16 – September 24, 2018, 08:46:10 am

I found this thread using Search and added my comments. Hope doing that was OK.

Re: New members with lots of questions (starting with porch light problems)

Reply #17 – September 24, 2018, 09:07:50 am

In my coach, the over-the-door light problem was a poor ground wire connect in to the frame. I ended up replacing the original fixture with an LED light bar. Much brighter!

Amazon.com: Dream Lighting 12V Waterproof Awning Lights/RV LED Porch...

Jim

2002 U320 42'

As an Amazon Associate Foretravel Owners' Forum earns from qualifying purchases.

Re: New members with lots of questions (starting with porch light problems)

Reply #18 – September 24, 2018, 09:20:15 am

Quote from: Carol & Scott – September 24, 2018, 08:46:10 am

I found this thread using Search and added my comments. Hope doing that was OK.

Better than OK! You did GOOD dredging up a old thread that you found using the search function. By doing so, you are able to profit from the past comments, and save people having to re-post the same advice they gave a year ago. The archival value of this Forum is sometimes not fully utilized, especially by newer members. They don't realize that many of their questions can be answered by simply searching the past threads.

No need to "re-invent the wheel" every time a common problem crops up!

Re: New members with lots of questions (starting with porch light problems)

Reply #19 – September 24, 2018, 01:35:20 pm

Wonder what happened to 2inillinois

Affiliate Notice