Hide a ways not working

[slplow]

I think my hide away box is no good. There is power to the box but lights are not working. The ground looks good and bulbs are good but the test light has a faint flashing to it going to the lights. What do you guys think?

[flykelley]

I think my hide away box is no good. There is power to the box but lights are not working. The ground looks good and bulbs are good but the test light has a faint flashing to it going to the lights. What do you guys think?Sounds like a bad ground to me. I know whelen wants the ground run all the back to the battery.

Good Luck Mike

[MCrossley]

if you cannot get it going let me know, I have a used 4 channel supply I would be willing to part with pretty cheap...

[moose__72]

When the switch is on, do you hear any noise at the strobe pack? If you hear a clicking, or the sound of an old camera charging to flash, it's a bulb or wiring problem. If you do hear a noise, check the wire run for damage and the connections between the bulb and wire. The AMP connectors the send with the kit don't hold up well to the wintertime elements.

If you do not hear any noise, I agree with everyone else and check the ground. Another thing to check is the fuse on the strobe pack itself.

But for safety, if you do find any wire damage or connector problems, unplug that wire from the pack before you do anything. The packs stores voltage, and it can give you quite a whack.

[chev77]

Slplow, I too had problems with my hide-a-ways last winter, as soon as it started getting cold and snowy out. My hide-a-ways are made by Whelen, and after I checked and checked and couldn't find out what was wrong, I sent it to be repaired. If you include the warranty information that came with the pack, it is repaired for free. I believe I got the return information off of their website ( www.whelen.com ). I would assume that even if you don't have Whelen hide-a-ways, other companies would do the same thing. Good luck!

[slplow]

I am going to recheck the whole ground wire. the fues on the box is good. when I put the test light on the out going wires, there is a dim flash. all four bulbs are good and there is no sound coming from the box.

[flykelley]

I am going to recheck the whole ground wire. the fues on the box is good. when I put the test light on the out going wires, there is a dim flash. all four bulbs are good and there is no sound coming from the box.Scott I had the same problem and it was my ground. I had run it to the chassis and not back to the battery. Also check the braided shield wire in the cable that run to the strobe head, it needs to be grounded at the power pack end only.

Regards Mike

[dan portanova]

is this a new hook up or did they stop working?

[slplow]

Dan, they stopped working. They worked great the last storm and then some one wanted to see them work. Iflipped the switch and nothing.

Fly kelley, the neg term on a batt is grounded to the frame of the truck. Why would I get a better ground from that?

[flykelley]

Dan, they stopped working. They worked great the last storm and then some one wanted to see them work. Iflipped the switch and nothing.

Fly kelley, the neg term on a batt is grounded to the frame of the truck. Why would I get a better ground from that?Slplow
I know thats why I grounded mine to the frame also. I could never get them to work right, so after the 3rd call to Whelen tech support they told me in very clear terms(if you do not run that neg all the way back to the battery it will not work) What a pain it was to undo all that wite loom and run the neg wire in it and put it all buck up under the truck. As soon as I ran my neg to the battery it worked great. Also silicon all your connectors where the wires go into them.

Regards Mike

[moose__72]

I'd say start from square one. Disconnect all the wires from the bulbs from the pack. Unplug the connector with the red and black wire in. With a test probe see if you have power to the red pin. Then if you have a volt meter check resistance between the black pin and a good ground (bolt in door jamb or anything bare metal). Resistance should be very close to 0 if not 0. If you have a ground on the black pin, take a voltage reading between the red and black pin. Should be atleast above 12.5 volts.

If power has been verified, unplug the second plug with the yellow and green wires (just yank out the purple wire, it's to lower the power), and flip your dash switch. Check for voltage on either the yellow or green wire. If you have voltage on either of those, plug the power connector and the control wire connector back into the pack. With no bulbs attached you should hear a whine noise.

Last but not least, check the 15 amp blade fuse on the pack itself. Should be close to where the power plugs into the pack. If still no good, I'd say use it as an excuse to go with LED's!

Good luck.

[moose__72]

By the way, I've grounded to the body instead of the battery for the strobe packs and they have worked fine.

[dan portanova]

[QUOTE=slplow]Dan, they stopped working. They worked great the last storm and then some one wanted to see them work. Iflipped the switch and nothing.

That happened to me. Now listen take all connections and put RVT silicon on all connections to make them waterproof. also die electric grease, this may sound stupid but theres some kind of shut off in the brain . when they get moisture on them they will shut off.. i was told by the manufacture to do this and after i did this i never had a problem.:nodd
Good Luck

[slplow]

Ground wire behind seat was crushed. All better now thanks.