Rotating Striker Light possessed by Demon? Exorcism advice?

AKSeeker · 10-21-2015, 10:10 AM

If have had this occasional, erratic recurring problem with the rotating "Striker Light" that the PO had installed on the roof in front of the penthouse. I come back home in the evening to find the light on, burning up the juice in my starter batteries! The light control unit is mounted on the engine hump, so it is pretty easy to bump it if you walk between the front seats,.. So I thought that I was causing this problem by being clumsy. Because this has already recently cost me a $400 pair of new starter batteries, I am always careful to visually check if the Striker Light is on when I park the van,.. But it is sometimes difficult to tell in bright sunlight. Last night I came home to find the light on again and no one had been in the van, which makes think it is "Possessed"! What else could possibly be causing this? The only other clue is that I had the van plugged into shore power and the cord had been unplugged at the house outside receptacle, causing a "power failure" to the van. I'm thinking that I need to install a "fail-safe" switch in the power supply to the Striker Light, but I don't know how it was wired and the control unit appears to operate wirelessly. Any body else out there have one of these Striker Lights? According to the receipts it was installed by SMB West as part of the original conversion,.. Exorcism advice?

arctictraveller · 10-21-2015, 11:33 AM

[quote=" Exorcism advice?

[/quote]

You might check to see if there's water in any of the controls or wiring, but being wireless, the demon could be anything from your garage door opener to that military jet flying overhead (aren't you near a base?) The most surefire way to solve the problem is a shutoff switch. Simply find the power lead and put a switch in series.

**daveb** · 10-21-2015, 12:12 PM

Got two on my work truck. Have had high power radio transmissions set them off. Also other remotes will set them off. Found that out at work and so I had the shop wire them to the headlights so they only work with the headlights on.

arctictraveller · 10-21-2015, 05:57 PM

Damn radios can get into a lot of stuff. I just installed a 50w 2M in my van, and when transmitting with the stereo on, it trips the protection circuit. I thought I had cooked the stereo, but I found a little re-set button that brought it back to life. Now I make sure the stereo is off before I hit the transmit button. On my boat, when I hit the transmit button on my SSB (150W) it causes the auto pilot to go hard over

AKSeeker · 10-22-2015, 09:22 AM

Thanks arctictraveler and daveb, wiring in a switch to the power supply line to the Striker Light is now Priority #1,.. at least I know I'm not going crazy.

Now I'm wondering if the SMB West wiring of the Striker Light might have something to do with why my Ford ceiling "map" lights have never worked, since those wires are close by and may have been the power source that they used.