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3Ms75Argosy · 04-15-2005, 10:05 PM

Hi all! I've searched the forums for photos of wiring of the Intellipower, but not having luck finding a photo with my situation.... but that may mean I just haven't figured out the wiring out right.

Problem - 76 Argosy, I took out the Univolt (with integrated fuse block) and figured I'd just get a new fuseblock and wire up and go. But I've got an extra wire left over, and don't want to plug in the Intellipower and let out that precious factory smoke.

Univolt fuse panel before:

Purple, Pink, Blue (big wire), Red (big wire), and a silver bar with White connected on the top and Black on the bottom.

Purple, Pink, Blue (and I think yellow) are 12V circuts - right (blue being the feed to the trailer pig tail)? Red is the 12v positive from the battery, and Black is the 12v battery negative. What is the big White wire?, and why is connected together on a bus on the fuseblock?

How I was feeding the intellipower (two each positive and negatives) + ground:

New Red (+) wire to fuse block (that had purple, pink, yellow and blue connected to the fuseblock circuts). Red (+) from battery to second positive terminal on the intellipower. I got a slotted wirenut and connected a new ground to the existing big ground wire going to the 120v circut panel - this connects to Negative (1) slot on Intellipower. The second Negative (2) slot on the intellipower I connected to the black negative (-) from the battery. This leaves the white lead unconnected.....

What did I do wrong? Keep in mind I did not plug in yet, so I should be safe if I did this wrong...(battery disconnected too).

Help!
Marc (who wants to go to Battleground and get firsthand help, but I think I disconnected all power so now I would have no brakes!) sigh!

3Ms75Argosy · 04-15-2005, 10:14 PM

lets see if my wiring diagram works. The mystery white wire is connected to a silver bus (as in wired together and not isolated) with the black negative from the battery.
Marc

C Johnson · 04-15-2005, 10:15 PM

What was the white connected to and with what ? I have a white wire, big heavy one, that was the neg on my fuse block. But, then in 65 they may have done things totally different. I put an IOTA in my Caravel. fyi

3Ms75Argosy · 04-15-2005, 10:24 PM

So where does my mystery white wire go?

3Ms75Argosy · 04-15-2005, 10:26 PM

Hi
The white wire (large gauge, like the Red and Black from the battery) was connected to a silver "bus" on the univolt fuseblock with the black from the battery. I'm not sure if my drawings were up when you replied... my computer skills are not that fast!
Marc

C Johnson · 04-15-2005, 10:44 PM

Well in my AS the white wire went to ground. I mean it goes to the trailer frame. I didn't actually put an eyeball on it going to the trailer frame. But, with a test light, I put the clip on the white wire and the probe on the pos. It lit, so I surmised that it is a ground wire.

C Johnson · 04-15-2005, 10:48 PM

I am going out to refresh my memory on the install. Be right back.

C Johnson · 04-15-2005, 11:09 PM

Hi Marc, I went and looked at my wiring. All the white wires are connected together to a common ground. I had/have a different setup than you have. My fuse block was very separate from the converter. ( in a different part of the trailer )I changed it a bit after I hooked up my IP. I had an 110 a/c to 12 v a/c converter. The d/c for the water pump had to come from the bat. with no bat. you had no water pump operation. I had to change things around a bit to get it to work correctly with the converter. This meant taking apart my control center and rearranging the wires on the circuit breakers inside. It works great now. The white wires I did not change, I left them all hooked together. If I could see it I could help you out better. Not sure if this helps or not. Let me know what you find out.

3Ms75Argosy · 04-16-2005, 02:10 AM

I was trying to envision what the wiring diagram said on the old univolt (a bit faided). I think it says 12v feed negative, and battery negative, so I guess it makes sense that they're wired together. I suppose I should take off the black new ground I made (which I attached to post #1 of the (-) Intellipower) and attach that to the chassis ground post of the IP. Then the white and black (battery -) should attach to the #1&2 posts on the IP.

I'll let everyone know if the smoke comes out! (fingers crossed! hope not!)

Thanks for looking at your trailer in the dark!
Marc

balrgn · 04-16-2005, 05:17 AM

Just pulled my Univolt out yesterday. Here is a pic of the original installation.
http://www.balrgn.com/Argosy/DSC02629.jpg

3 wires, Red and White in and one ground attached to the box.

Happycampers · 04-16-2005, 08:00 AM

Marc, I just put one in my 75 Argosy a couple days ago. The large white wire connects to the ground block at the right end of the fuse panel, the black lead from the battery on top and white on the bottom, the white wire goes to the frame of your trailer for ground, there is a bolt and nut on the back of that block. I ran a lead from there to the - ground on the Intellipower. There is a bolt and nut on the back of the bus bar, I ran a lead from there to + positive on the Intellipower. There is a ground screw on the case of the Intellipower and I ran a wire from that to the inside skin of the trailer. Hope this helps. Marvin

DPeakMD · 04-16-2005, 08:16 AM

Marc-

I don't know if this will help you at all, but here it is! I'm wondering if the mystery white wire could be one of the following:

"Power-On" wire
Amp Meter Shunt

Both would be smaller guage. The "Power-on" wire in my '72 and '78 was white with a funny fabric type covering on the outside that gave it a very unique look.

3Ms75Argosy · 04-16-2005, 11:19 AM

Thanks everybody - just by photos, it looks like airstream used different wiring on everybody's trailers, even on those that are about the same year. Happy campers - did you use the old fuseblock from the univolt, or did you get a new one? I assume that I just have to drill out the rivets to get that panel off? I think Happycamper's wiring is about the same as mine by discription, and that I was correct in post #9 - that I need to put the white wire to the (-) on the IP and move my new ground strap to the chassis of the IP.

I bought a new push in (blade style panel) - max 30 amps / circut. Is this strong enough - or do I need a 50 amp max panel? The only wire that was fused at 50 amp on the univolt was the red power in, but this would be fused on the IP now - right?

Making simple stuff not so......
Marc

C Johnson · 04-17-2005, 01:23 PM

Just curious.

3Ms75Argosy · 04-17-2005, 01:36 PM

I could go into detail about how Seattle does not allow a trailer to "sit" for more that 72 hours ATTACHED (I got a ticket for being 2 hours unhitched from my tow vehicle....

) to a tow vehicle, but will not. Suffice to say, the trailer is about 45 minutes from me right now, and being that the kids are on spring break, wife away.....

I haven't had any Argosy time this weekend...(but family having a great time anyway!). I'll post later this week. I hope to dive back in later this week (perhaps Thursday).
Thanks!
Marc

3Ms75Argosy · 04-23-2005, 09:26 AM

Now, that wasn't so hard after all (just need the right colors in the right slots

). .... The "mystery" white wire was the ground after all.. plugged it into the second (-) slot with the black (-) from the battery. I grounded the case to the wall. Works like a charm! I lost weight back there, and it's so much quieter too!
Thanks again!
Marc