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thenewkid64 · 08-05-2003, 08:46 PM

Fred (1985air345) is off on a trip to Stone mountain mixing a bit of work with pleasure. He has run into a minor snag.

Somehow he has lost power to his Airbag compressor, and the power front seats, boy those 345's have some toys, huh?

I tried to help, but since I have no clue where to start, I advised he make sure he has 100 PSI in his air tank and get to his stopping point for the night.

So is there 1 fuse that runs both of these functions? He found his main fuse box in the glove compartment, but is there another one, or a relay?

If anyone can help, let me know and I will get a message to him.

Thanks

wb13798 · 08-05-2003, 09:05 PM

BRETT
DONT KNOW ABOUT THE 345 BUT MY COACH HAS CIRCUIT BREAKERS MOUNTED NEAR THE STERRING COLUMN IN THE DASH. THEY NORMALLY RESET AFTER THEY COOL DOWN. THE SEATS AND WIPER MOTORS ARE ALSO ON THOSE BREAKERS. DIDNT KNOW THE COMPRESSOR WAS ON THEM BUT MAKES SENCE. LOL
AL

59toaster · 08-05-2003, 09:20 PM

If it has breakers and one is hot 9 out 0f 10 chance that's the circuit. The hot would indicate there is a short and it's keeping the breaker open. If it does it long term it could fry the braker. My first check would be the power seats. If you hear from him see if he was ajdusting the seat when it happend. It may be that when the seat was moving the wires got caught in the tracks or the wires have been being rubbed for a long time and finnaly wore through the insulation. Other posiblity is the seat switches failed and caused a short.

My guess is there would be a plug for the seats harness right at the seat. Unplug it and see if he gets the compressor back after the braker cools down.

There is a Airstream dealer in GA but it's on the oposite side of town from Stone mountain.

From Stone mountain he would Take hwy 78 back towards town. I guess the easiest thing to do is take 285 South ( think it will be listed south from there) to I 20 west through Atlanta. He will cross 285 on the otherside of town. Drive about 10 mile to Thorton Road. The dealer is off that road. I haven't been there yet but my bet would be to make a right off the exit. The dealer info is on www.airstream.com

PeterH-350LE · 08-06-2003, 05:02 AM

If all else fails:
get 10' 12 gauge wire and a 25 amp inline fuse. Cut compressor supply wire, splice new wire and connect to generator 12+ terminal.
That will get him home and he can put the dealers service fee in his tank.

rdm · 08-06-2003, 05:46 AM

Brett
On the 325 and 345 there are circuit breakers on the fire wall
three breakers 2 30 amp and one 50 amp.
the power seats and the air compressor are on the same breaker usually the bottom one of the three. this breaker is a 30 amp breaker
they are located next to the isolator in group of three

TOP a 30 amp on top that has the start assist, floodlight and brake control for the tag axle.

MIDDLE a 50 amp connected to the isolator and the main solenoid for the coach batteries.

BOTTOM a 30 amp connected to roadside power seat, curbside power seat, air compressor for air ride

thanks hope this a help

Ray

We had this learning lesson earlier this year

Peter and Brett our trip is going great air ride is working OK

Silvertwinky · 08-06-2003, 06:19 AM

Stone Mountain Ahh, very nice!

Our family was there a few years ago. We enjoyed it very much, the laser show was spectacular!

I know this is a little off the subject but; "Stone Mountain" was mentioned.

The summer we went there it was one of those very hot summers. It was all we could do to cool the trailer down to about 90°F inside. This was due to the mountain, "I think," where it soaked up the heat. It felt like we could feel the heat radiating from the mountain at the campground, even though the campground was probably about a half mile from it. It seems like we measured the ambient temperature in the surrounding area and it got up to over a 100°F maybe even close to 110°F. Can anyone else verify that it will do that down there?

thenewkid64 · 08-06-2003, 07:50 AM

Ray,

Thanks for the good info.

Where exactly is this breaker panel? Of course we are trying this long distance.

ViewRVs · 08-06-2003, 07:55 AM

Ray,

Where are those breakers? Are they inside the coach or in the engine compartment? If inside, which side driver or passenger? Any clues to lead me to them will help. What does it look like?

I am at our Atlanta office working here Wed, Thurs, and Friday so I have a few days to figure it out. The wife and kids are playing at Stone Mountian.

All of those nasty gremlins jumped off Brett's MH at my exit and came with me on this trip. My gen set transfer switch (in the rear) had a loose wire that was preventing me from getting land power. That took some brain power at the end of a long drive!

rdm · 08-06-2003, 02:47 PM

Hi Fred And Brett,

The Breakers are located on the firewall in the engine compartment.

If you stand in front of your motorhome and open the front engine cover on the drivers side will be the battery isolator.

Look to the left of the isolator and there will be a vertical row of three breakers as previously discussed.

The one you want is the bottom one.
this is a 30 amp breaker.

There are breakers and fuses in the drivers compartment but if your power seats and the air compressor are out is likely the firewall breaker is bad.

Also this led me to find the amperage load that was braeking the circuit in our case it was the compressor.

These breakers will make a snapping noise you can hear from the drivers seat when the are opening and closing.

We are on holidays and i am using a portable modem to check
Email If you need additional info send a PM

Hope this helps

Ray

87MH · 08-06-2003, 04:01 PM

Fred:

If you are thinking about replacing the compressor wire, be sure to use at least a #10 wire, or a #8 if you are exceeding 40' of overall length.

The compressors draw around 20 amps, and the line losses are incredible at 12 volts.

My 345 compressor was wired to a 20 amp fuse in the fusebox of glove compartment. I think it is the third one from the left in the third row down.

rdm · 08-06-2003, 04:21 PM

Fred,

Here is a statement from my service manual that covers 1984- 1986 models.

Constant 12v power is provided on one side of the relay switch at the compressor from an automatic circuit breaker located at the front of the motorhome next to the battery isolator.
Power when the ignition switch is turned "ON" is provided to the hi pressure switch from the automotive fuse block.

The hi pressure switch activates the relay that starts the compressor. The 10 Ga red wire from the relay runs up to the circuit breaker at the front and will have a 30 amp fuse inline to handle the start up load of the compressor.

The automotive fuse block not only handles the hi pressure switch but also the lo pressure switch.

The low pressure switch is wired into the hi pressure switch and also receives power thru the automotive fuse block .

hope this helps
Ray

thenewkid64 · 08-06-2003, 04:30 PM

Just got off the Phone with Fred. He says to thank you all for the help so far.

He has a bit of a mess. There are 3 circuit breakers, not necessarly in the sme position as described, but close. The biggest issue is the fact that one of them has NOTHING connected to it

He broke out the Volt meter (Peter, you would be proud) and turned on the key and got to testing. The top 30 amp breaker is fine, voltage on both sides. The 50 amp breaker has input voltage, but no output voltage, AH HA!

But wait, I thought the compressor and seats were on a 30 AMP breaker you say. Well best we can figure the 30 amp breaker gave out before Fred bought the Jellybean II and someone band-aided it by transeferring EVERYTHING to the 50 Amp breaker. To quote, "there are like seventeen wires on the right side of this thing??"

So he is off to the parts store to try to find a 50 amp breaker, if he gets couragous he may try to divide the load, but may wait until he gets home.

Updates when they happen

thenewkid64 · 08-06-2003, 05:57 PM

No 50 amp breakers to be found, so he got 2 40's and a couple of 30's. Along with some #10 wire and crimp on ends.

At this point he is going to have to split the load, but he has all he needs to do it. Hopefully the next update will be that he has been successful and all is fixed.

wannabefree · 08-06-2003, 06:30 PM

It's always HOT down here!!!

59toaster · 08-06-2003, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by wannabefree
It's always HOT down here!!!

Wasn't to bad today

wannabefree · 08-07-2003, 03:07 AM

It was in Macon with the rain and humidity

Maybe today will be better.....but September is coming and with it cooler temps!!!!!

Ken

ViewRVs · 08-07-2003, 08:52 AM

I got my parts after hitting 4 different auto parts places. I will attempt repair after work tonight. I owe everyone big time for their assistance!

The family just called from Stone Mountain and the rear air (the only one working) is no longer blowing cold air. I did notice poor voltage at the park after we arrived. I hope undervoltage didn't damage my only partially working AC!

We are not pleased with the Stone Mountain campground for many reasons including unlevel sites, poor voltage, trash, and poor access to the park.

Maybe I need to exorcise my unit from the family of gremlins orginally from Washington State!

(And the short lady said "This MH is clean!")

Thanks to all for the assistance.

thenewkid64 · 08-07-2003, 07:39 PM

Here is the latest news from the Mountain.

Rear AC is fine, they ran it last night all night on low and froze it up. The hour that it was off to rewire the breakers allowed it to melt and all is well.

Yes I said rewire the breakers, Fred replaced the one that was loaded with one of the 40 AMP ones he found. He is holding the other in reserve until he gets home. The one that was dead had FACTORY paint on it. You can do the math. Everything is now working from a 12 volt basis and it looks like smooth saling for the rest of the trip.

Fred, at the least I can help since the conjecture is I left my gremlins at the flying J in Tallahasee

ViewRVs · 08-08-2003, 04:29 AM

Those gremlins must like Airstreams! I kicked them out and they must have jumped on a neighboring SOB MH since their jacks broke yesterday!

I could not get the unused breaker off since the screw holding it on would not cooperate. The screw was one of the battery isolator screws.

I do have the spare and will work on re-wiring when I get home. The compressor fired up, ran a while, and finally shut down when the right pressure was reached. The front seats also work. The cabling on my front seats was a neat factory job and they were not pinched.

A big thanks to all!

zduke4x · 08-10-2003, 08:52 AM

Fred...I always look at the simple fix first....on the seats there is a plug underneath each one that can get unplugged if snagged or seat is rotated too far...lol...jem