General Knowledge Questions About My '95 34' Land Yacht LE Cutter

[RetroRev]

As the title says I have some general questions about my rig that I'm having a hard time finding decisive answers on in the paperwork. If anyone has answers to the following, your time would be greatly appreciated!

1995 Airstream Land Yacht LE Cutter 34'
FORD Chassis (even though all the manuals I can find say it's on a GM)

1: Should the house batteries charge off of the generator?

1a: if so, would that be a converter or inverter that handles that?

1b: Location of said converter/inverter?

2: there are two valve stems on the front bumper that can be used to fill the air bags on the front of the coach. Are there more for the rear?

3: Is there a way to repair the level indicator for my holding tanks? Holding tank 1 always reads full.

4: on my control panel lists battery 1 and battery 2. Battery 2 is always in the red. Is that the engine battery or the house batteries?

5: In the event that for some reason my inverter isn't charging my house batteries while on the generator, would hooking up a battery charger while the generator is on cause any issues?

Pardon my ignorance on the subject. My wife and I are unexpected full timers at the moment, in a rig that was given to us with minimal back history.

(Addendum: Recommendations on a budget friendly solar setup would be appreciated. Also, if anyone has a link to the proper manual for this rig, that would be amazing. The only ones I find are for the GM variant I guess)

[92landyacht]

1: Yes, and it would be a converter. Not sure of location in your rig, but it would be inside the MH and typically very close to the couch batteries. Mine is behind the foot board in front of the passenger's seat. Pretty common for them to go bad over time. I've had to replace mine once. Not the same unit but close in years.

2: Usually there are only front coil spring air bags but not sure on your rig.

3: Most will say to just replace the sensor system with another but not sure which system they've been recommending since mine is still working fine. Others will chime in on exactly which system they recommend.

4: Not sure on yours, but battery 2 is the chassis/starter battery on mine.

5: It should not be a problem using a charger on that battery bank, but you really need to know if the converter/charger is working or not.

Just for some additional info:

A converter/charger is a device that uses 120VAC in and generates 12DC out to supply power to the couch 12V systems and charge the couch batteries.

An inverter uses 12V DC in and generates 120V AC out for some devices. Yours most likely doesn't have an inverter.

[RetroRev]

Outstanding! Thank you very much for the information!

For testing the converter it should just be a matter of unhooking the batteries, plugging in to shore power, then hitting them with a multimeter, right? Or will it not push current without a load on it?

[92landyacht]

I would measure the battery bank voltage before you plug in shore power and then after. If the voltage goes up, then it's probably working. That's assuming that the batteries are any good to start with.

[RetroRev]

They're brand new. We'll "brand new" refurbished that is.

But they're gel cell marine deep cycle batteries so

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[overlander64]

Greetings RetroRV!

Welcome to the Forums and the world of Vintage Airstreams!

Originally Posted by RetroRev

As the title says I have some general questions about my rig that I'm having a hard time finding decisive answers on in the paperwork. If anyone has answers to the following, your time would be greatly appreciated!

1995 Airstream Land Yacht LE Cutter 34'
FORD Chassis (even though all the manuals I can find say it's on a GM)

Pardon my ignorance on the subject. My wife and I are unexpected full timers at the moment, in a rig that was given to us with minimal back history.

(Addendum: Recommendations on a budget friendly solar setup would be appreciated. Also, if anyone has a link to the proper manual for this rig, that would be amazing. The only ones I find are for the GM variant I guess)

I couldn't find the exact Owner's Manual online for your rig, but was able to find one for a 1992 model. I am not as familiar with the motorhomes as I am with the trailers, but often, many of the features are similar within models built over a period of several years. The 1992 Airstream Land Yacht LE Owner's Manual available as a PDF on the Airstream website may just answer some of your questions. I hope that the link to that manual is of some help.

Good luck with your Land Yacht, and safe travels!

Kevin

As a post script, you might consider joining the Wally Byam Caravan Club International (WBCCI) along with the IntraClub Vintage Airstream Club {VAC} (for owners of Airstream products over 25 years old along with those who enjoy them). There are Units in every state as well as each of the Canadian Provinces, Mexico and several other countries. Each Unit has its own slate of activities tailored to its members, and you are likely to find that some of the members will become lifelong friends. These Units and the Vintage Airstream Club are good places to learn about your rig from those who have had experiences with similar rigs.

[RetroRev]

Originally Posted by overlander64

Greetings RetroRV!


As a post script, you might consider joining the Wally Byam Caravan Club International (WBCCI) along with the IntraClub Vintage Airstream Club {VAC} (for owners of Airstream products over 25 years old along with those who enjoy them).

Awesome! Thanks very much for the info. Unfortunately that rig seems to have very little in common with the one you linked.

I've found ones for the Airstream Land Yacht LE and the LY Cutter (gm chassis and slightly different floor plan), but not for the LY LE Cuttter (Ford chassis)

Cest la vie! To the tomes I shall go

[RetroRev]

This connector was clipped inside one of the binders we came across in the motorhome, but we've so far been unable to find any mention of it.

It looks very specific and like it's one of those "when you need it you need it" items. Like a parachute or toilet paper.

Any clue?

(BIC lighter for size comparison)

[RetroRev]

Originally Posted by 92landyacht

I would measure the battery bank voltage before you plug in shore power and then after. If the voltage goes up, then it's probably working. That's assuming that the batteries are any good to start with.

Ok well it seems like it's only putting out around 11.6v from the converter so I'm going to assume it's either got a bad MOSFET or leaking caps. Now just to find the damn thing and open it up.

[92landyacht]

Personally, I would just trash the converter and pick up a much better one. I replaced mine with an Iota DLS-55a converter/charger. It's a very solid converter/charger and with the IQ-4 module it can be set up for virtually any type of battery from flooded to Lithium and is much easier on the batteries. There are others that are slightly less expensive, but it's worked for me for a number of years now and I have peace of mind.

Like I said above, check the floorboard panel in front of the passenger's side seat. Mine is mounted on the side wall behind the panel. It's going to be located fairly near your coach battery bank and will have some pretty heavy gage wires going to it.

[RetroRev]

Originally Posted by 92landyacht

Personally, I would just trash the converter and pick up a much better one.

Under normal circumstances I would totally agree with you but money is pretty tight right now and I have a good amount of replacement components still on hand.

I'll take a look around the pasanger seat when I get home and report back.

[92landyacht]

Keep in mind that the converter will probably not be visible until you access it behind a panel.

[RetroRev]

Originally Posted by 92landyacht

Keep in mind that the converter will probably not be visible until you access it behind a panel.

Yup. Found it. It was actually to the left of the steering column, tucked WAAAAYYY back against the firewall. Not entirely sure how to remove it, however, as there are no visible fasteners on it at all.

[RetroRev]

UPDATE: So while rearranging some things in the coach, we came across a storage cubby we hadn't been in yet which had yet another binder in it. This one containing the owners manuals for everything in the coach. So assuming everything in the binder is still in the coach, I should have a Power Source 30 amp converter as well as a Taytronics 100 watt inverter. (The latter of the two I have yet to find)


On an unrelated subject (to power at least) After crawling under the rig to poke around a bit, I confirmed ghat I have rear airbags. The front ones I can fill via the valves in the front bumper, but I still can't figure out where to fill the rear ones? I assume once upon a time the compressor setup in one of the exterior storage bays was responsible for that, but after the first time it worked for me, it has yet to again.

Any ideas?

[RetroRev]

Update to the update: Turns out that the actual converter I have is not the same as the one in my binder of manuals. What I've got is a MagneTek Series 900 Model 950. While pulling it out, I noticed that whoever installed it, seemed like they -THOUGHT- they knew what they were doing, but all the connections were loose and not fully crimped where applicable. One concern I have is there is a black wire that was just taped to the side of the larger red wire. Like not making any connection, just secured to the side of the red with electrical tape. Also I can't see where the white wire actually went to/was connected at, as the wire slipped out of the connector while I was shifting things yo get to the bolts holding the thing in.

Anybody happen to have a wiring schematic for this thing or know where this black wire is supposed to be hooked to?