Interior Wiring

[bpaolini]

I'm in the process of re-furbishing my 67 Caravel and have the interior almost completely gutted. Previous owners have made some alterations to the wiring (I don't know why) and I'm trying to get everything back to factory specs. I'm starting with the 110v AC system since I don't have a battery yet. All interior lights and receptacles work OK. What does the light switch above the kitchen sink operate? There is no power to the wires on this switch. There is a dead unconnected AC wire at the water pump. It appears a previous owner connected the water pump to the low voltage box. Was the water pump originally connected to the AC wire? The furnace was previously removed from this trailer. There is another dead unconnected AC wire in this area. Was it for the furnace? There are also 2 dead unconnected AC wires in the front overhead compartments. Was this a factory installation? If so, for what? There are 2 unconnected AC wires in the closet next to the AC breaker box. They appear to be factory installed. Was this for air conditioning? I've got more questions but this thread is starting to get long. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[thenewkid64]

In the 60's Airstream used the same type of wire for both AC and DC. The ones you describe look like AC but are likley for the demand pump. The switch by the sink is to turn on/off the pump and the wire by the pump should be connected to it. But since there is no power to the switch I have to assume there is a problem there. I would look to see it here isn't another wire in the furnace compartment. Power may have been fed to the furnace and then to the switch for the pump.

Do you have a working univolt? I would assume so since the lights work.

The dead wires in the front cabinet could be for additional lights. I have seen lights installed on the end caps of the front cabinet. If the wires are the ones that are by the breaker panel then they could be used for 120 volt lights. If your unit is prewired for AC there should be a second 20 amp breaker in the panel The wires are said to be terminated in the ceiling next to where the AAC would be installed. Do you have a breaker that seems to work nothing?

I would put a meter on the wire by the pump and flip the switch at the sink on and off to see if you get anything. You should have a fuse panel near the battery. I would start by checking the fuses and being sure you have 12 VDC on doth sides first.

If nothing else you can try to borrow or buy a tone tester and see what thoes unterminated wires run to. The tone tester inserts a signal into the wire and then there is a sniffer that can deted the signal. It is a VERY safe way to figure out what goes where.

[JimC]

I have a 67 tradewind. There is a switch for the pump above the entry door. Yours may be at the sink. The wires at the pump should be 12vdc. My TW has a 12dc wire in the cabinet above the front window. It now powers a radio. The wires where the heater was should be 12vdc for the heater fan.

When you say "two ac wires" I assume you mean a black and white pair of wires, not two pairs of wires. Be carefull to always keep the white neutral and the black hot for your AC wiring. My TW is wired for 12vdc so that white is always (-) and black is always (+). If you mix these your lights will work, but your heater fan will run backwards as mine did after the PO's work.

[bpaolini]

Thanks for the info. If I understand you guys correctly, the water pump is only wired DC. That would explain why there is no power to it while I'm on city power as I do not have a battery installed yet. Does this mean that the water pump does not work on AC power? I probably sound clueless but I'm familiar with home AC wiring and auto 12v wiring but have no experience with RV's with dual systems. Since it will be a while before this trailer is on the road I wasn't ready to buy an RV battery yet. Maybe I can hook up my lawn mower battery to run some tests on the 12v system.

[JimC]

The pump is, and needs to be, 12vdc; otherwise you could not pump water when running on battery power only. Testing with your lawn mower sounds like a good idea.

Our TW has thermo breakers by the 12vdc fuse box. They disrupt the circuit before the fuse blows if too much current is drawn. You can have a short that will cause the breaker to open, and then some of the 12vdc system won't work. We had a short in a light socket inside the utility compartment that caused lights in the bath to not work. Good luck testing.