Spare wires on tongue

[Swanny]

During my cleaning and repainting of the AS tongue, I came across two wires that originate from the trailer. They are red and green and my hunch is they are for the control panel LPG tank meters.

There don't appear to be any connection points on the LPG hoses. Anyone have an idea of what these are for?

PS. This is for a 1975 Excella 500

Mitch

[59toaster]

You sure they are not the wires for the break away switch?

Around the time of your coach Airstream had a safety feature that if the ignition in the tow vehicle was turned off it would turn off the Reefer (for fueling). Could be wires for that. Look in the access hole for the reefer and see if you find the same color wires back there. It requires a special plug with extra pins for the umbilical.

It is also possible that somebody had a flat tire sensor on the coach. Check the wheel wells for the other end.


Welcome to the Forums!

[driftwood]

59toaster,

The reefer/ignition wire (grey) and tire-tele (orange) were the additional wires usually indigenous to the 9 way plug of 1985 - 1988.

On both the 7 & 9 way plugs the red is left turn & stop, the green is running lights (tail & clearance).

Having a red & green outside of the main umbilical is a mystery to me.

If I found those wires and couldn't visually trace them out; I would feed 12VDC to them, ground to the frame ...
and see if anything lit up!

I personally do not have any experience with LPG/monitor control panels & their wiring.

[bryanl]

The new OPD valves are not compatible with the old combination valve and fuel guage. So if your Excella has propane level indicators in your control panel and you have original aluminum tanks with upgraded OPD valves it may well be that the wires you found are for the tank level sensors.

The only way to get tank sensors with the new OPD valves is by using a two port tank. So a lot of us who upgraded aluminum tanks lost fuel level sensors - remote reading on the Excella and manual on other trimlines.

[Swanny]

Leipper,

Thanks for the comment. After pulling the tanks off the tongue, I noticed that 1 is about 1/3 full, yet the gauge states that they are both full. Your explanation makes sense since the tanks have been upgraded.

Mitch

[Inland RV Center, In]

Swanny.

The 75 Excella's had "remote LPG tank senders" on the tanks.

The 75 service manual does not specify the color of those two wires.

To confirm their use, simply short one to ground and observe the meter reading. It should indicate "full".

They worked by using the aluminum tank, as a ground. That also required that the tanks be firmly mounted, to complete the ground circuit.

You cannot harm anything with that test, as those were the only two additional wires on the A-frame.

9 pin connectors were not used until several model years later.

Andy

[Swanny]

Andy---Thanks again for the timely points. This indeed was the use for these wires.

Mitch