Caravel Original AC help

[VetteGuy]

I am very new to rving and camping I just bought a Airstream 1966 caraval with original air condition unit with Honeywell controller the unit works fine but when the fan gets going it seems like the air compressor tries to kick in but it drains the power then stops and the fan keeps spinning.?

If you can provide any service help or Insight on repairing this original unit please let me know

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11IXvnMzw00bXDEVQ2Yk5ZLRUNXrcIr6p/view?usp=drivesdk

[Lcrupper]

I’ve got a 64 Caravel that is on the way to being fixed up. It also has an Armstrong a/c and I am slowly gathering information. Fan turns easily and unit has a charge. I’ve got new capacitor for the compressor and the other capacitors test good. I’m looking for all the information I can get. I’d love to talk. I do have a substitute parts list if I can find it. We are moving so it might take a while. It appears to be very thorough with multiple choices for parts. I’ll look for it.

[VetteGuy]

I don't. I wish I did

[VetteGuy]

I responded to you at 3 in the morning now I'm looking at it I'm starting to think I went to Oliver RV dealer and he said that it needed 30 amp to kick over not a 110 hook up from the house he said it wasn't strong enough

[docflyboy]

If your unit is the Armstrong unit which uses a single fan that has a vertical shaft that goes through the roof, there's an excellent blog on how to rebuild the R-22 units, with a replacement compressor and fan motor and new blades. LMK if you need a link, I'll hunt it down.

[VetteGuy]

Hey Doc!

I saw that form and bookmarked it for my AC guy who I met on Craigslist he did the work I bought a new compressor from someplace online $300 and he installed it and charge it up for $400. I know that I could have gotten a brand new Dometic unit for that but I want to get the original thing going because it look cool.
And yes he did stand on top of the caravel and it held him fine. I got up there a few times myself can I weigh 225 lb. I have to get back up there because we forgot the mounting bracket for the AC compressor so I'll have to rig something up. We just replace the compressor and everything started working however I don't think he would have enough freon. He used 407c it was a R22 replacement he said it was rather cheap and inexpensive

[68 TWind]

Glad you got it working. I made the decision last summer to replace my original with a new Dometic. The old unit would cool like a champ but the fan motor was burned out and I had bad water leak coming from under the unit that I had to fix (for years every time it rained it dripped on my wife's bed and I had tried everything to fix it). When I looked at the time and money (doing the work myself) involved in removing the old one, recharging it, new fan motor, I replaced it. I did find the source of the leak when I pulled the pan and I would never have stopped it without removing the unit. I'm glad I replaced it. Like you' I tried to keep everything as original as possible inside and out. I always hated the damp feeling inside the trailer caused by all the water in the drip pan under the evaporator and the new A/C does a great job cooling my Tradewind. Plus the wife is happy, it can rain and she stays dry.