'62 Overlander, optional 12V not installed?

[fpslc]

My dad just bought a 62 overlander and asked me to help him get the 12v system working. When I got there the battery had only one line running straight to the toilet pump. No other connections. The trailer itself has the dual lights and cigarette lighters for 12v, and the wiring diagram in the closet above the 110 shows the 12v section as "optional." So I'm assuming it did not get the optional 12v, since I can not find a 12v fuse box anywhere, nor do I see any place to hook a battery to anything besides the toilet. Is this possible? If so, since the lights are installed, is there some way I can add the optional parts of the 12v system?
Thanks-
-Jim

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by fpslc

My dad just bought a 62 overlander and asked me to help him get the 12v system working. When I got there the battery had only one line running straight to the toilet pump. No other connections. The trailer itself has the dual lights and cigarette lighters for 12v, and the wiring diagram in the closet above the 110 shows the 12v section as "optional." So I'm assuming it did not get the optional 12v, since I can not find a 12v fuse box anywhere, nor do I see any place to hook a battery to anything besides the toilet. Is this possible? If so, since the lights are installed, is there some way I can add the optional parts of the 12v system?
Thanks-
-Jim

If your '62 is like my '63, it has no fuses, simply a single 12V circuit and a single thermal breaker. I gotta ask...what is the toilet pump?

Tie 12V to one of the 'cig lighters' and I'll bet that ALL of the 12V system will work. Add a fuse...

[fpslc]

Thanks HiHoAgRv. Can you tell me where the thermal breaker is supposed to be located? I will try hooking up the lighter trick, but assume there's a wire somewhere I haven't found yet to connect the battery. The toilet has a water pump on the very top. Apparently it "recycled" some fluids for the flushing action. I assumed this was standard equipment, going to replace it anyway.

[overlander64]

Greetings Jim!

I don't know when Airstream made changes to the 12-volt system, but in 1960, there was a small two-fuse 12-volt panel located behind an access panel just below the front window (an aluminum panel attached with two or four screws) . . . the panel utilized two household glass fuses. What may have been utilized in 1962 could be dependent upon options originally ordered as well as whether the trailer was built in Ohio or California.

Good luck with your investigation!

Kevin

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by fpslc

Thanks HiHoAgRv. Can you tell me where the thermal breaker is supposed to be located? ....

On my trailer, the battery box was in a street side compartment that protruded under the kitchen cabinet. There was a single 12 gage wire (Blue, oh wait, ALL of the 12 volt wiring was blue) hanging in the battery box and the thermal breaker was in-line at that location. Honestly the entire 12 V system was a cluster of 12 gage blue wire with splices tucked inside the walls.

There was a 2nd thermal breaker just inside the front wall, it was in the charge line from the tow vehicle.