Solar pre-wire on a 2005 19' Bambi CCD

[JDL]

Does anyone know exactly where the green and yellow solar pre-wires terminate in the ceiling of a 2005 19' Bambi CCD? (build date 4/04) I found one end under the seat for the dinette near the water pump.

I believe the other end terminates just behind the front fantastic fan - or just about 6 inches in front of the AC.

I have called Airstream and have received a number of different answers.

Please let me know if you have seen these wires... It will save me days of hunting...

Thanks

[CanoeStream]

Originally Posted by JDL

I believe the other end terminates just behind the front fantastic fan - or just about 6 inches in front of the AC.

There often is a usual distribution -- either roadside or curbside of the midline. No help beyond that though...

Who posted a photo of their 19' solar factory installation recently? Was it campadk?

[JDL]

Surely someone must have seen these elusive wires...?

[campadk]

Nope.. not me. I'm supposed to have 'solar prewire'.. but what the heck is that? It did not come with a solar panel, controller or inverter... so I'm assuming its just a peice of wire that goes from the inside up to the roof incase you have a solar panel to hook up. Doesn't sound like much... am I wrong?

Based on some discussions on here, I figure a better bet is to go with a small generator... or have a portable solar array that is not on the roof. (roof is too small for much of a panel).

[campadk]

Oh wait.. you mentioned under the dinette... which wires was that?

[JPAIRSTREAM]

Look in front of your forward vent and light on the roof.

Under your R/S dinnete seat you will find Yellow and Green there and your Blue cat 5 wire no end. pull you display monitor panel out and you should find your other end of the cat 5.

JIM

[VSP Raleigh]

This is where a wire toner would come in handy... HD has them in the electrical section with the network wiring tools.

[campadk]

Originally Posted by JPAIRSTREAM

Look in front of your forward vent and light on the roof.

Under your R/S dinnete seat you will find Yellow and Green there and your Blue cat 5 wire no end. pull you display monitor panel out and you should find your other end of the cat 5.

JIM

So the solar wire is in on the subwoofer side of the dinette seats, not the water tank? What would you do with it there?

So where is your Cat 5 going from/to? The system monitor???

Here are the cat 5 (Internet) cable connections in our 2007 Bambi:

One inside under the dinette (makes sense to use your notebook computer at the table)



The other end goes to the receptable on road side, to plug into the campsite hookup



I'm planning to simply buy an EVDO capable router and a verizion card to manage Internet.. so cat 5 isn't going to be used anyways. And that equipment might as well be in our tow vehicle running on the truck battery, not the Airstream powersource.

[lewster]

I was told by those who know at JC that the pre-wire starts inside the air conditioner opening and runs 'either' down the wall that houses the Micro Pulse system and can be accessed by removing the panel...OR... across the ceiling and behind the refer.

I think that I found BOTH . I'll have to do a continuity check to ID the proper pair and determine wherethey go from there. If they terminate in the space under the RS dinette, it will take some doing as there sure is a lot of spaghetti in that box! Good thing I like Italian food !!!

[campadk]

I would think the solar pre-wire should run from outside on the roof (where the solar panel would be located) and arrive by the water tank since that is where all the 12V wiring is. Then I assume you buy a controller and attach to your battery lines. Is some isolation device or switch needed as well?

[wasafari]

good question, I have yet to find them on my 04 Safari, in spite of all the "help" from the owners manual. I did discover that the coax to my rear tv outlet was somehow left behind the sink/cabinet, about 4 feet short of connecting to the panel in the credenza. Oh well, I never use that one anyway. If you find the solar wires, puleeze let us know where to look!

[JDL]

Originally Posted by JPAIRSTREAM

Look in front of your forward vent and light on the roof.

Originally Posted by JPAIRSTREAM

Under your R/S dinette seat you will find Yellow and Green there and your Blue cat 5 wire no end. pull you display monitor panel out and you should find your other end of the cat 5.

JIM

JPAIRSTREAM - Thanks. But I have a CCD. I have multiple lights up front... Are you saying its forward of the front fantastic fan? If it is that’s great.

Campadk - Mine has a coil of green and yellow and blue wire labeled 'Solar' right next to the water tank. No cat 5 cable. Just a blue #10 wire in the same bundle as the yellow and green wires.

Campadk - I do not believe you need an isolation switch. PROVIDED you hook it straight to the battery. Some controllers do not like to be hooked to the converter. I plan on buying a Morningstar Prostar Charge Controller. They appear very well made.

Originally Posted by Paul NC

This is where a wire toner would come in handy... HD has them in the electrical section with the network wiring tools.

Paul - I thought a wire toner would only work on 110 with power? Do you know a place you can rent these?

Originally Posted by lewster

I was told by those who know at JC that the pre-wire starts inside the air conditioner opening and runs 'either' down the wall that houses the Micro Pulse system and can be accessed by removing the panel...OR... across the ceiling and behind the refer.

I think that I found BOTH . I'll have to do a continuity check to ID the proper pair and determine where they go from there. If they terminate in the space under the RS dinette, it will take some doing as there sure is a lot of spaghetti in that box! Good thing I like Italian food !!!

Lew I am so glad you posted! I had to replace the monitor panel a while back. I did it myself. I did not see any yellow and green wires. However, I did not take apart all the wire looms. I limited the opening of the panel to just the necessary wires to replace the panel. Please let me know if you find anything and what color the wires are. Good to hear from you! (Oh and yes the spaghetti wire gnomes visited me too.) Once I get some time I plan to fix that...

Originally Posted by wasafari

If you find the solar wires, please let us know where to look!

You bet.

[2airishuman]

hi jd, how ya doing!

what an adventure...

at the risk of being obvious, have you emailed the factory?

i know you called but understand how a call works...
the front desk takes it, one of the gals asks whoever is standing nearby...
and that is your answer on that day.

but email creates a digital trail like a letter so whoever replies has to get the best answer...

my understanding is as lewster stated...

the wires are under the roof skin for/aft the a/c...

knowing where to make the whole and fish them out is the issue...

it does vary by model,
so my locations (behind the ac, under the micropulse and in the refer compartment) don't help ya...

and silvergate has posted a photo of his roof wire location on the 23ft model...

http://www.airforums.com/forum...70-post19.html

i look forward to your discovery!

cheers
2air'

[VSP Raleigh]

Originally Posted by JDL

Paul - I thought a wire toner would only work on 110 with power? Do you know a place you can rent these?

The one I'm talking about is used in the security/network cabling industry.

[JDL]

2AIR,

Thanks. Great idea. I will send an e-mail to Airstream. I will post the results. Thanks for posting the picture, it helps.

(Wow how did Silvergate ever find it?... Cut hole in roof and hope...)


PAUL NC. Thanks I will take a look at a tone generator too.

[JDL]

Below is the question I sent to airstream:

"Does anyone know exactly (and please I do mean exactly) where the green
and yellow solar pre-wires terminate in the ceiling of a 2005 19' Bambi CCD?

(build date 4/04) I found one end under the seat for the dinette near the
water pump. It was in a coil of wire labeled solar. It had green & yellow wires."

==

Here is the Airsteam response. I have to complement them they responded right away-

JD,
"Exactly", probably not; however this will be very close and is the way they
would be ran.
The wires to solar panel 10 ga. Green/Yellow can be found around the light
behind the forward ceiling vent.
The wires to the controller will be 10 ga. Green/Yellow and Red/Black behind
the monitor panel.
The wires to the battery terminal Red/Black should be under the front dinette
on the left side.
*** Some units may have a blue cat. 5 cable instead of the Red/Black. ***

I hope this helps.

Randy
Aistream Customer Relations


-- PS I checked the wire looms around the monitor panel and I did not see any yellow/green red/black wires.
If anybody else does please let me know..

[campadk]

Sounds like a lot of wires... what are the red/black to the monitor for? Don't the green yellow go to the controller which then connects to the batteries? What do you do with the red/black pair?

[JDL]

Originally Posted by campadk

Sounds like a lot of wires... what are the red/black to the monitor for? Don't the green yellow go to the controller which then connects to the batteries? What do you do with the red/black pair?

Campadk - according to the manual there could be... yellow/green and red/black wires going to the area of the monitor panel. If this is the case - I would expect:

1. The yellow and green to come from the roof area (solar panel) to the monitor panel area.
2. I would then hook the solar charge controller up with the yellow and green as positive and negative to the input of charge controller.
3. The red and black would be a separate pair of wires going to the battery bank. This would be the output of the charge controller and provide charge to the battery bank.

However, the only thing I have found is yellow and green wires in the left lower dinette seat which houses the water tank and pump.

Hope that helps.

[5cats]

I also sent e-mail to airstream tech support, regarding the location of the solar prewire (and about which panels the factory installs) -- this is the answer for our 2007 Safari 20':

John,
The wires would be found around the light behind the forward ceiling
vent/behind the monitor panel/under the bed (battery area). I have attached
a parts list of the items that we use. I would not have any information on
aftermarket items.
The panels we use are 24.13"(with brackets) X 36.75". The units are from
Sunexplorer, whose phone number is 800-671-0169.

I hope this helps.

Randy
Airstream Customer Relations

I also had a chat the with good folks at Roger Williams Airstream in Texas, when I learned that they typically find the panel prewire coiled up near/around the light fixture between the forward vent and aircon unit. Access is through the vent, after removing the inside bezel -- "just feel around (carefully!) all around and you'll stumble upon the coil."

Now I suspect the red/black is not nearly the heavy guage that the yellow/green is. Rather, it's for the monitor panel to provide indicator/status signal, not for conducting charging power to or from batteries.

By the way, Silvergate's PV installation was done by the factory, so they'd surely know just where to drill holes in the roof to find the wires

Cheers,
-jd.

[JDL]

Well,

I put tone to the yellow and green wires today. They travel --> Starting near the water tank --> behind the wall below the sink and stove --> up the main wire loom next to the vent stack in the closet --> and up into the ceiling next to the vent stack.

At NO time did I get tone near any of the vents on the root. Nothing up front near the fantastic fan. Nothing on the rear vent. Nor any tone once the wires went into the roof.

My only hope is it exits some where near the A/C. (I suspect not and will probably need to snake another set of wire through the vent stack.)

Has anybody physical seen the termination of the solar pre wires in the ceiling on a 2005 19' bambi ccd.. (Mine was built in April of 04..)