1961 Bambi - Battery/Inverter

[highcotton]

I very recently purchased a completely renovated 1961 Bambi, shell off renovated, new wiring, plumbing, new everything. Beautiful. $50K plus, not including delivery for almost 1800 miles. The power supply cord was not included, so I ordered a heavy duty one from Amazon, which was lost in shipment. After three weeks, the power supply cord arrived and I hooked it up.



Nothing will work, except the air conditioner. No lights, no electrical outlets. Nothing else.



I have no experience with any type of travel trailers and really do not know what to do to get the power to work.


I am trying to learn how to operate this without any help from any direction. I know I will have plenty of questions regarding the plumbing and propane tanks. I'm just taking one baby step at a time.


I know that my tow vehicle is sufficient for this small unit. Otherwise, I am caught like a deer in headlights.



I have actually owned four previous Airstreams, but I gave up on them and sold them because of lack of knowledge to renovate. That is why I bit the bullet and bought this gem. I know I will get it figured out one way or another!



Any advice will be greatly welcomed.



Thanks,
Mike

[Bill M.]

There must be a breaker panel somewhere and that would be a good place to start. Do you know if the rewire was for 30 amp service or 50 amp service? It almost sounds like you have a 50 amp trailer connected to a 30 amp circuit and only the AC circuit is getting power. What are you plugged into and how? There should be a power converter and the 12 volt lights ought to work. There is often a Use/Store switch that gets put into the Store position and the 12 volts will not work. A Progressive Dynamics surge protector would be a good investment and would tell you if you are actually getting power but since the AC is working you are. Our 30 amp trailer has a switch that switches power between the microwave and the AC but that is the only circuit affected. So check the breakers and check the use store switch and check the incoming power. That is about all I can think of now. If it has AGM batteries and they have been fully discharged they might not take power from the power converter and recharge. If they are really dead you have to pull them and jump through hoops to recharge them. A voltmeter will tell you about the batteries.

You are just going to have to get familiar with this unit "under fire" so to speak. Find the breaker box. Find the power converter. Figure out what power you have coming in. Be careful you do not get fried from a bad connection on the input to the breaker box.