Electrical schematic

[hugho]

I have a newly acquired "86 CO 8'. It has 2 fuses on the converter panel. Right one has a short. Fuse is blown. New fuse in converter mode blows fuses. No power to the lights. A schematic would be nice. Where is the house battery stored? My cables are in the LPG locker!

 

[Dr.Science]

You're mostly going to have to figure this out yourself, but recalling the original wiring on my 1990 CO 8', shore power came in to the upper shell via the outside 110V outlet and ran directly to the converter. Onboard 12V power went from the lower shell to the upper shell via an external cord, then to the converter. There were 2 circuits leaving the converter. One goes around the ceiling and feeds the lights (and potentially also vent fans), the other goes to the lower shell via an internal spiral extension cord and feeds the refrigerator. There's also a 110V circuit from the converter to the internal shore power outlet and the air conditioner junction box. So you probably have a short in the lighting circuit, probably from hot wire to ground, where ground is provided by a connection to the aluminum skin, which itself is grounded to the onboard battery via the external extension cord. Correcting that error, unless it occurs very near the converter, is likely to involve removing either the interior paneling or the exterior aluminum skin. Removing the aluminum skin is easier, just because of how these things are assembled.

 

[hugho]

Thank you Dr Science. Your key phrase was telling me that the aluminum skin is the ground point. This seems unwise. I have wired many houses, boats ,tiny houses and cars. Normally all the negatives go to a single point or negative bus which ties to the negative post of the battery. I don't need or want a converter especially since this 36 yr old model does not charge the onboard battery. The positives should go go to a fuse panel but there is none. Individual circuits should leave that panel to feed the accessories. My light fixtures are hot on the black and the white wire so it seems the hot pos side of the battery is in contact with the skin somewhere. The 12 V circuits all worked until I raised and lowered the top and then all hell broke loose.\ and nothing worked.One of the outside 4 prong plugs also had a wire loose also and
did not know which post it connected to. That fwd plug has a white,a red and a brown wire. It connects to the battery. The other 4 post plug aft of it has 2 reds and a white but this plug and connector are dead, without 12 volt power. Is the function of the rear plug to connect the top section with the bottom section? And it ties into the converter? Yikes!! Tearing out the ceiling just to fix interior lights is of course nuts as is tearing off the skin.Isolating the aluminum skin from the battery seems essential. I do not know if the converter works because the front 15 or 20 amp fuse keeps blowing. The internal inline fuse was blown as well. A converter schematic would be essential if I keep the converter. Wow what a mess I have. The company has not been helpful providing manuals or schematics but I have yet to be able to talk to Bryan. You have been very very helpful Dr Sci. If I could locate a manual from the mid 80's I might be able to proceed esp if it had a schematic. Mine is a 1986. Thank you!

 

[Dr.Science]

I'm pretty sure none of these campers came with a wiring diagram, which is too bad. If you want to sever the ground to the aluminum, you'll find it's made with a 10 gauge wire at the base of the upper shell below where the outside cord connection is. Getting to it requires removing the aluminum track screwed to the base of the upper shell. Losing that ground will terminate the running lights, though. Frankly my experience was that the old wiring was a mass of inconsistent connectors, corroded wire, mismatched colors and antique components. Too many possible sources for any given problem. RVs are not wired for the long haul. I just replaced it all; no more issues.