Finally passed inspection! Quick NOOB questions w/pics.

[Thenoob]

Yay!!
   Finally
Passed my out of province inspection.  New shocks, belts, lighting, wiring etc.  Now on to the stuff that always confuses me.

1.  The bathroom.  I've had to replace the old crank fan with a fantastic fan.  As reference to the pic, which is the winnebago wires go to what for the fan?  And what powers it, I'm guessing it's wired to the lighting fixture in the bathroom? 

2.  My fuse panel.  I am missing the toilet electrical and "12volt receptacle" fuse.  What do these power how do I re wire them. 12 volt receptacles meaning all the standard 110 outlets in there?  And toilet , I'm guessing they mean the power going to the light?  My light fixture is broken so I can't test.

3.  Being this is my first motorhome, I've ran all the gas systems, purged the lines of air, not touching the water lines yet, but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot when it comes time to use my portable generator.
   
     What settings should I have my convertor and front dash panel setup to run my generator instead of my batteries?  My generator is not an old onan but a Honda 3000 which I'll use the old shore power plug for it.  Basically the checklist for me to know I'm using Honda power instead of battery power .  Last thing I want is a dead battery.

I'm going to buy the book as recommended on here but to start if anybody can help me out that be great, I've don't a lot of the mechanical stuff but electrical drives me nuts.  Pics are below.

Thanks in advance!!!

[Trunkhill1]

No electrical guru, but as a fellow 70's Bago owner, it warms my heart to see the same electrical/paneling.  I kind of had the same issues figuring out which did what.


1. Do you have 2 switches in the bath for the fan and light?  If not (and the fan is 12V) I would think it safe to wire into the lighting assy as long as you don't mind the fan coming on at the same as the light.
2. 12V and 110V are NOT the same, do not wire them together as you'll blow out all the 12V items and make a fire hazard.  You could run some test wires from the toilet to a working light receptical and if it powers route to the 12V fuse panel to the TOILET ELEC blank spot, plug a fuse in and there you go.


If I'm wrong here or anyone has better ideas, like I said I'm not an electrician.  Someone else with generator experience could help you out better than I.
Cj

[DRMousseau]

yep,... looks familiar.

That green and blue wire from the ceiling, corresponds to the same at the fuse box. The green is negative ground, and the blue is positive. In all likelihood,... you should have 12v between those with a multi-meter,... BOTH, at the fuse box and at the ceiling wires. AND, there's probably not a switch to shut that off with.

I too installed a new Fantastic in the bathroom,... it's now in the bedroom of the Cruise Air. The fan switch controls it directly. I didn't have a 12V light in the bathroom,... the P.O. put up a 120v fluorescent fixture, and ran a cord to the outlet above the kitchen sink. Light had a switch on it,... but it was all pretty tacky.

There's no wires to those "toilet" or "12V receptacle" fuses holders, likely 'cause they weren't originally installed as an available option. That means if you want them,... you'll have to install the necessary wiring. And that's a tricky task when everything was built without it.

Since your generator is completely independent,... your best bet would be to keep that way, and use it jus like you would use shore power. Simply start it up and plug your shoreline into it. The converter automatically recognizes the shoreline supplying power, and usually begins charging your battery too, if it has that option.

K.I.S.S.,...  Keep It Super Simple,... it's so much easier.

[TripleJ]

Ima guess that toilet elec fuse may have been for a powered macerator toilet option? It doesn't look to me like theres ever been anything connected there.

[TripleJ]

My light fixture is broken so I can't test.

You should be using a volt meter or at least a test light to check all this stuff

[Thenoob]

100%

To answer questions:

There is no independent switch in the bathroom, only the light receptacle which has its own on/off switch.  I'm guessing those two wires run somewhere .  I'll test power with a light and see what's happening.  I don't care if the fan comes on with the light as that's my only power source in that bathroom.


With the converter when plugged into shore power, should the switch be flipped to "conv" instead of "batt?"  I'm guessing that toggles between battery sourced power and shore?

Thanks for all the great answers

[jeno]

On mine there is a switch on the fan itself

[Thenoob]

Yup mine too just wanted to know where the power from those wires that actually power it come from. 

I'm just wondering if it's connected to the lights or is it coming from another wire run?

Cheers

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

With the converter when plugged into shore power, should the switch be flipped to "conv" instead of "batt?"  I'm guessing that toggles between battery sourced power and shore?

Assuming you have one of these:


The answer is yes.

If not, then you need to tell us what converter you have

[Thenoob]

I've got what look like to be te stock one

Phillips pc -151 -m-2

Has one switch with 2 options:

Batt or conv

[Thenoob]

[DRMousseau]

Uhhhh,.... these converters have no battery charging circuit???

ugh!!!

How is battery charge maintained with these systems??? Manually??? Like with an auxiliary charger you gotta hook up occasionally???

Double UGH!!!

[Thenoob]

That I would like
To know as well and is exactly what  trying to avoid,  trying
To figure out this old coach systems.

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

Phillps did not start providing a Battery Charger option until model PC-201.  The PC-151 was one of the very first converters ever produced for RV's.  Hey, modern convenience had to start someplace!

For the PC-151
CONV = 12 VDC from converter
BATT = 12 VDC supplied by battery

Battery recharge was only via the engine alternator (or a external battery charger)

[Thenoob]

Roger that, that's how I thought it happened

Engine running, rolling down the highway = batteries charging.

Gotta give it up to dave.  Your a solid guy and you have helped me a ton on these forums going through my rig.  10 thumbs up for dave.

[DRMousseau]

I remember now Dave,.... the era of changing technology!!!

We were jus evolving from dynamo generators to alternators with the new solid-state rectifiers!!! Thinkin that Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth were the first to use 'em too!!! Those rectifiers were so dang good at what the tubes did, that they used 'em in the "new" AC-DC converters! The lasted longer too! Never had to stop at the drugstore for a new tube after that! A wonderful day when solid-state voltage regulators made the scene too!

Guess I never realized that charging circuits in those early converters jus didn't exist yet. Can't even remember us having ANY kind of battery charger in the '60's! If a battery was dead,.... we jus had to wait till someone could give us a jump. Kind of a pain, if the tractor died in the field then,.... "WHAT YA STALL IT FOR!!!" "I didn't mean too,.."

I'm jus guessin here,.... but I'm thinkin a standard automotive battery was the common "house battery" in these early RV applications.

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

I'm jus guessin here,.... but I'm thinkin a standard automotive battery was the common "house battery" in these early RV applications.

Well lets see.  Stock Brave had 2 70 amp 12VDC starting Batteries.  Oh, also had an option where you could have one 70 amp starting battery and one 200 amp 12VDC deep cycle battery.

On a more serious note, the Brave also came with 12 VDC interior lights and the 12 volt bulbs were included!  Groovy!
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