Hi Everyone,

I spent the weekend at the MH up in Northern California. We had a heat wave in the state this last week. It was around 101 degrees over the weekend. I got the MH out of the on property storage lot and back onto a site for another 90 days.

This time out the gas water heater started to work again. I like the gas since it gets the water a LOT hotter, a lot quicker then the electric element. Don't know why it started working again.

The refrigerator doesn't get cold enough...had this problem even before the 101 degree heat. The freezer works great, but the refrig doesn't show any sign of cooling off for about 12 hours and then just doesn't get cold enough. I would hate to have to replace it at those $1000+ prices. Any suggestions on what to do here?

One thing I think I will replace is the air conditioner. Summers can be around 90-100 degrees at the property. The old Coleman just doesn't pump out the cold air that I'm looking for. I think I would get the largest capacity as well (15,000) since one A/C unit for a 28 foot is probably pushing it. Any suggestions?

On Friday evening, I had just about every light on in the MH. Not a good idea. A while later, all lights went out for about 20 seconds and I smelled smoke. The 12 volt fuse panel was hot and smoking a little bit. I've decided it is time to replace this 12 volt panel. Most folks seem to recommend the panel in the attached pic...can't find name of it at the moment. Has anyone done this before?

I don't know where my father had gotten an inverter, but I have this Xantrex inverter. I've been trying to decide if I want to install it or not. I'm still trying to figure out if I can actually still power the 12 volt panel from the battery if I use an inverter instead of a converter. The old converter still works, but maybe I should just replace it with a new modern converter. Wondering if anyone has gone through this themselves and lend any advice.

Thanks
Dean

Nice handy work!

Finally did some more 12volt work on the Airstream. I purchased a new converter. I got an Intel-Power 60 watt unit and got it through www.bestconverter.com. I ordered it on a Thursday, it shipped Friday and was delivered on Monday. Great service. It was over a hundred bucks cheaper then the extremely overpriced Camping World store. Its nice to not only get rid of some dead weight by throughing out that old Uni-Volt, but also nice to not hear the hum. On my 1982 28ft, the convert is located under the curb side bed.

Also, make sure that any time you do anything like this that you look around. There will always be other work that will need to be done as well, like re-securing grommets in the wall!

The Intel-Power also came with a little monitor which tells you (by rate of blinking LED) which of the three charging modes the converter is currently working in.

I wired up a few 50amp fuses to place close to the coach batteries to fuse the line going to the converter and a couple other 12volt lines that were hooked directly to the battery. When I went to tighten the wires onto the fuses, two of the three broke. Cheap crap. I will have to find something heavier. Any suggestions?

Finally, I cleaned up the batteries. There was lots of corrosion and a couple of battery cables were looking pretty bad. The cables that were on there were welding cable (0 or 00 gauge). I looked everywhere for pre made cables this size. No go! After doing some reading, I believe that cables this size are not necessary unless you are actually running an inverter instead of a converter. The largest size premade cable that you can find even at Napa is 1 gauge). I believe this is plenty for a 50amp service.

There were a few lines hooked directly to the battery. I'm trying to hook battery directly to the cut-out switch, then run cable to a distribution block and then run lines from the distribution block. Not quite all there yet, but soon!

I had the big idea of taking out the battery tray, cleaning it all up and painting it. Just too difficult when the MH is parked 250 miles from home and 45 minutes from the nearest town. So I cleaned up the tray as best I could along with cleaning the batteries.

The coach has two 6 volt batteries run in series for 12 volts. These batteries weigh at least a "ton" if not more. There was no way that I could reach down in the battery compartment and lift them out. After a few minutes an idea came to me. I string an electrical cable through the loops in the top of the battery, wrapped the cables around my hands and lifted the batteries out! Worked great.

I still have some re-wiring to go, but its all looking a lot better and a lot safer too!

Thanks
Dean

A little while back, I finally got around to finishing up the 12 volt electrical. When I replaced the 12 volt converter, the 12 volt fuse panel and cleaned up the batteries, I had installed a couple of auto 50 amp fuses down by the batteries. The original Airstream 12 volt fuse panel had a glass style 50amp fuse at the panel. Current thinking is that a 50amp fuse must be installed within 18 inches of your batteries, otherwise by the time the fuse blows it could melt your wiring from the batteries to the fuse panel.

Don't waste your time or money with the cheap auto 50amp fuses. I broke three of them just by tightening the wire to the stud. I found these heavy duty DC 50 amp circuit breakers and installed two of them. The battery cable originally ran from the batteries to a solenoid mounted next to the battery box. This solenoid engages the coach batteries with the auto battery for that extra starter cranking power if needed. I installed a new short battery cable from the solenoid to a new junction block (see on left side of solenoid). From the junction block, I ran small cables to the new circuit breakers. The original two large 12 volt circuit wires then connect to the new circuit breakers.

The coach and auto batteries sit in a shelf just behind and under the coach exterior door. The solenoid, junction block and circuit breakers sit just in front of the battery shelf/box and behind the propane tank. This area is exposed from underneath, but it doesn't seem to get wet or very dirty from the road. I'm not worried that it sits at the end of the propane tank either as this is where the original Airstream connections of 12volt circuit lines connected to the coach battery. Besides, I can't believe the number of electrical wires running around this area anyway.

Dean

Dean
Nice install!! Where did you find the circuit breakers?
Rick

I ordered the circuit breakers from www.wiringproducts.com out of Sparks Nevada. I order online one day and they where shipped and arrived the next (to San Francisco Bay Area)!

http://www.wiringproducts.com/index...agodE0yzaQ

I also installed a battery box/hold-down for the auto battery.

I need to find something to strap down the coach batteries. Any ideas would be appreciated!

Dean