r-pod Nation Homepage R-Pod Travel Trailers At Jeff Couchs RV Nation
Forum Home Forum Home > Forest River r-pod > Maintenance Issues, Tips and Tricks
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - AC Unit in 171
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

AC Unit in 171

 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <12
Author
Message
yizit View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Location: Wis. Dells, WI
Status: Offline
Points: 984
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote yizit Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jun 2009 at 6:36pm
Good to know.  Thanks for letting us know.
Former owner of 2009 Rpod 172
Darlene & Jim, Ewok our Lhasa
Roada our 2004 Roadtrek 190P Conversion Van
Back to Top
BillB View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie
Avatar

Joined: 28 Jun 2009
Location: Michigan
Status: Offline
Points: 6
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BillB Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2009 at 9:54am
SmileHi Everyone,

After suffering for one hot night last weekend with the air conditioning fan cycling on & off with the compressor I decided to see if the unit could be reasonably modified to keep the fan constently running in AC mode.  It took about two hours of probing with a volt meter to come up with a reasonably simple 45 minute fix for those with any handyman bent or experience with electrical connections.  Otherwise you might be able to get a dealer to do it.  Please refer to the attached photos for the following discussion.

The AC controls consist of the thermostat and the fan/ac selector switch.  As the unit comes wired from the factory, ALL power to the unit flows through the thermostat.  When the thermostat is set for a cooler temperature than the surrounding air it sends the incoming 120v power from the thermostat to the selector switch only via the blue wire which is hooked to AC side of the selector switch. When the thermostat is set for a warmer temperature than the surrounding air it sends the incoming power from the thermostat only via the grey wire which is connected to the Heater/Fan side of the selector switch. By simply modifying the wiring so that the power goes to the selector switch first (& thus the fan) & then to the thermostat, the fan runs continuously at its selected speed even when the thermostat shuts off the AC compressor.  After using the unit, as modified, for two 82 degree days I found it did a very good job of cooling my Rpod 152.


I PRESUME THIS MODIFICATION WILL VOID THE WARRANTY OF THE AC UNIT ALTHOUGH IN MY OPINION IT DOES REALLY CHANGE ANY VOLTAGES, LOADS OR FAN SPEEDS BUT MERELY PUTS THE POWER TO THE THERMOSTAT AFTER THE AC/FAN SELECTOR SWITCH.  ALSO NOTE THAT AN OPTIONAL HEATER WOULD NOT FUNCTION PROPERLY BUT ONE POST SAID DOMETIC INDICATED THAT OUR UNITS DON'T SUPPORT A HEATER ANYWAY AND I DON'T CARE ABOUT HEATER OPERATION.  OBVIOUSLY YOU MUST DECIDE FOR YOURSELF IF THIS MODIFICATION IS SUITABLE AND SAFE AND UTILIZE PROPER ELECTRICAL CONNECTION TECHNIQUES AND WIRE TYPES/SIZES (I AM NO EXPERT IN THIS AREA).  THIS MOD CAN'T SPEAK TO OTHER MODELS THAN 3310704.000 OR HAVING A DIFFERENT WIRING DIAGRAM.


Here are the steps I took:

1) Turned off the power to the AC unit by shutting off the breaker (be safer yet by unplugging all power to the trailer). 

2) Removed the air filters, the 2 knobs and then the 8 screws holding the white cover to the trailer roof- one at each end, one under each cupped side louver & two in each filter grill.

3) Removed the black electrical junction box plastic cover (with the unit wiring diagram on it) held in place by two clips which you pop off with a screw driver.  Since AC units have a capacitor there might be voltage to watch out for even if there is no power to the unit I carefully used a pair of needle nose pliers with insulated handles & jaws (cover the jaws with elec tape) to remove the spade connectors listed below.

4) Removed the blue thermostat wire from terminal "A" on the the selector switch, cut off the spade on the end and stripped the end for joining.

5) Remove the blue wire running to the AC compressor from terminal "1" on the selector switch, cut off the female spade on the end and joined it to the blue wire from step 4 with a suitable wire nut. 

6) Removed the grey wire from terminal "1" of the thermostat and terminal "B" of the selector switch.

7) Removed the black incoming 120v power wire from terminal "2" of the thermostat and spliced it into the grey wire (being reused for convenience sake) from step 6 using a properly soldered and wrapped connection and replaced the grey wire between terminals "A" or "B" of the connector switch (you could also leave the spade connector on the black wire and use multiple spade connector from radio shack, etc. on terminal "A" or "B" of the connector switch.

8) Made up a new 6" or so wire using 12 gauge stranded wire with crimped on spade ends and connect it between the  power terminal "2" on the thermostat and terminal "1" on the selector switch.

9) Carefully tucked the wires in the junction box cover and replaced its cover & screwed the white air handler cover back on.

Bill
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <12
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 11.0
Copyright ©2001-2014 Web Wiz Ltd.