IrishBrewer
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2006
- Posts
- 74
I recently purchased a roof-mount A/C and heater unit for my '97 Camplite pop-up and went to install it last night.
I was under the impresson that the camper was fully wired for A/C because there is a dedicated circuit for A/C and there was a piece of Romex cable coming out through a grommet where there was a roof vent installed. I removed the roof vent and installed the outside unit and then wired up and fitted the inside control panel. The existing roof vent was a standard 14"x14" which is what the A/C unit required so no additional cutting was required. However, when I turned the unit on, I got nothing. After some troubleshooting, I found that the cable that was at the roof vent was not live.
I noticed that there was a junction box with a cover on the ceiling near the edge of the roof and it had a sticker with some information about the A/C circuit. I was wondering if this junction box might have some wires that needed to be connected to complete the A/C circuit. I removed the cover and found only one cable in the junction box and it was not live either. As you might have gussed, this was the same line that was going to the roof vent.
The junction box is directly over the sink and the cabinet below the sink also had a junction box for the A/C circuit and this box does have a live connection to the A/C circuit. So, what is missing is a line connecting the under-sink box to the one in the ceiling directly above. I'm not sure why this unit would have been wired for A/C with everything needed except that connecting line.
I had previously put a receptacle in the under sink junction box so we could use the previously unused A/C circuit for a space heater. So, as a temporary fix for my A/C, I took a spare end of an old extension cord and wired it into the ceiling box and plugged it into the receptacle. Then I flipped the switch on the A/C and it worked beautifully.
So, after all of this, I'm wondering how the missing line would have been run for a factory installed A/C. It has to be flexible to run through the tenting and I assume that it is concealed in a channel in the tenting but I'm not sure of the details on how this line should have been run. Would it be best to run automotive primary wire for this application? Any thoughts?
I was under the impresson that the camper was fully wired for A/C because there is a dedicated circuit for A/C and there was a piece of Romex cable coming out through a grommet where there was a roof vent installed. I removed the roof vent and installed the outside unit and then wired up and fitted the inside control panel. The existing roof vent was a standard 14"x14" which is what the A/C unit required so no additional cutting was required. However, when I turned the unit on, I got nothing. After some troubleshooting, I found that the cable that was at the roof vent was not live.
I noticed that there was a junction box with a cover on the ceiling near the edge of the roof and it had a sticker with some information about the A/C circuit. I was wondering if this junction box might have some wires that needed to be connected to complete the A/C circuit. I removed the cover and found only one cable in the junction box and it was not live either. As you might have gussed, this was the same line that was going to the roof vent.
The junction box is directly over the sink and the cabinet below the sink also had a junction box for the A/C circuit and this box does have a live connection to the A/C circuit. So, what is missing is a line connecting the under-sink box to the one in the ceiling directly above. I'm not sure why this unit would have been wired for A/C with everything needed except that connecting line.
I had previously put a receptacle in the under sink junction box so we could use the previously unused A/C circuit for a space heater. So, as a temporary fix for my A/C, I took a spare end of an old extension cord and wired it into the ceiling box and plugged it into the receptacle. Then I flipped the switch on the A/C and it worked beautifully.
So, after all of this, I'm wondering how the missing line would have been run for a factory installed A/C. It has to be flexible to run through the tenting and I assume that it is concealed in a channel in the tenting but I'm not sure of the details on how this line should have been run. Would it be best to run automotive primary wire for this application? Any thoughts?