wiring a lp leak detector

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J

Jim @ Fran

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1993 ford coachman catalina with original lp leak detector made by cci....got a new one today to replace it and when I took the old one out I found that the wires had been disconnected by previous owners....

There are red wires, white wires, brown wires, green wires and blue wires all connected with wire nuts....I can wire a garage but was never good at this kind of wiring.....The instructions say to wire it so it is always on and not to a circuit with a fuse...Can you help me on this????    have a multimeter but no clue yet how to use it....any help will be greatly appreciated...
 
No offense, but if your unfamiliar with your multimeter, you might be better off asking a friend who is familiar with theirs to give you a hand.  Or have a dealer/service center do the retrofit for you.  This item is a safety issue.  Get it taken care of correctly.
 
If I knew someone to ask I would have done it....was hoping that someone having the same mh would pull the 2 screws and see what its wired to...trying to save a buck where we can....anyway thanks for your response...will have to figure it out...
 
That seems like a lot of wires for an LP detector, even one with a gas shutoff valve.  What model of CCI detector is it?

I'm guessing the old one is wired so that it can be powered from either  the house battery or chassis battery, plus it has two wires that go to the LP shutoff valve. They don't make detectors with gas shutoff anymore, so I'm guessing the new one has fewer wires, right? Probably only 3 or maybe even just 2?

Two of the old wires in the RV probably have +12v, so follow the instructions on the meter and check from each wire to a chassis ground to determine which two they are. And one of those wires should be a chassis ground, so you can use the Ohm function on the meter to check for continuity between the remaining 3 wires and a known chassis ground point.  Then I'm guessing the remaining two wires go to the shutoff valve and you probably don't have anything on the new detector to connect them to.
 
Hi Gary....My original post was a little confusing on the wires....Sure the CCI model 7730 is original to the mh...it was unhooked and had a red and black wire coming from it which is the same as the new one I just got.....the wires I was referring to were what was behind the detector all with wire nuts....Just below where the fuse panel is located....the detector would have been hooked up to 2 of these....Thanks for your help....have been reading about using a multimeter and I have to say its pretty confusing to someone who never used one before.....
 
What might be of more help to you now and future for checking 12 volt wires is a simple 12 v tester.  You can purchase them at most stores that sell auto parts and accessories like Wal-Mart, AutoZone, NAPA etc.  The tester usually have a sharp point on one end, a wire with a clamp on the other and a light bulb in the handle.  The end with the clamp run to ground and the pointed end touch the wire you think is positive 12 v (+ HOT) if it is the light will light.  More simple than using a multi meter for the job you are doing.    A lot of RV?s use white wire for ground and black for positive. +  Most device makers usually use black for ground and red for positive +. 
You can also set you multi meter up in the DC mode, depending on meter about 40v DC and use the black probe to ground the red probe to check for 12v.  If you find 12v it should show up usually around 13 v depending upon battery condition.
Hope this helps, Dick
 
If the new detector has just two wires, you merely need to find +12v to power it. Doesn't make a whole lot of difference whether it is the same as the original. The new one should have instructions to tell you which wire is which.  What is the make & model of the new detector?

Using a VOM is easy enough but it's one of those things that is easier to show by doing then to give written/verbal instructions.
 
New one is a "Safe T alert" made by MTI Industries and came from Camping World....The instructions just say to connect the Red power lead to a fused circuit and the black to a ground.... I thought I read somewhere that they should be wired to a power source that was always hot and not go through a fuse box...Think I got it figured out...Many thanks...
 
Every powered device should be fused.  An always hot circuit is one that's not switched, but it should be fused.
 
Thanks Ned...I agree...What I had read was "Connect only to wiring that cannot be turned off by a wall switch or ground fault protector"    Somehow I got it into my head that meant it had to be wired direct and not through a fuse...I am no longer confused...Learn something new every day....

Thanks to all for info...
 
LP detectors are typically not fused, the idea being that the detector is itself an important safety device and its "always on" requirement outweighs the safety aspect of a fused circuit. You could have a blown fuse and not know that the LP detector was no longer working.  It should, also be on a dedicated circuit.

Personally I would wire it through a fairly large fuse, one that is well-resistance to accident blowing, yet still likely to blow before the wire actually burns up.
 
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