Electrical question - 83 T2103

[elwood]

Hi all, I just purchased a 1983 T2103 that seems to be in great shape for its age. This is my first TT. I've been browsing this site for a while, and appreciate all of the great info here. But, I have a question I haven't been able to find an answer for.

My 2103 has the standard 30 amp plug for shore power. I found a breaker box inside, where the shore power line comes in. the box only has a single 15 amp breaker in it. It appears as though that's all that's ever been there. What does this breaker service, and is there another breaker or fuse somewhere? Or am I really only capable of handling 15 amps? It has a briskair AC on top that I would suspect is capable of consuming 15 amps by itself.


Thanks in advance

[Steve Collins]

Jim,

First off, welcome to sunlineclub.com. You've come to the right place to get straight-forward, helpful answers.

Now, you pretty much answered part of your question. 15 amps for the converter, outlets, etc., and 15 amps for the AC. That totals 30 amps. On the newer coaches, you'll find that there are several breakers on the AC side just to protect individual circuits like the microwave oven.

You may have to do some simple circuit tracing to verify what that breaker controls. On the AC side of your coach, it is basically the same as your house wiring. Every 110 vac outlet and appliance in the trailer should be controlled by a circuit breaker.

Did you find a separate breaker somewhere for the air conditioner? If the A/C is an add-on, and not a factory install, someone may have located the breaker elsewhere in the trailer. Not a good practice, but it happens.

Is there a convertor that recharges the battery and supplies 12vdc to the trailer? That should have several 110 vac breakers in it. Drop the front panel and take a look.

The breaker box that you did find - is it located inside the coach and is it part of the 12vdc convertor?

Easiest way to test the breaker is to plug a radio into an outlet, turn it on loud enough to hear throughout the coach, and go shut off the breaker. If the radio goes off, that outlet is controlled by that breaker. If it doesn't, best start looking for another breaker... Same for the air conditioner - turn it on, and then shut off the breaker.

Test all the 110 vac outlets and appliances in the trailer the same way.

If your coach has an airconditioner and 110vac outlets, there should be at least two circuit breakers (or 110vac fuses) some where in there.

You said that the breaker box that you did find is located where the shore line comes into the trailer? That's not the norm for Sunlines. Typically there is a convertor panel inside the coach, located on the face of a cabinet down near the floor. The models vary over the years, but if you locate a panel like that, it should have some kind of door on it. Open that door, and you should find all the 12vdc fuses and several 110vac breakers.

Here is the Magnatek 6300 in my '99:

The upper half of the front panel opens with a little twist tab, and swings down:

On the left, you can see the 6 breakers: Green is a 30 amp master, Red is a 20 amp for the airconditioner, then the blue ones are all 15 amp, one for the hot water heater, one for the microwave, one for the convertor, and one for all the other 110vac outlets throughout the coach.

Can you post some pictures of what you have and let us help you figure this out.

[Sunline Fan]

Steve,

I had what I think is just like he describes in my 1550:

It's behind this door:


15 amp on the left, 20 on the right. The coach had 30 amp service, and the area also was the cord storage (cord comes out of bottom of breaker box):


On a side note, for anyone who buys a coach with a Magnatek converter and something doesn't work, check all the fuses. I had an issue with my 270 where something didn't work (I think it was the lights on the slide) and all the fuses were good, but it turned out the previous owner had half the fuses over one slot. On my particular coach, I have one blank spot on the right side, and he had it in the center.

Jon

[Steve Collins]

Originally Posted by Sunline Fan

15 amp on the left, 20 on the right. The coach had 30 amp service, and the area also was the cord storage (cord comes out of bottom of breaker box):

Jim,

Is this what you have in your coach with the exception of the single 15 amp breaker?

If so, it sounds like all they did was use the existing 15 amp breaker for both the a/c and the rest of the coach.

If that is the case and there are other 110vac outlets and/or appliances in the rig, I would recommend that you get a 20 amp breaker and separate the air conditioner onto its own breaker. You should be able to use the existing box and just pop in the new breaker and move the a/c over to it.

Why a 20 amp breaker for a 15 amp a/c? The startup surge can exceed 15 amps to get the thing running.

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by elwood

It has a briskair AC on top that I would suspect is capable of consuming 15 amps by itself.

Jim,

I forgot to mention I had the same Briskair AC on top too. I think my 20 amp breaker was standard, but I do know the coach came prewired for it from the factory. They may not have done all that in '83 though.

Jon

[elwood]

Originally Posted by Steve Collins

Jim,

Is this what you have in your coach with the exception of the single 15 amp breaker?

If so, it sounds like all they did was use the existing 15 amp breaker for both the a/c and the rest of the coach.

If that is the case and there are other 110vac outlets and/or appliances in the rig, I would recommend that you get a 20 amp breaker and separate the air conditioner onto its own breaker. You should be able to use the existing box and just pop in the new breaker and move the a/c over to it.

Why a 20 amp breaker for a 15 amp a/c? The startup surge can exceed 15 amps to get the thing running.

yeah, that looks a lot like mine.

my converter is a silver box under the dinette in the LF of the trailer. it has some wiring running back (I assume) into this breaker box. I'll have to do some wire chasing and testing as you suggested. hopefully someone wasn't silly enough to put the A/C plus the converter and all of the outlets on the same 15 amp circuit.

Thanks for your help guys!

[Mooney]

My old (now Ghettomedic's) '81 had only a single 15A breaker, IIRC, in a panel in the street-side rear where the pull-out cord was. No AC though. It may have been a higher amp breaker, but I don't remember. The converter was in the same place under the dinette too...

[Sunline Fan]

To tell you the truth, I don't remember the converter, but is this the box:



It seems dumb to have it right next to the WH, but I guess whereever it fits!

Jon

[Sunline Fan]

You know something I just noticed, isn't the WH missing the insulation? I know it was replaced in like '99, so it wasn't like that from the factory.

Jon

[elwood]

ok, did some testing, and sure enough, everything AC (including the air conditioner) in the entire coach, runs off of this same 15 amp breaker.



it definitely reeks of an aftermarket A/C install. the white wire coming out of the middle of the top of the box runs up on the inside of the wardrobe closet to the ceiling, then over to the A/C. it's also rather sloppily spliced into the wire coming off the 15a breaker. I don't understand why the installer wouldn't have bothered spending the extra 5 bucks on a seperate breaker to do the job right. at least it should be easy to fix.



while we're talking electrical, here's what my converter looks like.



these fuses aren't labeled. can I assume they are for the 12v circuits in the trailer?

Originally Posted by Sunline Fan

You know something I just noticed, isn't the WH missing the insulation? I know it was replaced in like '99, so it wasn't like that from the factory.

interesting, my HW tank looks naked, just like that. is it worthwhile to wrap some insulation around it?


thanks again for the info!

[Honda03842]

I have a 1982 Sunline 15.5 SB. It came with a 15 amp cord and a single 15 amp breaker. I purchased a 30 Amp cord and bought two 15 amp breakers on E-Bay to match the one in the box.

I used the extra capacity to add another breaker on the stove end of the kitchen cabinets and an outside outlet.

Since we're hardly ever in a climate where we need air conditioning 15 amps is generally enough but 30 amps saves my wife from shutting off the electric heater when drying her hair.

I did replace my AC to DC converter because the old one hummed. I replaced it with a 35 amp unit from Intellec, lighter smaller and smarter.

Norm Milliard
1982Sunline 15.5 SB
1984 Honda CRV

[Steve Collins]

Jim,

Looks like an easy fix to add another breaker just for the airconditioner.
I don't see a connector on the center white wire, and again, super easy to add while you're popping in the new breaker. I am never comfortable with loose wires passing through metal boxes in a mobile environment.

And you're right, those fuses in the end of your convertor are for the various 12vdc circuits in the trailer. The fuse on the far left doesn't seem to have anything connected to it, so you have a spare in case you want to add a major 12vdc item or circuit.

[MACK C-85]

Federal Pacific lost thier UL rating because they were known to not trip under overload (I welded a screwdriver to a metal junction box at work one time on a circuit that was "protected' by a FP breaker BTW, we do a lot of "hot" work in the Gov't facilities where I work, some things you just can't shut down ) Anyhow, you might want to think about a replacement circuit breaker box.

[MACK C-85]

Federal Pacific lost thier UL rating because they were known to not trip under overload (I welded a screwdriver to a metal junction box at work one time on a circuit that was "protected' by a FP breaker BTW, we do a lot of "hot" work in the Gov't facilities where I work, some things you just can't shut down ) Anyhow, you might want to think about a replacement circuit breaker box.

[MACK C-85]

Federal Pacific lost thier UL rating because they were known to not trip under overload (I welded a screwdriver to a metal junction box at work one time on a circuit that was "protected' by a FP breaker BTW, we do a lot of "hot" work in the Gov't facilities where I work, some things you just can't shut down ) Anyhow, you might want to think about a replacement circuit breaker box.

Okay, that was interesting I hit the submit button once and end up with three posts, Is there anyway to delete the extras