C-Stack
Member
Also, If you don't mind, could I see what the battery connection/A-Frame set up looks like on your '76 or your dad's '79??
Help with 1982 15’ TT
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Hi Carla,
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I've been busy here lately.
From all your pictures, I have developed this for your battery hookup on the trailer's A-frame area. I will point out a few unanswered questions.
These pictures of yours will show what wires go where. I'm unsure if you can do this work or if you have a relative or friend who can help with the right tools. Or any RV tech can do this. Someone who works in automotive or an electrician has all these tools for repairing wiring and crimping on new terminal connectors for the battery hook-up. You will need a new emergency breakaway switch.
First is the battery positive (+) thick black wire and the thick white battery negative wire (-). Inspect both wires to ensure no burnt-up or open gaps in the wire insulation. Any damaged areas need to be repaired. On the battery black (+) wire, a wire terminal may already exist to bolt to the deep cycle battery. On the battery white (-) wire, that rusty bolt and connection to the chassis ground must be cleaned up. A new 10-AWG wire needs to be acquired and installed from that chassis ground bolt up to the battery with a wire terminal on the end to fit the battery post.
That will take care of the battery; next is the Emergency Breakaway Switch (EBS) and the blue brake wire. They spliced one leg/wire of the old breakaway switch into the black battery (+) wire. You will need to redo that connection so one of the new wires on the new switch attaches in the same way or similarly. There is no polarity on the EBS, so either wire on the switch is OK.
Here is where to connect the blue wire to the other wire on the EBS using a waterproof connection.
That will take care of the battery hookup. There are still some unknowns. Sunline used the wire colors using the RV standard 7-wire plug configuration. Which is a little different from the trailer industry. It looks like this picture is from Etrailer. This gets a little confusing, so I show the pic, but here is where it comes from. Scroll all the way down to find this image. https://www.etrailer.com/faq-wiring.aspx
Sunline used what is called, a split wire loom tube (the black plastic casing) to hold the individual wires from the 7-wire plug. They for sure used 5 of the 7 potential wires,
Blue = electric brakes
Green = Tail and running lights
Red = Left turn and brake light
Brown = left turn and brake light
White = chassis ground (battery (negative)
We do not know about the black battery charge wire or whether your camper has backup lights, the yellow wire, but some of the older campers did. Knowing what wires they have inside the wire loom tube would be good. Since it is split, you can fold it open, look inside, and see how many wires and colors. See here, as I can see the split in your picture. Have a look and see what is in there.
You said, so far, you cannot find any junction of the wires coming into the camper where the wire loom goes up into the floor. And that this is, inside the camper where the wires go up into the camper.
Here is where you can look for a junction of the white chassis ground wire and the blue brake wire. Take a flashlight and look where the flat red cable attaches to. That flat red cable, I "think" is the same flat red cable under the camper popping out where the wire loom goes into the camper heading the brake coils.
For the EBS to work and the electric brakes, there has to be a junction of some type from the blue incoming wire loom wire from the truck in the 7-wire wire tube to join both the EBS blue wire that goes back out to the EBS and the flat red cable. They cannot create that with only one wire from the truck; it has to split and be joined. It may be under the floor, but you can see the red flat cable; see if you can trace it to the blue incoming wire.
The 7-wire green, brown, and red wires can be one long wire run from the 7-wire plug to this fuse block and never split. They may have even brought the white chassis ground wire there and back to other locations.
Next is your power converter. I can see the thicker white battery negative and black battery positive wires run to the power converter to feed the circuit fuses. It is still unknown if you have a truck battery charge wire. More on that when you inspect the cables in the wire loom.
Here is a big unknown you can look into. There is the case of a power converter, but there may not be any 12 VDC power converter control board inside the case. I tried to find anything on that brand of power converter, and it came up empty. They were either bought out or went out of business in the 80s sometime. Maybe a fellow club member, by chance, has some paperwork from their Sunline manual. Being 43 years old, odds are the slime of finding something.
But take a flashlight and look down in the large rectangular opening under the glass fuses to see if any circuit boards are inside. Take a picture if you can. It is not beyond a possibility that the converter/battery charger portion died long ago, and the prior owner unhooked or removed the battery charger portion and just used the battery to run the lights and water pump. They may have charged the battery with a stand-alone charger. See what you can find. We can help if there is no working battery charger/converter, as these do die in time and need to be replaced.
I hope this helps get you started.
Johnb
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I've been busy here lately.
From all your pictures, I have developed this for your battery hookup on the trailer's A-frame area. I will point out a few unanswered questions.
These pictures of yours will show what wires go where. I'm unsure if you can do this work or if you have a relative or friend who can help with the right tools. Or any RV tech can do this. Someone who works in automotive or an electrician has all these tools for repairing wiring and crimping on new terminal connectors for the battery hook-up. You will need a new emergency breakaway switch.
First is the battery positive (+) thick black wire and the thick white battery negative wire (-). Inspect both wires to ensure no burnt-up or open gaps in the wire insulation. Any damaged areas need to be repaired. On the battery black (+) wire, a wire terminal may already exist to bolt to the deep cycle battery. On the battery white (-) wire, that rusty bolt and connection to the chassis ground must be cleaned up. A new 10-AWG wire needs to be acquired and installed from that chassis ground bolt up to the battery with a wire terminal on the end to fit the battery post.
That will take care of the battery; next is the Emergency Breakaway Switch (EBS) and the blue brake wire. They spliced one leg/wire of the old breakaway switch into the black battery (+) wire. You will need to redo that connection so one of the new wires on the new switch attaches in the same way or similarly. There is no polarity on the EBS, so either wire on the switch is OK.
Here is where to connect the blue wire to the other wire on the EBS using a waterproof connection.
That will take care of the battery hookup. There are still some unknowns. Sunline used the wire colors using the RV standard 7-wire plug configuration. Which is a little different from the trailer industry. It looks like this picture is from Etrailer. This gets a little confusing, so I show the pic, but here is where it comes from. Scroll all the way down to find this image. https://www.etrailer.com/faq-wiring.aspx
Sunline used what is called, a split wire loom tube (the black plastic casing) to hold the individual wires from the 7-wire plug. They for sure used 5 of the 7 potential wires,
Blue = electric brakes
Green = Tail and running lights
Red = Left turn and brake light
Brown = left turn and brake light
White = chassis ground (battery (negative)
We do not know about the black battery charge wire or whether your camper has backup lights, the yellow wire, but some of the older campers did. Knowing what wires they have inside the wire loom tube would be good. Since it is split, you can fold it open, look inside, and see how many wires and colors. See here, as I can see the split in your picture. Have a look and see what is in there.
You said, so far, you cannot find any junction of the wires coming into the camper where the wire loom goes up into the floor. And that this is, inside the camper where the wires go up into the camper.
Here is where you can look for a junction of the white chassis ground wire and the blue brake wire. Take a flashlight and look where the flat red cable attaches to. That flat red cable, I "think" is the same flat red cable under the camper popping out where the wire loom goes into the camper heading the brake coils.
For the EBS to work and the electric brakes, there has to be a junction of some type from the blue incoming wire loom wire from the truck in the 7-wire wire tube to join both the EBS blue wire that goes back out to the EBS and the flat red cable. They cannot create that with only one wire from the truck; it has to split and be joined. It may be under the floor, but you can see the red flat cable; see if you can trace it to the blue incoming wire.
The 7-wire green, brown, and red wires can be one long wire run from the 7-wire plug to this fuse block and never split. They may have even brought the white chassis ground wire there and back to other locations.
Next is your power converter. I can see the thicker white battery negative and black battery positive wires run to the power converter to feed the circuit fuses. It is still unknown if you have a truck battery charge wire. More on that when you inspect the cables in the wire loom.
Here is a big unknown you can look into. There is the case of a power converter, but there may not be any 12 VDC power converter control board inside the case. I tried to find anything on that brand of power converter, and it came up empty. They were either bought out or went out of business in the 80s sometime. Maybe a fellow club member, by chance, has some paperwork from their Sunline manual. Being 43 years old, odds are the slime of finding something.
But take a flashlight and look down in the large rectangular opening under the glass fuses to see if any circuit boards are inside. Take a picture if you can. It is not beyond a possibility that the converter/battery charger portion died long ago, and the prior owner unhooked or removed the battery charger portion and just used the battery to run the lights and water pump. They may have charged the battery with a stand-alone charger. See what you can find. We can help if there is no working battery charger/converter, as these do die in time and need to be replaced.
I hope this helps get you started.
Johnb
Sunline Fan
Sunline Historian
Site Team
Here's a better picture of the toilet area. Ignore the mess, I've been focused on the wiring and didn't get into there yet.
Once I get a little better weather and some more courage, I will peel back that duct tape and see what I'm working with. Any tips for re-seating the toilet? I've installed lots of toilets, but never one in a camper.
That looks pretty much like I expected. Toilet installation is a little different in an RV vs. a house.
Under the duct tape, you will see more of the same flooring except for a round plastic flange with the hole in the middle. It will look like this:
The flange is screwed into the plywood floor and the whole thing is threaded into the top of the tank. I see you have a Thetford Aqua Magic IV toilet, which should have a rubber seal on the bottom where it fits into the floor flange. The toilet itself is held in with two uniquely shaped oval bolts that go under the floor flange via two of those open slots and then up through the toilet, then the nuts go on from the top and hold the toilet down.
Before installing the toilet, if you have a way to dump water from the tank, I'd fill it up with buckets of water and make sure it doesn't leak before reinstalling it, since it sounds like you were not the one to remove it.
Sunline Fan
Sunline Historian
Site Team
I'll defer to John on this because both my '76 and '79 are pretty hacked up wiring wise. I haven't gotten into the '76 yet but the '79 had been chopped off and spliced behind the frame header and had a bunch of misc. wires. The '79 now been completely redone and looks slightly different from original.
I can get some of the actual frame if that helps but it looks just like yours, except for having a single LP tank bracket instead of the dual tray.
C-Stack
Member
Thank for your reply. I believe a previous owner switched out the LP bracket, as the info shows a single bracket.
C-Stack
Member
You are correct in that I didn’t remove it. The owner I got her from said the previous owners had removed it. He didn’t know why. They had left the toilet, but he only actually took it out once so he didn’t feel the need to reinstall it. I haven’t really looked at it, to be honest, since I knew I’d need to figure out the power before I’d have a way to pump water to the toilet. This will at least give a starting point.That looks pretty much like I expected. Toilet installation is a little different in an RV vs. a house.
Under the duct tape, you will see more of the same flooring except for a round plastic flange with the hole in the middle. It will look like this:
The flange is screwed into the plywood floor and the whole thing is threaded into the top of the tank. I see you have a Thetford Aqua Magic IV toilet, which should have a rubber seal on the bottom where it fits into the floor flange. The toilet itself is held in with two uniquely shaped oval bolts that go under the floor flange via two of those open slots and then up through the toilet, then the nuts go on from the top and hold the toilet down.
Before installing the toilet, if you have a way to dump water from the tank, I'd fill it up with buckets of water and make sure it doesn't leak before reinstalling it, since it sounds like you were not the one to remove it.
Sunline Fan
Sunline Historian
Site Team
A lot of models had single tanks standard in the '80s, but it was a factory option to upgrade to dual tanks. Although your tank base plate does look newer.
C-Stack
Member
Hello! I do understand busy (hence I'm just getting to this a week later), and I very much appreciate you taking your time to help with this. I believe I can do the wiring myself. It seems pretty straightforward and I have tools and some experience.Hi Carla,
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I've been busy here lately.
From all your pictures, I have developed this for your battery hookup on the trailer's A-frame area. I will point out a few unanswered questions.
These pictures of yours will show what wires go where. I'm unsure if you can do this work or if you have a relative or friend who can help with the right tools. Or any RV tech can do this. Someone who works in automotive or an electrician has all these tools for repairing wiring and crimping on new terminal connectors for the battery hook-up. You will need a new emergency breakaway switch.
First is the battery positive (+) thick black wire and the thick white battery negative wire (-). Inspect both wires to ensure no burnt-up or open gaps in the wire insulation. Any damaged areas need to be repaired. On the battery black (+) wire, a wire terminal may already exist to bolt to the deep cycle battery. On the battery white (-) wire, that rusty bolt and connection to the chassis ground must be cleaned up. A new 10-AWG wire needs to be acquired and installed from that chassis ground bolt up to the battery with a wire terminal on the end to fit the battery post.
That will take care of the battery; next is the Emergency Breakaway Switch (EBS) and the blue brake wire. They spliced one leg/wire of the old breakaway switch into the black battery (+) wire. You will need to redo that connection so one of the new wires on the new switch attaches in the same way or similarly. There is no polarity on the EBS, so either wire on the switch is OK.
Here is where to connect the blue wire to the other wire on the EBS using a waterproof connection.
That will take care of the battery hookup. There are still some unknowns. Sunline used the wire colors using the RV standard 7-wire plug configuration. Which is a little different from the trailer industry. It looks like this picture is from Etrailer. This gets a little confusing, so I show the pic, but here is where it comes from. Scroll all the way down to find this image. https://www.etrailer.com/faq-wiring.aspx
Sunline used what is called, a split wire loom tube (the black plastic casing) to hold the individual wires from the 7-wire plug. They for sure used 5 of the 7 potential wires,
Blue = electric brakes
Green = Tail and running lights
Red = Left turn and brake light
Brown = left turn and brake light
White = chassis ground (battery (negative)
We do not know about the black battery charge wire or whether your camper has backup lights, the yellow wire, but some of the older campers did. Knowing what wires they have inside the wire loom tube would be good. Since it is split, you can fold it open, look inside, and see how many wires and colors. See here, as I can see the split in your picture. Have a look and see what is in there.
You said, so far, you cannot find any junction of the wires coming into the camper where the wire loom goes up into the floor. And that this is, inside the camper where the wires go up into the camper.
Here is where you can look for a junction of the white chassis ground wire and the blue brake wire. Take a flashlight and look where the flat red cable attaches to. That flat red cable, I "think" is the same flat red cable under the camper popping out where the wire loom goes into the camper heading the brake coils.
For the EBS to work and the electric brakes, there has to be a junction of some type from the blue incoming wire loom wire from the truck in the 7-wire wire tube to join both the EBS blue wire that goes back out to the EBS and the flat red cable. They cannot create that with only one wire from the truck; it has to split and be joined. It may be under the floor, but you can see the red flat cable; see if you can trace it to the blue incoming wire.
The 7-wire green, brown, and red wires can be one long wire run from the 7-wire plug to this fuse block and never split. They may have even brought the white chassis ground wire there and back to other locations.
Next is your power converter. I can see the thicker white battery negative and black battery positive wires run to the power converter to feed the circuit fuses. It is still unknown if you have a truck battery charge wire. More on that when you inspect the cables in the wire loom.
Here is a big unknown you can look into. There is the case of a power converter, but there may not be any 12 VDC power converter control board inside the case. I tried to find anything on that brand of power converter, and it came up empty. They were either bought out or went out of business in the 80s sometime. Maybe a fellow club member, by chance, has some paperwork from their Sunline manual. Being 43 years old, odds are the slime of finding something.
But take a flashlight and look down in the large rectangular opening under the glass fuses to see if any circuit boards are inside. Take a picture if you can. It is not beyond a possibility that the converter/battery charger portion died long ago, and the prior owner unhooked or removed the battery charger portion and just used the battery to run the lights and water pump. They may have charged the battery with a stand-alone charger. See what you can find. We can help if there is no working battery charger/converter, as these do die in time and need to be replaced.
I hope this helps get you started.
Johnb
Here are some answers to my unknowns:
So we have blue, green, red, brown, white, and the black battery charge cable. No yellow aux wire, and I don't believe I have backup lights so that tracks.
I haven't had the chance to remove the board that covers where the wires come into the camper (honestly, it just dawned on me that I could probably do that) so I'll try to check into that when I get home from work. This picture kind of shows what goes where inside the camper. The wires run under the bathroom, with the exception of the red wire that exits the floor where the coil enters.
Here you can see where they come out on the other side of the bathroom - behind the furnace in the cabinet under the fridge.
Connection at wheel (driver's side).
These pictures show the inside of the hamper coming from that fuse panel. This group of wires runs along the back of the dinette bench toward the front of the camper.
This is the underside of the piece of paneling the fuse panel is attached to.
This is kind of upside down, but shows the other side as it runs from fuse panel to the bathroom wall then down into the exterior storage well.
I'm still on the hunt for info regarding the power converter, but for now I think that's all the clarifying info I have. If there's a junction under the board where the wiring enters the camper, I'll add another post showing that.
Thanks again!
Carla
Hi Clara,
This pic is really helpful. It tells us a lot.
The thicker (heavier gauge wire, most likely 10 awg) white and black fit with the RV industry standard, white is for chassis ground/battery negative, and the black is for battery charging from the truck.
The green is for the clearance, marker, and tail lights.
Brown is for right side (passenger side) turn/stop light (high brightness filament)
Red is for left (driver side) turn/stop light (high brightness filament)
And you have no yellow, which would be backup lights, and you may not have them.
The blue wire is for the electric brakes. It has to be split and joined somewhere as it needs to feed the emergency breakaway switch and the two-wheel brakes. There may be a wire nut junction in the floor where that blue wire enters the camper and then goes back out to the brakes and heads to the emergency breakaway switch. In here, there may be a wire junction of the blue wire. And yes, if that board can be lifted and shine in with a flashlight to see where the wires come up through the floor, it may explain all this.
Now, the thick black wire has to go to the power converter and the battery positive terminal for the black battery charge wire. Ideally, there is one or two fuses in that black wire.
We do know that the heavy black wire (+ 12 VDC) goes to the battery; we can see it here.
And in this new picture of yours, I "think" that heavy black wire is in these pics with the tiny white lettering "60C" on the wire insulation under the smaller red wire. Your clear pictures tell a lot. Good job!
Now, that heavy black also needs to go to the power converter area, and here I know I can see one heavy black wire feeding the power fuse on the power center fuse block. See it here feeding the bottom side of the single glass fuse. That higher amperage fuse protects from a short circuit on the main battery wire and power converter board supply, so as not to overload the system. So this is one of the fuses on that heavy black wire.
The mystery now is how the black truck battery charger in the seven-wire cable connects to the power converter's main fuse supply and the camper battery on the trailer's A-frame?
If you lift that board and see where the 6 wires in the plastic wire loom come into the camper, it may help shed some light on this. There "might" be a wire nut junction of 3 black wires and maybe a fuse under there.
I hope this helps.
John
This pic is really helpful. It tells us a lot.
The thicker (heavier gauge wire, most likely 10 awg) white and black fit with the RV industry standard, white is for chassis ground/battery negative, and the black is for battery charging from the truck.
The green is for the clearance, marker, and tail lights.
Brown is for right side (passenger side) turn/stop light (high brightness filament)
Red is for left (driver side) turn/stop light (high brightness filament)
And you have no yellow, which would be backup lights, and you may not have them.
The blue wire is for the electric brakes. It has to be split and joined somewhere as it needs to feed the emergency breakaway switch and the two-wheel brakes. There may be a wire nut junction in the floor where that blue wire enters the camper and then goes back out to the brakes and heads to the emergency breakaway switch. In here, there may be a wire junction of the blue wire. And yes, if that board can be lifted and shine in with a flashlight to see where the wires come up through the floor, it may explain all this.
Now, the thick black wire has to go to the power converter and the battery positive terminal for the black battery charge wire. Ideally, there is one or two fuses in that black wire.
We do know that the heavy black wire (+ 12 VDC) goes to the battery; we can see it here.
And in this new picture of yours, I "think" that heavy black wire is in these pics with the tiny white lettering "60C" on the wire insulation under the smaller red wire. Your clear pictures tell a lot. Good job!
Now, that heavy black also needs to go to the power converter area, and here I know I can see one heavy black wire feeding the power fuse on the power center fuse block. See it here feeding the bottom side of the single glass fuse. That higher amperage fuse protects from a short circuit on the main battery wire and power converter board supply, so as not to overload the system. So this is one of the fuses on that heavy black wire.
The mystery now is how the black truck battery charger in the seven-wire cable connects to the power converter's main fuse supply and the camper battery on the trailer's A-frame?
If you lift that board and see where the 6 wires in the plastic wire loom come into the camper, it may help shed some light on this. There "might" be a wire nut junction of 3 black wires and maybe a fuse under there.
I hope this helps.
John
Last edited:
C-Stack
Member
Hello John,Hi Clara,
This pic is really helpful. It tells us a lot.
The thicker (heavier gauge wire, most likely 10 awg) white and black fit with the RV industry standard, white is for chassis ground/battery negative, and the black is for battery charging from the truck.
The green is for the clearance, marker, and tail lights.
Brown is for right side (passenger side) turn/stop light (high brightness filament)
Red is for left (driver side) turn/stop light (high brightness filament)
And you have no yellow, which would be backup lights, and you may not have them.
The blue wire is for the electric brakes. It has to be split and joined somewhere as it needs to feed the emergency breakaway switch and the two-wheel brakes. There may be a wire nut junction in the floor where that blue wire enters the camper and then goes back out to the brakes and heads to the emergency breakaway switch. In here, there may be a wire junction of the blue wire. And yes, if that board can be lifted and shine in with a flashlight to see where the wires come up through the floor, it may explain all this.
Now, the thick black wire has to go to the power converter and the battery positive terminal for the black battery charge wire. Ideally, there is one or two fuses in that black wire.
We do know that the heavy black wire (+ 12 VDC) goes to the battery; we can see it here.
And in this new picture of yours, I "think" that heavy black wire is in these pics with the tiny white lettering "60C" on the wire insulation under the smaller red wire. Your clear pictures tell a lot. Good job!
Now, that heavy black also needs to go to the power converter area, and here I know I can see one heavy black wire feeding the power fuse on the power center fuse block. See it here feeding the bottom side of the single glass fuse. That higher amperage fuse protects from a short circuit on the main battery wire and power converter board supply, so as not to overload the system. So this is one of the fuses on that heavy black wire.
The mystery now is how the black truck battery charger in the seven-wire cable connects to the power converter's main fuse supply and the camper battery on the trailer's A-frame?
If you lift that board and see where the 6 wires in the plastic wire loom come into the camper, it may help shed some light on this. There "might" be a wire nut junction of 3 black wires and maybe a fuse under there.
I hope this helps.
John
I am happy to report success! LOL. I removed the board in the outboard storage/dinette bench area and I have, indeed, got some junction connections. They look like this:
And a little closer:
Back by the pipe:
Here are a couple of pictures of the converter wiring inside the box:
The area you have circled inside:
And from the outside as they enter the case:
I'm also including pics of the other side just in case.
Thank you for your patience on this little journey of mine, lol. Let me know where we go from there. I got the emergency break-away switch, so might possibly get to installing that this weekend.
Thanks again,
Carla
Hi Carla,
First off, you are welcome. We are glad to help as we can. And yes, we all know the busy things life throws at us.
Now, back to the camper, lifting that board tells a lot!
This pic of yours, I can now see exactly how they did this.
The heavy black wires, we can see two thicker black wires coming up from under the camper.
1st blk wire: Is from the 7-wire truck plug known as the battery charge feed to the camper from the truck.
2nd blk wire: Joins in the yellow block, returns through the floor, and heads to the camper battery positive (+) terminal.
Then, out of the same yellow joining block, the 3rd thicker black wire runs to the power converter as the main fused converter charger and battery supply fuse. This all makes sense now.
I'll add this if you want to "upgrade" your system someday. What you have will work on this black battery power feed wire setup; however, as Sunline evolved in building campers, they started adding extra safety features. In this case of the battery power feed wires, they added two more fuses to protect the system.
1. Close to the battery, they added a 30-amp self-resetting circuit breaker in the black wire that connects the battery positive terminal to the camper wiring. This would be in the wire between the battery and that yellow block. This helps protect the wiring from a dead short that somehow happened and started to melt the wire insulation. The wires are exposed out on the A-frame, and if that black wire ever gets smashed to the frame, a dead short happens, and instantly the wire between the battery and the short goes into mega heat and sparking mode. In your case, you do not have this protection, as your only fuse is back at the power converter. The dead short is between the battery and the camper's metal frame, so while that power converter fuse protects against overloading the wire, it does not protect against a direct short along the way to the power converter. To upgrade this, you would add a 30-amp fuse holder or a 30-amp self-resting circuit breaker. The location would be close to the battery's positive terminal. There are a couple of options on how to do that; If this interests you, we can get into it.
2. The truck charge line wire also added a 30-amp fuse in this line. In your case, this can be inside the camper and placed in series with the 7-wire truck plug feed wire to the yellow block. This fuse protects the truck system if a wiring short happens in the camper. There are a couple of options on how to do that; If this interests you, we can get into it.
The above explains the mystery of how they connected the black battery power wires.
I can see in your picture a yellow wire nut under all the wires, and I can see the blue brake power wiring coming up out of the floor from the 7-wire truck plug that goes into that yellow wire nut. That explains how the red two-wire cable under the camper feeds the wheel brakes. While I cannot see the thinner black wire in that red cable, I'm sure it's there. The brake feed red cover cable has a black and red wire in it. This one is under the camper.
Now to the white wires in that mini bare aluminum bus bar, See here:
One heavy/thicker white wire is from the 7-wire truck plug. The other heavy, thicker white wire goes back through the floor and up to the battery tray as a chassis ground wire. And the thinner white wire goes to the brakes in that 2-wire red cable. The other heavy white wire is heading to the power converter as the battery negative (-) wire. The thinner white wire may be the ground wire heading to the three glass fuses area for the DOT lights on the camper.
This all adds up now and confirms the wiring on the A frame, as I have told you how to hook it up. I'm out of time now, I wanted to get this much to you. I'll be back later to talk about the power converter.
I hope this helps,
John
First off, you are welcome. We are glad to help as we can. And yes, we all know the busy things life throws at us.
Now, back to the camper, lifting that board tells a lot!
This pic of yours, I can now see exactly how they did this.
The heavy black wires, we can see two thicker black wires coming up from under the camper.
1st blk wire: Is from the 7-wire truck plug known as the battery charge feed to the camper from the truck.
2nd blk wire: Joins in the yellow block, returns through the floor, and heads to the camper battery positive (+) terminal.
Then, out of the same yellow joining block, the 3rd thicker black wire runs to the power converter as the main fused converter charger and battery supply fuse. This all makes sense now.
I'll add this if you want to "upgrade" your system someday. What you have will work on this black battery power feed wire setup; however, as Sunline evolved in building campers, they started adding extra safety features. In this case of the battery power feed wires, they added two more fuses to protect the system.
1. Close to the battery, they added a 30-amp self-resetting circuit breaker in the black wire that connects the battery positive terminal to the camper wiring. This would be in the wire between the battery and that yellow block. This helps protect the wiring from a dead short that somehow happened and started to melt the wire insulation. The wires are exposed out on the A-frame, and if that black wire ever gets smashed to the frame, a dead short happens, and instantly the wire between the battery and the short goes into mega heat and sparking mode. In your case, you do not have this protection, as your only fuse is back at the power converter. The dead short is between the battery and the camper's metal frame, so while that power converter fuse protects against overloading the wire, it does not protect against a direct short along the way to the power converter. To upgrade this, you would add a 30-amp fuse holder or a 30-amp self-resting circuit breaker. The location would be close to the battery's positive terminal. There are a couple of options on how to do that; If this interests you, we can get into it.
2. The truck charge line wire also added a 30-amp fuse in this line. In your case, this can be inside the camper and placed in series with the 7-wire truck plug feed wire to the yellow block. This fuse protects the truck system if a wiring short happens in the camper. There are a couple of options on how to do that; If this interests you, we can get into it.
The above explains the mystery of how they connected the black battery power wires.
I can see in your picture a yellow wire nut under all the wires, and I can see the blue brake power wiring coming up out of the floor from the 7-wire truck plug that goes into that yellow wire nut. That explains how the red two-wire cable under the camper feeds the wheel brakes. While I cannot see the thinner black wire in that red cable, I'm sure it's there. The brake feed red cover cable has a black and red wire in it. This one is under the camper.
Now to the white wires in that mini bare aluminum bus bar, See here:
One heavy/thicker white wire is from the 7-wire truck plug. The other heavy, thicker white wire goes back through the floor and up to the battery tray as a chassis ground wire. And the thinner white wire goes to the brakes in that 2-wire red cable. The other heavy white wire is heading to the power converter as the battery negative (-) wire. The thinner white wire may be the ground wire heading to the three glass fuses area for the DOT lights on the camper.
This all adds up now and confirms the wiring on the A frame, as I have told you how to hook it up. I'm out of time now, I wanted to get this much to you. I'll be back later to talk about the power converter.
I hope this helps,
John
C-Stack
Member
Hi Carla,
First off, you are welcome. We are glad to help as we can. And yes, we all know the busy things life throws at us.
Now, back to the camper, lifting that board tells a lot!
This pic of yours, I can now see exactly how they did this.
The heavy black wires, we can see two thicker black wires coming up from under the camper.
1st blk wire: Is from the 7-wire truck plug known as the battery charge feed to the camper from the truck.
2nd blk wire: Joins in the yellow block, returns through the floor, and heads to the camper battery positive (+) terminal.
Then, out of the same yellow joining block, the 3rd thicker black wire runs to the power converter as the main fused converter charger and battery supply fuse. This all makes sense now.
I'll add this if you want to "upgrade" your system someday. What you have will work on this black battery power feed wire setup; however, as Sunline evolved in building campers, they started adding extra safety features. In this case of the battery power feed wires, they added two more fuses to protect the system.
1. Close to the battery, they added a 30-amp self-resetting circuit breaker in the black wire that connects the battery positive terminal to the camper wiring. This would be in the wire between the battery and that yellow block. This helps protect the wiring from a dead short that somehow happened and started to melt the wire insulation. The wires are exposed out on the A-frame, and if that black wire ever gets smashed to the frame, a dead short happens, and instantly the wire between the battery and the short goes into mega heat and sparking mode. In your case, you do not have this protection, as your only fuse is back at the power converter. The dead short is between the battery and the camper's metal frame, so while that power converter fuse protects against overloading the wire, it does not protect against a direct short along the way to the power converter. To upgrade this, you would add a 30-amp fuse holder or a 30-amp self-resting circuit breaker. The location would be close to the battery's positive terminal. There are a couple of options on how to do that; If this interests you, we can get into it.
2. The truck charge line wire also added a 30-amp fuse in this line. In your case, this can be inside the camper and placed in series with the 7-wire truck plug feed wire to the yellow block. This fuse protects the truck system if a wiring short happens in the camper. There are a couple of options on how to do that; If this interests you, we can get into it.
The above explains the mystery of how they connected the black battery power wires.
I can see in your picture a yellow wire nut under all the wires, and I can see the blue brake power wiring coming up out of the floor from the 7-wire truck plug that goes into that yellow wire nut. That explains how the red two-wire cable under the camper feeds the wheel brakes. While I cannot see the thinner black wire in that red cable, I'm sure it's there. The brake feed red cover cable has a black and red wire in it. This one is under the camper.
Now to the white wires in that mini bare aluminum bus bar, See here:
One heavy/thicker white wire is from the 7-wire truck plug. The other heavy, thicker white wire goes back through the floor and up to the battery tray as a chassis ground wire. And the thinner white wire goes to the brakes in that 2-wire red cable. The other heavy white wire is heading to the power converter as the battery negative (-) wire. The thinner white wire may be the ground wire heading to the three glass fuses area for the DOT lights on the camper.
This all adds up now and confirms the wiring on the A frame, as I have told you how to hook it up. I'm out of time now, I wanted to get this much to you. I'll be back later to talk about the power converter.
I hope this helps,
John
Thank you again! I would be interested in adding the extra protections, yes, so any info on those would be great.
I got the breakaway switch to replace and am picking up my battery this afternoon. I'm going to try to connect everything this weekend, weather permitting, as I'd like to see what works and what doesn't, but safety features would definitely be on the to do list.
I'll probably have many more questions as I go along, lol, but I've at least got some direction now.
Carla
Hi Carla,
You are very welcome. A few last things before you clean up the wiring on the A-frame.
1. On the new emergency breakaway switch (EBS): the EBS wire that will connect to the blue wire brake power wire can be a permanent installation. Neatly tie up the wiring to the inside of the frame so it is not loose or able to easily get hit. On the other EBS wire that ties into the battery positive wire, leave that switch wire as long as what comes with the switch. Just coil up the excess and tie wrap it neatly for a possible future upgrade with the battery wire connection. When you add fusing on the battery wire and possibly a battery disconnect switch, that power feed wire may change how it ties into the battery wire. Then you might use the extra wire length. I wanted to let you know before you cut it, and later, when you add the fusing, it will be too short.
2. The power converter is unknown, whether it works or not. From your pictures, it seems there is something inside the casing, and with some luck, it still may work. But, I suggest this: after the battery is installed, see if the lights and things in the camper work with "no shore power plugged in". That way you can test by just using the battery only and you will know all is good or not before you plug in the power converter.
3. If and when you turn on the power converter, if you have a voltmeter that reads DC voltage, here are some tests you can do to see if the power converter is working.
3A Before plugging in the power converter, check the voltage at the battery posts, and write down the voltage. This is a baseline with no power converter on. It will be something lower than 12.7 volts, a fully charged battery at rest. A new battery from the store will have some charge in it, but it may not be at 100%, and you have been testing with lights and things from item no. 2 above.
3B. When you plug in the shore power and turn the big gray box 15-amp circuit breaker on, the power converter should power up. Then, soon, recheck the battery voltage. If the charger works correctly, the voltage will be around 13.6 volts, and the battery will start charging. If the voltage does not rise from what you tested in 3A, the charger is not doing anything. It may have a blown fuse inside or just be plain dead. If the battery voltage goes much below the baseline you measure in test 3A, that is a problem, and it means the voltage regulator is potentially bad, and it is starting to drain the battery. If that happens, turn the power converter off to avoid hurting the battery. Record whatever voltage readings you get.
As you can see above, on these 12-volt DC systems, we need to see the first decimal point (ideal is two decimal places) in the voltage reading. As a point of reference, 12.73 volts is 100% state of charge (SOC) on a lead-acid battery at rest. 12.10 is 50% SOC, and 11.51 volts is 10% SOC, close to fully discharged. 0.5 to 1.0 volts is a big difference.
Good luck this weekend, and I hope this helps. I will dig up some fuse options for you and a few other things to consider.
John
You are very welcome. A few last things before you clean up the wiring on the A-frame.
1. On the new emergency breakaway switch (EBS): the EBS wire that will connect to the blue wire brake power wire can be a permanent installation. Neatly tie up the wiring to the inside of the frame so it is not loose or able to easily get hit. On the other EBS wire that ties into the battery positive wire, leave that switch wire as long as what comes with the switch. Just coil up the excess and tie wrap it neatly for a possible future upgrade with the battery wire connection. When you add fusing on the battery wire and possibly a battery disconnect switch, that power feed wire may change how it ties into the battery wire. Then you might use the extra wire length. I wanted to let you know before you cut it, and later, when you add the fusing, it will be too short.
2. The power converter is unknown, whether it works or not. From your pictures, it seems there is something inside the casing, and with some luck, it still may work. But, I suggest this: after the battery is installed, see if the lights and things in the camper work with "no shore power plugged in". That way you can test by just using the battery only and you will know all is good or not before you plug in the power converter.
3. If and when you turn on the power converter, if you have a voltmeter that reads DC voltage, here are some tests you can do to see if the power converter is working.
3A Before plugging in the power converter, check the voltage at the battery posts, and write down the voltage. This is a baseline with no power converter on. It will be something lower than 12.7 volts, a fully charged battery at rest. A new battery from the store will have some charge in it, but it may not be at 100%, and you have been testing with lights and things from item no. 2 above.
3B. When you plug in the shore power and turn the big gray box 15-amp circuit breaker on, the power converter should power up. Then, soon, recheck the battery voltage. If the charger works correctly, the voltage will be around 13.6 volts, and the battery will start charging. If the voltage does not rise from what you tested in 3A, the charger is not doing anything. It may have a blown fuse inside or just be plain dead. If the battery voltage goes much below the baseline you measure in test 3A, that is a problem, and it means the voltage regulator is potentially bad, and it is starting to drain the battery. If that happens, turn the power converter off to avoid hurting the battery. Record whatever voltage readings you get.
As you can see above, on these 12-volt DC systems, we need to see the first decimal point (ideal is two decimal places) in the voltage reading. As a point of reference, 12.73 volts is 100% state of charge (SOC) on a lead-acid battery at rest. 12.10 is 50% SOC, and 11.51 volts is 10% SOC, close to fully discharged. 0.5 to 1.0 volts is a big difference.
Good luck this weekend, and I hope this helps. I will dig up some fuse options for you and a few other things to consider.
John
Hi Carla,
I'm just getting back to you on the fusing upgrades and other wiring things to consider.
Short-circuit fuse protection at the battery is to be considered. All newer Sunlines have this feature; I'm unsure what model year it started. This added fuse protects the battery and the wire from melting off all the insulation if the battery's positive wire gets damaged and touches the metal frame. It will also protect against overloading situations.
There are a few ways to do this, but given your camper's setup, putting the fuse at the battery gives the most protection. This style 30 amp ATC fuse holder will go on top of the battery under the cover. I picked the Bussman brand as I know their quality. Little Fuse or Blue Sea are also good brands.
Bussmann BP/HHG-RP Heavy Duty In-Line ATC 30 amp Fuse Holder with Cover. You can buy from the local NAPA or other auto parts stores. Here is an Amazon link to see it. You want the style with the weatherproof hood. https://www.amazon.com/Bussmann-BP-HHG-RP-Heavy-Holder/dp/B004AH4PXW/ref=sr_1_1
To hook this up, butt splice one end of the fuse holder wire to the camper battery power 12 VDC black Pos. (+) wire that is on the A frame of the camper. You may have already bolted this thick wire to the positive terminal. If you did, you cut off the ring terminal and butt splice into the fuse holder.
On the other end of the fuse holder wire, add a ring terminal and bolt it directly to the battery positive post.
You should buy spare 30-amp ATC fuses, Bussman PN: BP/ATC-30-RP, to have on hand in the camper. Again, the local auto parts stores have these. Here is an Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BXHV1C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1
Now comes the emergency brake-away switch (EBS). If you have already hooked this up, you would have spliced the EBS power feed wire into the heavy black battery positive wire, like it was originally from Sunline. Since you are now fusing the camper's main battery positive wire, you need to cut the EBS wire and seal off that connection from the main camper battery feed. The EBS power feed wire you just unhooked needs a ring terminal added to it, and you need to route it safely tucked tightly so as not to get accidentally damaged. Run it directly to the battery POS. (+) terminal and it will not be fused. You will double-stack the ring terminals on the pos (+) battery post. You are wiring the EBS to live power unfused due to the safety nature of the EBS. It has to work to power the brakes in the event of a decoupling of the camper from the truck. Having this wire in a fused circuit is not normal on a trailer, and I have not seen it on any trailer. It is too easy to have a blown fuse you never know about while towing for other events that would disable the EBS from working. There is a potential for a short circuit on the EBS power feed, so you must route the wires to stay as clear as possible from being hit and damaging the wire insulation, creating a short. The EBS either works or dies trying, but no blown fuse to stop it from trying.
Adding a fuse to the truck's charge wire. This helps protect the truck's fuse from a short in the camper. Your picture shows two thick black wires on one side of the yellow wire joint where the wires come up through the floor.
You need to tug, pull, and figure out which of those two wires is for the truck's charging circuit. One wire goes to the battery, the other to the 7-wire plug cord set. When you find the wire in the black wire loom from the 7-wire plug (the truck charge wire), cut the wire inside the camper with enough slack to insert a second 30-amp ATC fuse. One end of the fuse butt spliced to the wire going to the 7-wire plug, the other end of the fuse to the yellow joint block. The fuse is wired in series.
Bussman PN: BP/HHD-RP In Line ATC Fuse Holder.
Amazon.com
That style does not have the weather cover, is not needed inside the camper, and costs a little less. If you have two with the cover on them, that will also work.
Extra info:
On the newer Sunlines, again, I do not know what model year, they used a 30-amp self-resetting circuit breaker for the battery short circuit and overload protection. Bussman PN: CBC-30B Circuit Breaker (Type I Heavy Duty Automotive with Stud Terminals and Bracket - 30 A),
Link: Amazon.com
The next-generation upgrade to yours, the 7-wire plug and battery wiring, differs from what you have now. An all-molded 7-wire cable would come up through the floor into a wooden-covered junction box, and not be separate wires for the 7-wire plug like you have. The benefit of the breaker was that there was no fuse to blow; it would open the circuit and come back on when the fault went away. The truck charging fuse was in that same junction box. The tail, clearance, and marker lights were also joined in that box, along with the power feed to the EBS and brake wire. The all-molded cordset versus the individual wire creates more protection from damaging the individual wires. I'm not telling you you had to change all your wiring, I'm just sharing how they implement the self-resetting circuit breaker. Those self-resetting circuit breakers must be mounted in an enclosure to prevent dampness from corroding them. I have seen some brand new campers where they mount the circuit breaker out in the open, right on the A-frame, with the two hot wire posts exposed, pointing upwards. In my view, that is a bad practice and a sparking accident waiting to happen right next to the LP tanks.
As I mentioned above, adding the two 30 amp fuses and carrying spare fuses will create all the protection of the following generation set up with much less cost and rework. Let's talk about whether you want the breaker in place of the fuse. I recommend that you be under the battery cover because a fuse gives the most protection for a dead short on the wire on the A-frame.
I hope this helps, and ask away if you need clarification on any of it.
John
I'm just getting back to you on the fusing upgrades and other wiring things to consider.
Short-circuit fuse protection at the battery is to be considered. All newer Sunlines have this feature; I'm unsure what model year it started. This added fuse protects the battery and the wire from melting off all the insulation if the battery's positive wire gets damaged and touches the metal frame. It will also protect against overloading situations.
There are a few ways to do this, but given your camper's setup, putting the fuse at the battery gives the most protection. This style 30 amp ATC fuse holder will go on top of the battery under the cover. I picked the Bussman brand as I know their quality. Little Fuse or Blue Sea are also good brands.
Bussmann BP/HHG-RP Heavy Duty In-Line ATC 30 amp Fuse Holder with Cover. You can buy from the local NAPA or other auto parts stores. Here is an Amazon link to see it. You want the style with the weatherproof hood. https://www.amazon.com/Bussmann-BP-HHG-RP-Heavy-Holder/dp/B004AH4PXW/ref=sr_1_1
To hook this up, butt splice one end of the fuse holder wire to the camper battery power 12 VDC black Pos. (+) wire that is on the A frame of the camper. You may have already bolted this thick wire to the positive terminal. If you did, you cut off the ring terminal and butt splice into the fuse holder.
On the other end of the fuse holder wire, add a ring terminal and bolt it directly to the battery positive post.
You should buy spare 30-amp ATC fuses, Bussman PN: BP/ATC-30-RP, to have on hand in the camper. Again, the local auto parts stores have these. Here is an Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BXHV1C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1
Now comes the emergency brake-away switch (EBS). If you have already hooked this up, you would have spliced the EBS power feed wire into the heavy black battery positive wire, like it was originally from Sunline. Since you are now fusing the camper's main battery positive wire, you need to cut the EBS wire and seal off that connection from the main camper battery feed. The EBS power feed wire you just unhooked needs a ring terminal added to it, and you need to route it safely tucked tightly so as not to get accidentally damaged. Run it directly to the battery POS. (+) terminal and it will not be fused. You will double-stack the ring terminals on the pos (+) battery post. You are wiring the EBS to live power unfused due to the safety nature of the EBS. It has to work to power the brakes in the event of a decoupling of the camper from the truck. Having this wire in a fused circuit is not normal on a trailer, and I have not seen it on any trailer. It is too easy to have a blown fuse you never know about while towing for other events that would disable the EBS from working. There is a potential for a short circuit on the EBS power feed, so you must route the wires to stay as clear as possible from being hit and damaging the wire insulation, creating a short. The EBS either works or dies trying, but no blown fuse to stop it from trying.
Adding a fuse to the truck's charge wire. This helps protect the truck's fuse from a short in the camper. Your picture shows two thick black wires on one side of the yellow wire joint where the wires come up through the floor.
You need to tug, pull, and figure out which of those two wires is for the truck's charging circuit. One wire goes to the battery, the other to the 7-wire plug cord set. When you find the wire in the black wire loom from the 7-wire plug (the truck charge wire), cut the wire inside the camper with enough slack to insert a second 30-amp ATC fuse. One end of the fuse butt spliced to the wire going to the 7-wire plug, the other end of the fuse to the yellow joint block. The fuse is wired in series.
Bussman PN: BP/HHD-RP In Line ATC Fuse Holder.
Amazon.com
That style does not have the weather cover, is not needed inside the camper, and costs a little less. If you have two with the cover on them, that will also work.
Extra info:
On the newer Sunlines, again, I do not know what model year, they used a 30-amp self-resetting circuit breaker for the battery short circuit and overload protection. Bussman PN: CBC-30B Circuit Breaker (Type I Heavy Duty Automotive with Stud Terminals and Bracket - 30 A),
Link: Amazon.com
The next-generation upgrade to yours, the 7-wire plug and battery wiring, differs from what you have now. An all-molded 7-wire cable would come up through the floor into a wooden-covered junction box, and not be separate wires for the 7-wire plug like you have. The benefit of the breaker was that there was no fuse to blow; it would open the circuit and come back on when the fault went away. The truck charging fuse was in that same junction box. The tail, clearance, and marker lights were also joined in that box, along with the power feed to the EBS and brake wire. The all-molded cordset versus the individual wire creates more protection from damaging the individual wires. I'm not telling you you had to change all your wiring, I'm just sharing how they implement the self-resetting circuit breaker. Those self-resetting circuit breakers must be mounted in an enclosure to prevent dampness from corroding them. I have seen some brand new campers where they mount the circuit breaker out in the open, right on the A-frame, with the two hot wire posts exposed, pointing upwards. In my view, that is a bad practice and a sparking accident waiting to happen right next to the LP tanks.
As I mentioned above, adding the two 30 amp fuses and carrying spare fuses will create all the protection of the following generation set up with much less cost and rework. Let's talk about whether you want the breaker in place of the fuse. I recommend that you be under the battery cover because a fuse gives the most protection for a dead short on the wire on the A-frame.
I hope this helps, and ask away if you need clarification on any of it.
John
Last edited:
The next topic is your LP gas system. Where are you planning on getting that working? I'm unsure how long the system has been open on the A frame and whether the regulator has been exposed to the weather. The system should be all checked out before trying to use it. If you want to do this, start a new post so it is easier for others to find in the future.
I hope this helps,
John
I hope this helps,
John
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