Chinook RV

It could be that the reason for the revised wiring at the controller is the someone was trying to get the controller lights working, just as I'm trying to do. I kinda think that the problem was/is at the connection at the solar panel. It is badly corroded, and probably wasn't making a connection at all. I'm going to replace both parts of the connector. Hopefully I can get to the wiring inside of the rig, by removing the cover to the fan, because I can't pull the roof top connector out far enough to get to the wiring.

Thanks for sending the information on the connectors.

kyidletime wrote:Hopefully I can get to the wiring inside of the rig, by removing the cover to the fan, because I can't pull the roof top connector out far enough to get to the wiring.

Yours may be different, but on mine that would be a "no." Here is what I can say about mine (and why):

There was a Cat-5/phone type cable leading to the Air-conditioner hole. This was part of the AC control. It entered the "in between" of the roof over on the passenger side of the overhead in the overcab. I wanted to use it for controlling a vent in the forward fan hole, so I decided to see if I could pull some of the slack through the "tunnel" inside the roof. Lo and behold, I could! I just used steady pressure. It worked and the cable still works, so even the tiny wires of the phone cable didn't break.

However, the solar wire was nowhere to be seen in either the AC hole or the vent hole. This kinda makes sense, as those would be "out of the way" on the path from the place the solar wires go in in the overhead, and where they come out on the roof.

I didn't try to pull my solar wires out, but instead just cut the flanged part off and stuff it down into the roof hole before patching the hole. But maybe you could grip it with plyers and pull some through to the roof? Have you checked where it goes into the overhead in the overcab to see if there is slack, or an anchor point? If there's not enough wire inside at the overcab, of course be sure to splice some on so you don't lose the wire in the roof.

If that all goes haywire, just know that for any future solar you'd be using larger wire. So you could bring some larger wire down into the cabinet below the hole, and then run it over just inside the "roof" of the cabinet, then to the wall, then behind that little wall panel to the overcab. Just a note is that on mine if I drilled straight down into the rig, the hole would be outside the cabinet - so if I do that I'll be doing some sort of diagonal hole.

And if you do THAT, then I wouldn't use that type of connector anyway. Too small a wire, and I'd rather have something a bit more "sealable" and not just sitting there practically begging water to come in and corrode it. Something like a cable clam, or perhaps a Go Power solar entry. MC4 connectors are fairly inexpensive and decent, and the crimper for them is not a big expense either.

Dang, nothing can ever be easy, so it seems! I'm pretty sure that the wires from the controller run in the overhead, but I'm not sure where they go to under the head liner in the coach and to the hole in the roof. I tugged pretty hard on the connector on the roof but it didn't seem to want to budge. I'll do a little more exploring tomorrow to see if I can get the wire exposed above the roof, by maybe getting some slack in the wire in the overhead. Wish me luck!

Oh, I had a little water issue inside the coach. Got it taken care of though. What happened was that I had had the roof connector loose when I was trying to pull the wire out, I put it back on and tightened the screws down, thinking it would be sealed good enough. Well, it wasn't, and the connector was located right in the low area of the roof, and we had a hard rain that filled up the pond, and the water leaked into the coach. I took care of it by getting rid of the water and putting silicone around the connector. No significant damage though!

Leaks... ugh! Glad you caught it right away.

So yeah, if your rig is anything like mine, you'll be able to see the red/black solar wire coming out of a little hole in the overhead carpeting in the overcab. Of course it's not as easy to see when you have the front of that whole "entertainment center" installed (I mean, come on, having your whole interior in place is so "last year" ). I'm going to take a look at mine now...

Okay, yes, at least on mine there is a hole in the carpeting on the overcab overhead kind of just behind (well ahead of) where the controller was mounted there. On my rig, this hole contains three things:

1) The black/red pair for the solar panel
2) The "phone cable" that went to the Air-con unit
3) A smallish brown wire (like say 12 gauge or so) that also went to the air-con unit.

I have pulled a couple of different wires that run through "ant galleries" in between the two roof layers, and on my rig they did come with steady pressure, and nothing broke. I pulled that phone cable as previously mentioned, and I also pulled the AC wire that fed the roof air-conditioner. The last foot or so of it (in the AC hole) was in the way of my new skylight, so what I did was pull it back (it enters the roof behind the microwave hole) so that it's juuuuust at the air-con hole and can be retrieved there, but is no longer in my way. Same thing, steady pressure and there was nothing actually clamping it in place.

My guess is that they just ran these wires through ant galleries in the Nidacore (roof coring) that is between the inner and outer fiberglass layers (outer being the actual roof; inner being what the carpet is glued to), without any specific fastening. No guarantee of course, but since you *could* run a wire in the overhead cabinets - and since it's not big enough wire for future solar anyway, it won't be tragic if the wire is broken or something (okay, by my definition of tragic, because hey, now bigger wire!).

It'll be great if you get your panel working again. It's small sure, but it's a decent battery maintainer. And it's always so unsatisfying to have various things not working.

PS: My vote would be no silicone, ever. It's dastardly stuff. Reason is, it doesn't work all that well. That alone wouldn't be so bad, but it also leaves a residue that is nearly impossible to remove, and that keeps anything (even more silicone) from sticking. I'd recommend a high quality butyl tape, but there are other good choices as well (just not silicone, I beg ) If you'd like I can send you a strip of the good butyl tape so you don't have to buy a whole roll. Most butyl tape sold now is but a shadow of the former good stuff (and doesn't work very well), but there is a boating fellow who has contracted with someone to make the "good old" stuff to specs. I can vouch for it. If you do want to buy some, it's available here:

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/butyl_tape

I like it because it works extremely well, and stays working for literally decades. Yet (and this is key), it is easily removable if you need to repair or redo something. Instead of suffering with blowtorches and jackhammers trying to get something like silicone OFF, you simply wipe it off with mineral spirits. (This does mean it's not good for using around fuel fills and the like). It's not technically an adhesive though, so should have some mechanical fastening too. For an adhesive caulk, I'd go for 3M4000, or a polyurethane (3M 4200). But 99% of the time I use butyl tape. It also has a long shelf life, which is a nice side bonus.

Morning Blue, well I'm going to give it a try today to get that solar panel wire pulled out so that I can replace that corroded roof connector. That is if the rain doesn't prevent me. I do have some work to do inside the coach to get better access to the wires in the overhead. And to put things back together that I dismantled while looking for those wires.

We're all rooting for you. Won't it be fun to see the lights do what they are supposed to (then you, too, can tape something over them at night )

I have been thinking about the roof/air-conditioner situation, and writing down a few ideas, btw.

Well, I've got everything ready on the inside of the coach, now just have to wait until things dry out enough to do the topside work. The wires in the overhead didn't have hardly any slack, plus they had a bunch of clamps securing them. I cut the wires in about the middle of the overhead, so I'm hoping that I can pull enough on the roof to replace the connector.

I guess that I still have a water leakage problem. Water is dripping on the front, drivers side of the heat pump. Water is puddling on the roof in that area, and I don't think that I can get it dried out enough to seal it with all of this rain. I was thinking of maybe taking some butyl tape and fold it and press it into the gap around the heat pump. That would be a temporary fix, until things dry out enough to make a more permanent repair. In your opinion what would be the best product to seal it with?

Sounds like you're making progress. Fingers crossed you can pull the wire out onto the roof. My guess is yes.

For a temporary repair, you can do a lot worse than a blob/worm of butyl. As long as it's dry/cleanish when you put it on, it will stick and conform. Yeah sure, it's a band-aid, but there's a good chance it will work while you formulate your master plan (I'm going to start a new thread on that, if you don't mind).

Another "tool" I always keep in the toolbox is 3M 225 long mask tape. This looks kind of like duct tape, but is totally different. It actually will stay on for months, and - much more importantly - come OFF! That's the point of it. I find that between the "shape" of butyl, and that of tape, one or the other will usually work. For one example, on a former camper trailer I had, the top edge of one of the windows started to leak. But it was winter/cold/rainy. I got it dried off, then laid a long strip of 3M 225 over the top edge of the window like a brow/hood, extending slightly past and then slightly down at the sides. Still bone dry by the time the weather improved, AND came off cleanly. Then I was able to properly re-bed the windows (by removing and replacing with new butyl under the flange) in good weather which I was already planning anyway,

One more thing you might check. Now of course, eliminating the "pool" is what you really want (i.e. no depression there), but another thing to check now is the gasket between the Air-conditioner unit and the roof. Presuming yours is like most of them (which mine was), it's not fastened to the roof at all. What I mean is, there is only the one 14" x 14" roof hole, and no fastener penetrations otherwise. The way it's held on is that there are metal sections on both the outside and the inside, and (non-pointy) screws go between them and clamp the two parts together and that is what keeps it on the roof - not individual screw holes into the fiberglass roof.

Under the roof part of the Air-con is a foam gasket that's maybe 1" x 1" in section, and long enough to go all the way around and meet up with itself again. I found on mine that although it had not leaked, those screws were not really as tight as a person would want them to be. They were hand movable, and the gasket was not very compressed. If I had not been up there to remove it altogether, I would definitely have wanted to tighten it. You can see/feel the gasket from inside to get an idea, as I remember it. The way you would get to those fasteners is to unscrew the "white" plastic shroud that is inside the coach, and then once that is down you can get to the real fasteners and IIRC see/feel the gasket. You can then tighten it from below if that's indicated.

I've also read a good photo tutorial on the web by a couple who replaced the gasket on a motor home (their old one was smashed flat and leaking), showing all the steps. Let me see if I can dig up a link:

http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods. ... oftop.html

Here are a few photos from my rig when I was removing the Air-con (not that you'd be removing it, but they show how things sit). You may not have the same unit (this is a Duo-Therm 630215 series).

Great post Blue! The advice and pictures on tightening the screws to compress the gasket on the heat pump should prove to be a big help, and the video that you attached on replacing the gasket was also topnotch. Thanks so much. I'll be watching for your new thread too.

Hi, wanted to give Blue, and anyone else who is interested an update on my project to get my solar controller and solar panel working as they should. It wasn't a particularly easy job, but I'm happy to say that it was a success. I now have 14+ volts coming from the solar panel, and all led light on the controller working as they should.

I thought that it might be useful to anyone having problems with their solar system, to know what I ran into, and especially how the wires from the controller to the solar panel was routed. The two wires (1 black and 1 red either 12 or 10 awg) run from the controller through the overhead compartment over to the drivers side, then they go through a channel into the driver's side overhead compartments, and travel along the top inner side of the compartment to the access hole going through the roof to the solar panel. There are several clips holding the wires in place along its route.

On my 1995 Concourse the reason that my solar panel wasn't sending anything to the controller was because the roof top connector was badly corroded, and I had to replace it. The pigtail on the new connector had to be tied in inside of the rig, to accomplish this I had to remove the majority of the wire clips, and also had to cut the two wires inside of the overhead in order to gain enough slack in the wires to pull the roof top connector through the roof. In thinking back I suppose that it might have been easier to make the tie in to my new connector inside of the compartment close to the access hole through the roof. I hate working inside of those compartments though!