Reading Winnebago Wire Codes?

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Morich

Sounds like you are well informed!

My new favorite tool is the oscillating tool when I get anywhere around stuff that I am afraid of cutting too Much!!!
One of the big things is not how well it works but how well it DOESN'T cut the stuff I don't want cut. It's nice that it does cut things like the thin fake plywood in RV but it is even nicer when I get it stuck on my fingers, etc and it DOESN'T cut them! You know I like to cut fast and deep sometimes and different blades will do that but I'm really impressed that I can turn it on and stick it in the palm of my hand without bringing blood!
I started out with a "name brand" Dremel and wore it out so soon on so many different uses that I decided I had to have a cheap one, just to have when needed and it's lasting pretty well. I have a brick house and trading out the windows and getting caulk off brick is one way to wear out a tool!
You can't go too far wrong spending $20 for a tool that works.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hyper-Tou...Grit/730516237

I looked at that tool, how in the world will it cut? It looks like a sander of some sorts?

I was thinking a tool to cut 4 rectangular openings a little larger and in at least on place I will need to cut out a new square. I need to find some videos to see this in use. I have to make sure the wiring does get in the way.

In a way this is like a Gold heist, you go through a lot trouble to find the gold and in my case get 4 dimmers working, but getting the gold home is easier said than done, since the new switches don't plug and play with existing holes, I have my hands full now.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

I looked at that tool, how in the world will it cut? It looks like a sander of some sorts?

I was thinking a tool to cut 4 rectangular openings a little larger and in at least on place I will need to cut out a new square. I need to find some videos to see this in use. I have to make sure the wiring does get in the way.

In a way this is like a Gold heist, you go through a lot trouble to find the gold and in my case get 4 dimmers working, but getting the gold home is easier said than done, since the new switches don't plug and play with existing holes, I have my hands full now.

Oscillating multi-tools sand, scrape and cut, all depending on what you attach to it. There are tons of videos on Youtube. Here's one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5oyljd-fTo

Once you have one, you'll wonder how you ever did without it. Aside from safety, a big advantage of it over other cutting tools like a jigsaw is it's controllability and accuracy. I used one to plunge cut some broken ribs in a classic canoe I was repairing. I could control the depth within about 1/16" to avoid cutting the canoe's planking that was attached to the ribs.

Some use a hex key to change blades, others (which I prefer) have a spring-loaded lever that locks and unlocks the blades and other attachments, no tools required.

High quality blades are worth the extra money. Cheap blades like those from Harbor Freight don't do a very good job. On the other hand, Harbor Freight's corded multi-tools do a good job without the easy change blade mount. If you decide to move up to a higher quality tool like Porter Cable, Ryobi, DeWalt, etc., you can keep your $25 Harbor Freight tool on your RV.

[Morich]

All the different blades is what makes them so handy for so many different things we need on RV/
Caulk always needs to be cleaned really well before laying on new and a flat blade like a putty scraper can eventually get it done but a multi-tool making 28,000 scrapes is getting it done much quicker but also much better as it is doing it with tiny bumps that remove the caulk and you can do a far better control with the blade angle and such. That big old lump of hard caulk that you can't hardly cut in a week will come right off if you use a flat blade, laid really flat along the fiberglass and adjust the speed to what you see working best. On a roof vent, you can actually see it getting the surface scum buildup off the top without breaking the gel coat!
But for sheetrock or thinner stuff like RV plywood, it is great to go with a blade with teeth, much like a hacksaw blade except only about an inch across the front.
Since the blade moves just a tiny amount left/right, you can press it against your hand even and it moves such a short distance, the skin just kind of "wiggles" but if you press the corner into sheetrock, that tiny wiggle going super fast, cuts it like butter. So you have lots of control as you set how fast it operates and then control how deep it goes by just pressing forward or backing off. So if you are not sure what ius behind the sheetrock/plywood, you just ease it in far enough that the blade may not even fully do a plunge cut until you get an opening big enough to stick a finger in and feel what's in there!
It's a fully controlled thing and you can get blades down as small as 1/2 inch wide, so you can actually do a good job cutting a hole /12 or 3/4 wide and 1/4 inch deep if it fits what you want.

If you do any wood trim or floors, you can take a 1/4 inch slice off the bottom of door moldings without even pulling the trim off. Now instead of fitting floor surface around door trim. it's too easy to just trim the molding trim and slide the floor under!

Power for screwdrivers always seemed like a waste---until I got one !

[Wyatt]

[QUOTE=dkoldman;3896231]I guess that is where we are miscommunicating? There is NO Common wire.

Old Switch
2 wire spade lead
Lead 1 is for 12v+ Input
Lead 2 is for out of switch to LED Lights

New Switch
3 stranded wires
Red is for 12v+ Input
White is for out of Switch to LED Lights
Black is for Ground

I found existing Ground wires for 4 of the locations I want to put new dimmers. Those wires are all White and they connect to the black wire of new switch and thus far they all appear to work fine.

However, for locations in the RV where no Ground is available white wire or direct to chassis, the dimmer does NOT function because there is no Ground? I only have two wires to physically connect in these locations which is 12v+ coming in, and the output direct to light. The Switch does turns the light on / off but does not dim. Of course my OEM did that.

So the real question is were you able wire a dimmer that had 3 wires to a location that only had 2 wires with no ground nor a chassis ground near by?

On a side note, one of the dimmer switches I received today was defective as the the slider was missing. So it will have to be returned. But at the moment, I may not be able to use a 3 wire dimmer PERIOD unless I can find a ground, which is Game Over for me.

I do have one more Dimmer switch due tomorrow, but it is double gang with the larger slider. It will go where I do have a ground so it should work.

To do what I need, I need a 2 wire switch for LED with to accept 12v+ in and 12v+ out to the light that is controlled by dimmer.[/QUOTE

I can go and pull the one dimmer I put in without the ground, to remember what I did to get it to work, but as I recall I just tied the black switch wire to the white switch wire and it worked with my previous caveat. (I-called white common, my bad).

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Morich

Sounds like you are well informed!

I started out with a "name brand" Dremel and wore it out so soon on so many different uses that I decided I had to have a cheap one, just to have when needed and it's lasting pretty well. I have a brick house and trading out the windows and getting caulk off brick is one way to wear out a tool!
You can't go too far wrong spending $20 for a tool that works.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hyper-Tou...Grit/730516237

Wow that is nice, didn't know such a tool exist.

Question

You mentioned earlier that you would get one didn't require the hex tool for the blade. I could not find one with the release like in the video, is there one you would target today if a do over?

I found a Dremel for $59 and a Rockwell for & 75, both may be overkill, but they had ability to mount blade with out hex key, come with bags and were 3.5amps / 4 amps.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/22423188422...BoCVu8QAvD_BwE

https://www.ebay.com/itm/14365246714...Cclp%3A2047675

[cbeierl]

Just fyi, my understanding is that Winnebago is fixing up their broken website links. Should be all fixed soon, hopefully!

[dkoldman]

I saw this Mfg Refurbished Dremel for $42.99 so I purchased it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/333884190026

It has simple screw and push button release for blades, 3.5 amps and a case.

My fear is that it may not use the Hyper tough blades? I bought a 7/8 inch blade from Wal Mart so when I get the dremel I am hoping it fits to use it to cut my smaller holes for the switches.

I saw a Craftsman that I thought was nice but at $99, it was out of my affordability range without selling the RV

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

I received four of the ATC dimmers today. I did a quick test and the ones connected to the ground works fine as expected , but when I put on a switch with no ground available, the light turns on / off but the dimmer had no functionality

Can you confirm how you wired the the 3 wires to the two that are available? Basically I left the Ground (black wire disconnected).

Looks like I will only have 4 that will work

Ok, here’s the picture I promised of how I wired the dimmer without a ground. And a video showing it working.

https://vimeo.com/554537347

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Wyatt

Ok, here’s the picture I promised of how I wired the dimmer without a ground. And a video showing it working.

https://vimeo.com/554537347

Ok so you connected the switch's ground wire to the hot 12v+ wire going to the light. I don't know if I would have tried that... It is non issue for me now because if you look at post #17 I found out where Winnebago had the Ground for all of the LED switches. It may not matter for you now, but you may wish to try to lightly tug and see if you can pull the ground wires out from behind the wall? If you can, and if wired like my coach; you will eventually pull the white wire out. You can splice it and connect your ground (black wire from switch white ground wire from LED fixture). I bet your erratic behavior or 30 sec delay goes away

If you look at picture in post #17 at the time, I was planning to fish a ground wire from the switch opening to the opening where LED fixture is, however, when I got ready to feed through the hole I saw some wires running on the inside, I lightly pulled down the two yellow wires on the right where they fed the switch and PRESTO!!! the white wires came out. It is like that on all of my switches So I am properly wired to code as intended and they worked flawlessly.

I intend to buy some more now I know how to do them; regardless to where they are, but I am in a pause mode now because I have not cut the openings yet to permanently mount the the new switches as they require slightly larger holes. I just ordered a Dremel Oscillating Tool based on a recommendation from Morich It may be next week before I can get back at it though

When it is all said and done, I guess I can send you the bill for help / suggestion on the dimmer switches I bought, and Morich a bill for his recommending a Oscillating tool.

Btw, before I forget. I bought these Baomain Connects. I cut off the female connectors for the old switches and put these on, so I can easily plug and unplug the switches without cutting in the future

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...GLG0WJ17&psc=1

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

Ok so you connected the switch's ground wire to the hot 12v+ wire going to the light. I don't know if I would have tried that... It is non issue for me now because if you look at post #17 I found out where Winnebago had the Ground for all of the LED switches. It may not matter for you now, but you may wish to try to lightly tug and see if you can pull the ground wires out from behind the wall? If you can, and if wired like my coach; you will eventually pull the white wire out. You can splice it and connect your ground (black wire from switch white ground wire from LED fixture). I bet your erratic behavior or 30 sec delay goes away

If you look at picture in post #17 at the time, I was planning to fish a ground wire from the switch opening to the opening where LED fixture is, however, when I got ready to feed through the hole I saw some wires running on the inside, I lightly pulled down the two yellow wires on the right where they fed the switch and PRESTO!!! the white wires came out. It is like that on all of my switches So I am properly wired to code as intended and they worked flawlessly.

I intend to buy some more now I know how to do them; regardless to where they are, but I am in a pause mode now because I have not cut the openings yet to permanently mount the the new switches as they require slightly larger holes. I just ordered a Dremel Oscillating Tool based on a recommendation from Morich It may be next week before I can get back at it though

When it is all said and done, I guess I can send you the bill for help / suggestion on the dimmer switches I bought, and Morich a bill for his recommending a Oscillating tool.

Btw, before I forget. I bought these Baomain Connects. I cut off the female connectors for the old switches and put these on, so I can easily plug and unplug the switches without cutting in the future

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...GLG0WJ17&psc=1

Glad you got it figured out.
There’s no way I can pull any wires to my switch, where it’s located. Only thing I could do, is run a cable run cover on the wall, there’s no dishing anything through the styrofoam insulated walls. It’s as though it was molded into the wall board.
But an odd thing occurred after I desired the inverter to power all 120v receptacles. Now that one dimmer works fine too, without the ground wire.

It has something to do with the switch itself. It’s not a normal plain rheostat. It’s electronic, (hence the high price). Call it a “smart dimmer”, because it figured it out by itself...

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Wyatt

Glad you got it figured out.
There’s no way I can pull any wires to my switch, where it’s located. Only thing I could do, is run a cable run cover on the wall, there’s no dishing anything through the styrofoam insulated walls. It’s as though it was molded into the wall board.

Just to be clear, I was pointing out that I DID NOT HAVE TO PULL or RUN ANY WIRES.

When I thought about it, the LED fixture had to have a Ground and a 12V Hot to work PERIOD. The fact that Winnebago's OEM Switch was only wired through with 12V+ Hot was the limitation.

So what I did was pull the LED fixture and verify a ground wire was there. It was (WHITE just like the Winnebago diagram) The LED fixture and the Switch was only about 15 inches apart. So I assumed it would be very easy to run a short ground wire, BUT I DID NOT HAVE TO. In my coach, if you gently pull the two existing yellow wires that connect to the Switch (one 12v+ incoming to switch, and the other 12v+ going to LED fixture; it pulls out the wall about 12" and you will see where it brings the White Ground wires that is taped to the yellow that was previously hidden in the wall

As long as you are happy and it works you are good as gold. For me, I have exonerated Winnebago for what I thought was poor wiring design for expansion. But from my trial and error in my Coach, I have proven that Winnebago does provide a proper 12v+ and Ground for every 12vdc LED & Switch. It was confusing to most and not intuitive because there was no need for Winnebago to connect the ground to a simple On/Off switch. The Ground wire which by definition had to be there; otherwise LED light would not come on is only inches away behind the wall near the opening of switch.

[Morich]

Sometimes we do have to keep a fully open mind for what we are seeing and RV are a bit different in that they often do not require splices to be in accessible boxes for future work!
At the thermostat the siring is often just dropped into the wall space and floating!

I recently got a lesson on looking that was so simple, it had two of us boggled.
A neighbor had a switch on the Jacuzzi that failed so he wanted to go with a timer as a very simple swap.
But what he had was a set of two 14 gauge black as in and out of the switch and the only other wires in the box were two 14 bare wires twisted together. This is a 20-25 year old house and the work looks all originial builder grade stuff, so I was standing there trying to sort out when a guy would run two single strands to a box for a switch, rather than Romex 14-2 W/g ????

It finally hit me that what I thought I had was not true and I finally found the rest of the two Romex buried in the spray drywall mud filling about half the back of the box! There were white wires in there, just buried in mud so I could not see them and since it was his house, I kind of took his thinking and ran way off course for a while!

Meanwhile, does anybody find a good way to access the drawings on the Winn site? I can get no wire ID chart, No help section but do get the drawings for electrical whiole nothing on plumbing! Too many 404 error!

[BobC]

Apparently the links were damaged due to a website revision by Winnebago. Hopefully they will fix the broken links. In the meantime, I suggest calling Winnebago and asking them to send you what you need. In the past, they've sent me copies of detailed drawings that were never accessible online.

Maybe, if you ask them, they can let you know what the status is regarding fixing the links and report back to us.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by BobC

Apparently the links were damaged due to a website revision by Winnebago. Hopefully they will fix the broken links. In the meantime, I suggest calling Winnebago and asking them to send you what you need. In the past, they've sent me copies of detailed drawings that were never accessible online.

Maybe, if you ask them, they can let you know what the status is regarding fixing the links and report back to us.

I understand you may have had a positive experience, but some might suggest the website was broken BEFORE any website revision that may have been made?

Let me be clear, I love my Winnebago, and I think buying the model I did was by far one of my best decisions; going on 2 years (brand new) and I love it. But sentiments aside, it is inexcusable Winnebago cannot tell me how my Inverter is wired from my Magnum Energy Inverter to the battery compartment.

I pulled every drawing I could off that site; but it was as if they redacted everything about the wiring for the Inverter I called numerous times and talked with numerous individuals with Customer Care, while all were courteous and attempted to be helpful, I got no results.

I did get the following outcomes.

1. Winnebago would NOT provide me any drawings other than what was on the website. Okay; then why couldn't they look at what I could not see and answer my question?

2. TWinnebago asked me to take my RV to a Dealer so Dealer could look at it to figure out how my RV is wired Worse because they say dependent upon what the Dealer find I may have to pay. Not to mention why take my RV to Dealer in the middle of Spring / Summer to find out how your coach is wired and how it is suppose to function?

In case you don't recall; the below is something that I have posted and I have been trying to find out why and how my coach behaves the way it does.

I should point out everything on my RV works as far as I know, so no issues in that sense, but if I turn off my House Batteries, (No Shorepower, No Generator) All AC circuits on the Inverter will continue to run for 30 minutes before shutting down Winnebago insist my House battery shuts down power to the the Inverter

All Lights and everything that is 12vdc shuts down immediately with the House Battery Switch. But anything plugged into AC outlet that is supplied by my Inverter stays on for 30 minutes. Applying heavy or light loads to does not appear to make a difference Like clockwork, after 30 minutes it shuts down and will not turn back on until House Battery is turned back on.

Winnebago says it is the Inverter. But Magnum Energy says my inverter will shut down immediately with error code if voltage drops below a certain limit. Says no way my inverter could run when 12vdc supply is shutdown and there are no capacitors inside the Inverter.

From my view, I can only see the Inverter wiring leaving the Battery compartment and coming back into a lower bay to the Inverter, but no clue as to what is in between So my apologies for not having any empathy for Winnebago due to issues with what I view as flawed wiring diagrams, and worse non effective calls to Customer Care to mitigate the aforementioned.

2019 Sunstar 29VE

[Wyatt]

“
Winnebago says it is the Inverter. But Magnum Energy says my inverter will shut down immediately with error code if voltage drops below a certain limit. Says no way my inverter could run when 12vdc supply is shutdown and there are no capacitors inside the Inverter.”

When I replaced my Magnum 1000 watt inverter for their 2,000 watt model, I had to disconnect the inverter from the battery, as it’s fused directly to the battery, and bypasses the salesman switch.

I did so, and checked the voltage at the the back of the battery connect terminals on the inverter, and there was still 12v. Fearing an accidental arc, should I touch the two battery cables when removing them, I waited, and waited, and kept the watching the voltage as it SLOOWLY dropped. Sounds like a capacitor to me. Who knows? Took about ten minutes, but not 30. If there was a load on the inverter, I’d imagine it’d drop down to zero quite fast.

[Wyatt]

:Just FYI, looking at new RV models on their site, seems to have similar issues as the web site’s wheels are coming of the wagon”. Perhaps their competitors crashed the site...:

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Wyatt

“
Winnebago says it is the Inverter. But Magnum Energy says my inverter will shut down immediately with error code if voltage drops below a certain limit. Says no way my inverter could run when 12vdc supply is shutdown and there are no capacitors inside the Inverter.”

When I replaced my Magnum 1000 watt inverter for their 2,000 watt model, I had to disconnect the inverter from the battery, as it’s fused directly to the battery, and bypasses the salesman switch.

If it bypass the House disconnect switch, how does it know to shut off power to Inverter? Yes my is wired direct to the battery with 150 amp fuse. That part is even on their Battery Installation drawing. But where does it go & through in route to the Inverter? That is question no one has answered, and no drawing shows.

I did so, and checked the voltage at the the back of the battery connect terminals on the inverter, and there was still 12v. Fearing an accidental arc, should I touch the two battery cables when removing them, I waited, and waited, and kept the watching the voltage as it SLOOWLY dropped. Sounds like a capacitor to me. Who knows? Took about ten minutes, but not 30. If there was a load on the inverter, I’d imagine it’d drop down to zero quite fast.

If there is 12v on the terminal at Inverter then doesn't that proves it must be source of 12v power to inverter. The Inverter is not going to backflow power back to it's own terminals. How I proved that is physically disconnect the Negative post on Battery banks. My Inverter Immediately shuts downs (as it should) Besides Magnum Engineering confirmed there is NO capacitor in my Inverter

Also, the actual load had ZERO impact on this phenom, I can replicate it with everything shutoff on Inverter circuit or with most everything on, it is 30 minutes PERIOD.

Thanks. A few questions if you don't mine above; as this has really bothered me.

[cbeierl]

Looks like the Wiring, Plumbing, Parts, Paint Guides and Sealant Guides are back. The Electrical Parts Identification List, Wiring Identification Guide, and Wiring Diagram Help links on the Wiring Diagram page are still broken, however.

[Jos 56]

Originally Posted by imnprsd

I think I got this wire list from Morich, but maybe Cbeierl posted it in another thread and I downloaded the .pdf for future reference. So you can thank these guys not me.

See attached .pdf.

Note: I don't think it matters which year RV you own. This .pdf will give a short description for each wire code for all models. I think?

That appears to be correct. I was able to match the numbers to my 2017 Minnie Winnie. (Who came up with this name?) BTW, my load centre shows Neg- is also labelled ground.

[cbeierl]

Originally Posted by cbeierl

Looks like the Wiring, Plumbing, Parts, Paint Guides and Sealant Guides are back. The Electrical Parts Identification List, Wiring Identification Guide, and Wiring Diagram Help links on the Wiring Diagram page are still broken, however.

Electrical Parts Identification List, Wiring Identification Guide, and Wiring Diagram Help links are working again!