Help a new member please...

[83project]

Hello everyone,
Enjoying the site, pics, and ideas. I have an 84 Allegro motorhome with Chevy 454. It was gift, that needed a little tlc. I have 4 daughters, and they cannot wait to go camping in it here at lake guntersville. We live in Boaz just a few minutes away.

I've cleaned it up. Everything works (after some major plumbing work! ) and all I have yet to do is get the Onan generator running. In fact I have some questions. I will post here, but if that bothers anyone, I will post it in the question area later. Just let me know.

Here is my last ordeal. It deal with the house battery (the one next to the generator. Coming into the battery compartment are the large grounding cables and the positive cables for the generator. Also, there are two white wires. From what I have gathered, all WHITE house wiring is a ground. One is 10 gauge, it goes to the 12v distribution panel where it grounds with several other white wires. The other is a 16ga (I think, about the size of an average speaker wire). It follows the other white wire up to the panel, but it goes into the ceiling. What is the 16ga wire pos or neg???

I am not messing with the generator until I am positive that I have these hooked up correctly. We all know that will lead to a major problem.

anyway, tia

happy trails

Ryan

[RVThere]

Ryan,

Welcome to iRV2!

Invest in a good multimeter so you can figure out what wires are positive and negative. With a 26 year old RV, that's the safest and most accurate way to determine whether you'll get zapped or not.

Good luck camping with the girls. I have been camping with my sons for their entire lives. Now in their teens and 20's, they still enjoy coming on our adventures (along with friends and girl friends in tow...)

[83project]

Thanks RVThere,
I have a simple meter. I think it was $20 from wally world. As much as I would like to think I know everything, I am not sure how to do what you are telling me. I'll have to investigate! But

If anyone happens to know the answer to my question..... it would be awesome

[FLYTYER]

You might consider trying to find a wiring diagram or manual on your particular model Allegro. Also a parts manual, plumbing info are valuable to your future use of the MH.

Click HERE to get started. You will need your VIN # and serial number of the unit.

I hope this helps.

[83project]

Tnx to you also Flytyer,
I called tiffin and the young lady in the service dept told me they did not have anything for models that far back. She did suggest that the white wires were ground wires but even she put a disclaimer on that... I am not done yet!!!

[FLYTYER]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 83project Tnx to you also Flytyer, I called tiffin and the young lady in the service dept told me they did not have anything for models that far back. She did suggest that the white wires were ground wires but even she put a disclaimer on that... I am not done yet!!!

Try a Google search...you might get lucky !!

[frankdamp]

Does your rig have 2 a/c units but 30A wiring? If that's the case, there should be two 3-wire home-style Romex cables coming from the house and two pairs of black & white wires from the generator.

One set of generator wires go straight into the Romex bundle that supplies the bedroom a/c and the other two go through a power switching relay that switches the rest of the "house" between shore power and generator power.

I just had to rewire my '02 Class A because I backed it up with the shore power still attached. The LH duallies ran over the cable and ripped the swich-over relay out of its box.

[TXiceman]

On the 12 VDC, you can easily determine the hot and the ground. With the meter set om DC volt, the read lead from the meter should be in the port marked +, the black in the port marked -. If the meter leads are reversed, the meter will deflect backwards or show a negative sign on a digital display.

Put the - lead on a ground in the RV. Put the + on the white or black wire. The one that reads 12 Volts is the + wire. To confirm, set the meter to ohms or continuity. Now put either lead on a ground connection and connect the other lead to the suspected ground wire. If it is the ground it will show continuity.

Hope this helps a bit.

Ken

[bigskymt]

With the absence of a polarity indicating DVM you can use a test light. Connect one side to the unknown wire, the other side to ground. If it lights brightly then you have 12vdc at the unknown wire. If not then connect the other end of the test light to a known 12vdc source, if it lights then the unknown wire is ground (or negative).
Given the vintage of your coach and wire location it might be for an hour meter thus only shows 12vdc+ with gen. running. Do you have a remote starter?

[83project]

All this info is great.

Ken, I am going to try your info.

BigSky, I do have remote start, and all those wires are accounted for.

As for wiring diagrams, it came with several, all showing engine wiring and such. None that detail house wiring. I am going to google it to see if that was available.

[62Morgan]

Suggest that you join the Tiffin -Owners over on the Tiffin Rv Network site for all information related to your Allegro. Perhaps several vintage model owners have your make n-model themselves. A wealth of knowledge is available from some very experienced owners.

see:

TiffinRVNetwork

[83project]

Tnx 62 I will