What are these wires? Need DC badly!

[Doc Vegas]

Hi Folks:

I am trying to hook up an inverter to get my LCD TVs running, one in front and one in rear, to keep the kids quiet on the road trip. I do not want to run the generator this time of year just to power an LCD TV. So, I have the inverters, just need the DC! In the front and rear, I found, conveniently, the wires in the picture below. Two yellow and one white in each case. I assume these are DC, but they are not getting voltage no matter what I try (lights on/off, ignition on/off). Any ideas? Really need to get this working before Thanksgiving.

Thanks!

[Bumps]

Winnebago lables their wires for just this purpose! Look at their website for a list of the codes (there is quite a list) for your year/model coach. \ken

[cbeierl]

If you go to Wiring Diagrams on the Winnebago site you can select the year and model of your coach and get complete wiring diagrams for your vehicle. In addition, Winnebago labels all of its wiring every few inches, so you can read the labels on each wire and look them up in the Wiring Identification Guide to find out what each is for.

[John Hilley]

The inverter power wires were terminated in a plug on our Adventurer. As the above have said, check the wiring diagram for your motor home. It may be that a fuse or breaker wasn't installed since you don't have an inverter.

[BFlinn181]

It's a little hard to gauge size of the wires pictured, but unless it's a very small inverter those wires don't look large enough to power an inverter even if they were connected to 12 v. Check the installation instructions of your inverter, they often need wires much larger and are best served by short wires. 12 v DC doesn't travel well, best to install the inverter close to the batteries and run 120 v AC wires to the TVs.

Wire Size Calculator

[John Hilley]

Originally Posted by BFlinn181

It's a little hard to gauge size of the wires pictured, but unless it's a very small inverter those wires don't look large enough to power an inverter even if they were connected to 12 v. Check the installation instructions of your inverter, they often need wires much larger and are best served by short wires. 12 v DC doesn't travel well, best to install the inverter close to the batteries and run 120 v AC wires to the TVs.

Wire Size Calculator

They do look the about the same size as the inverter wires in my Adventurer, 10 gauge, but I only had two.

[Bfmorgan]

Originally Posted by BFlinn181

It's a little hard to gauge size of the wires pictured, but unless it's a very small inverter those wires don't look large enough to power an inverter even if they were connected to 12 v. Check the installation instructions of your inverter, they often need wires much larger and are best served by short wires. 12 v DC doesn't travel well, best to install the inverter close to the batteries and run 120 v AC wires to the TVs.

Wire Size Calculator

This is very good advice when installing an inverter. You want to be close to the batteries so you can use heavy gauge wires and not have a significant voltage loss on the DC side.

[Doc Vegas]

Thanks guys. I tried to figure out the wiring diagram from the websites posted (very nice), but so far I have not figured it out. Best I can tell it looks like perhaps turn signal wires, but i cannot understand why they would be just laying there not connected to anything...??? Maybe for the side view cameras that were optional? Later I will try my multimeter with the turn signals on.

It would be great if these wires were for the optional inverter. I bought some inverters from amazon that plug into a cigarette lighter. My plan was to simply cut off the cigarette lighter adapter and wire them into 12V lines. All I want to do is power an LED TV and DVD player. Ironically, the DVD player takes 12v and has an adapter to convert the 120AC to 12V DC.... Calculating the wattage, I should be able to pull this off, or?

Thanks again

[cbeierl]

What are the labels (letters/numbers) printed every six inches or so on each of the wires?

[wa8yxm]

You might try mounting the inverter in the compartment next to the one where the batteries live, Then run 120 volt wireing to the TV's power lead and install some means of transferring there.

or as was done on my RV, they put the inverter in said compartment ran power to it from the main breaker box ran power from it back to a sub panel (The inverter contains a transfer switch) and moved the proper power lines to the sub panel.

NOTE: The front TV, if is is in front of the driver (Even if it would cause a serious pain in the neck to view) There are some people (Police mostly) who might frown on it being on while you are driving. (Assorted laws) on Motor homes so equipped the Front TV will not operate when the engine is running (Though your inverter may fix this) due to a lock out.

I only point this out to save you grief down the road... IT may be possible to Add a TV say on a counter top or in the Euro Chair for the kiddles to watch.. Or one of the Back of the driver's seat jobs you can find at automotive stores,, These are handy and out of sight of the driver.

[grtharris]

Doc Vegas, looks like one of the yellow wires has a LF2 at the end of the wire number which is AUXILIARY DEFROST FANS SWITCH (LOW SPEED).
White wires are ground and yellow wires are 12VDC ( switched and un-switched).
The numbers is the wire number are for the wiring diagram and the letters at the end are for the use. You can look them up in the Wiring Identification Guide.
Look for a yellow CM and a white CN in the front overhead cabinets those are the feeds for the option 300 watt inverter. Looking at the AC drawing you should be able to feed the rear TV also.

[Hikerdogs]

Originally Posted by cbeierl

What are the labels (letters/numbers) printed every six inches or so on each of the wires?

If you go to the Winnebago website and click on the "resource" button.

When the page opens click on the "Manuals and Diagrams" button in the lower right of the page.

When that page opens click on the "Wiring Diagrams" button.

When that page opens select "I'd just like to open the manual or diagram"

You'll come the Wiring Diagrams page. From that page select the "Wiring Identification Guide"
http://www.winnebagoind.com/diagram/...ical_guide.pdf

This guide is 30 pages long and identifies every wire Winnebago has installed in every product from the late 1990's to the present.

You may also want to download the "Wiring Diagram Help" document
http://www.winnebagoind.com/diagram/Help.pdf

These 2 documents will help you identify any and all Winnebago installed wiring

[Sweetbriar]

You could try my set up if you coach is configured somewhat the same.

My AC breaker panel and AC/DC convertor are very easy to access under the bed. The converter has heavy gage wire to feed the coach DC amps so I had a good source of DC current that is always present as long as the disconnects are not enabled. I installed the inverter next to the converter and taped into the DC power. To distribute the new AC power I found the breaker that powered the outlets I wanted to energize and cut the romex exiting the breaker panel and added a male and female plugs (female on the end coming from the breaker panel). Normally the two are plugged into each other but when I use the invertor I'll unplug from the breaker panel and plug in to invertor and turn it on. If I get a short circuit on the inverter energized circuit the invertor will trip so I still have a protected circuit.

The one problem I ran into was the circuit I wanted is also AC to the fridge heater element and as soon as the fridge senses that AC is available it would switch off propane and go with electric. The invertor wasn't very happy with the watts the fridge was demanding. Took a bit to figure it out why the inverter kept overloading but just need to switch the fridge from auto to propane if I want to run the invertor.

We don't watch TV while going down the road but have cooked dinner in the slow cooker, charged cell phones and run the laptop. Also my BCC will feed engine alternator DC power to the house batteries to keep them full charged. The trick is you need easy access to the converter AND the breaker panel. If both are buried under the fridge or some other such place that requires two men and a small boy to get to then my idea really won't work.

Good luck.

["007"]

I would not use those cables they are coax cables for SAT dish or receiver for dish.
You will find inverters and wiring in this link.