Carriage Rv Owners Manual 1988 Carri Lite
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I'm extremely excited to have found your forum. As a first time RVer, I'm anxious to get feedback and, from reading the posts here, what I know will be great advice from everyone. It will take us a while to get it going but I think it will be a great rig. We recently acquired a 1989 Carri-Lite 35' Fifth Wheel. Of course it was owned by a friend who showed us all the problems and issues, but I have to say the biggest surprise, that we weren't expecting, were the electrical issues.
Let me give you a brief run down on the electrical only. A previous owner has hardwired a breaker box into the back closet and has hardwired fluorescent and under cabinet lights throughout the trailer. (This is very apparent to anyone walking in the trailer and was the part of this we actually knew about beforehand.) Here comes the fun parts. The 12V fuses are non-existant.
Where we have determined the 12V fuse box should be (under the closet across the rear of the trailer), there are wires that have been pulled through, connected to what looks like existing 12V wires and then they just run back out of the box. No fuses in between. Where the batteries should be for the 12V service, there is a battery charger (yes, like for a car battery) hard wired into what looks to be where the batteries should connect.
I think this is part of the reason why all the original lights flicker at random intervals when on. And this takes the cake in my opinion. If you stand on the ground out side the trailer bare footed and touch anything metal on that trailer, it will shock you. The severity of the shock depends on the location where you touch the trailer.
Carriage Carri Lite 5th Wheel
Anyway, I'm sure I missed something, but those are the major dilemmas right now. I went through all that so everyone would have an idea of what is going on. What I would like to do is get everything back closer to the original wiring. I have read through a lot of the electrical guides in the library, and it's full of really great information.
I am wondering though, if anyone has some basic wiring schematics for a trailer similar to this. (I realize it's crazy to hope someone might actually have an original wiring schematic for this model.) I'm not an electrician by any stretch, but I'm in commercial construction and know a little bit. I'm hoping that will give me a better idea of what this should be like. I know it sounds like a huge project but I've got plenty of time and the trailer seems very structurally sound.
The two leaks I can find evidence of seem to have been repaired properly and no signs of warping or leaning. I think with enough time (and considerable expenditure) I could have a very nice rig.
Sorry if I over-shared. Thanks for the help. Do not plug this trailer in until it has been fixed! It sounds like someone has added some 110 lighting that has not been wired right. It sounds like you have something that is 110 shorted to ground with no ground or a very poor ground wired to the box or they wired a neutral wired to ground with no ground wired back to the box.
Carriage Rv Owners Manual 1988 Carri Lite 5th Wheel
This is why you are getting a shock when you touch the trailer while standing on the ground. You are providing a ground for the trailer. This is so dangerous and could even be deadly. I would get a qualified electrician and have it completely gone through and set up right. I cannot emphasize this enough. 'Your trailer is a death trap'! Where do you live?
If you live near Central Oregon “PM” me “Please”. You can bring it over and we will get it fixed. Ok, here is what it says to me. And a question: The original owner did nto want to put a new battery in every year (many older trailers have low quality converters that result in annual battery replacement) so he took it out, pulled out the fuses (I do not know why) and relied on the charger's breaker to protect. I would restore that system to it's original fused state and replace the battery AND the on-board converter if any. It may have been part of the missing fuse panel. Now, the question: Does the trailer have brakes?
The break=a=way brake system (emergency system) uses the missing on-board battery so he disabled that. Which is a voilaiton in most states. Again, recommendation is to restore original system with a converter upgrade. Possible issues are a cross-wire job. I had a neutral/hot swap on one of my trailers. Or you have a more serious issue.
The 'hot chassis' (Shock when you touch) means the other reply (FIX IT NOW Do not plug in til fixed) is proper. And I thus echo his advice.