1974 Hi-Low electrical questions

[bofronado]

Just bought a 74 Hi-Low, the shortest one I think, and it has been an interesting first few days with it. It seems to be in pretty decent shape for the age.

I have the 110 AC that plugs into the top, but the refrigerator plug is in the bottom. I can see where the side outlet is mangled from the previously not unplugging the fridge before putting the unit down. Is there something easy that I can do to get AC into the bottom of the trailer? I assume that newer trailers handle this in some other fashion. I was going to add another plug, breaker and outlets to the bottom and just run a double cord to the trailer. The unit has a 15 amp breaker in the top, wish seems kind of weak with an AC unit. The AC is a 4200 btu house unit, so not sure if it is factory or not.

 

[jcurtis95]

Just bought a 74 Hi-Low, the shortest one I think, and it has been an interesting first few days with it. It seems to be in pretty decent shape for the age.

I have the 110 AC that plugs into the top, but the refrigerator plug is in the bottom. I can see where the side outlet is mangled from the previously not unplugging the fridge before putting the unit down. Is there something easy that I can do to get AC into the bottom of the trailer? I assume that newer trailers handle this in some other fashion. I was going to add another plug, breaker and outlets to the bottom and just run a double cord to the trailer. The unit has a 15 amp breaker in the top, wish seems kind of weak with an AC unit. The AC is a 4200 btu house unit, so not sure if it is factory or not.

bofronado,

Is there not an AC outlet mounted behind your refrigerator? Should be accessible from the removable grill on the outside of the fridge. If there is none there, I would suggest running a number 12 or 14 electrical wire there and mount an outlet. Hopefully you have a spare space where a fuse circuit can be added. You should be able to fish a wire from the circuit box to the fridge area by going through the cabinets on the inside floor. Last resort you could drill a hole and feed it underneath the trailer to the circuit box. Inside would be better and safer.

Jerry Curtis
2406 T

 

[bofronado]

110 in Hi-low

there is no 110 in the bottom portion of the camper, all of the 110 is in the top half, so it looks like I would need to somehow install a 110 from stealing it from the top half with a wire that can move with the trailer top or running a separate external cord to the bottom unit. If I run the wire inside I am not sure how to handle the vertical movement.

Thanks for the help.

 

[jcurtis95]

bofronado,

If you had no 110 on the bottom half, you would have no 12 volt service from the converter. The front driver side cable connects 110 to the converter. The covered outlet on the top half connects 110 to the AC [if you have one]. Your converter should be in the front on the road side underneath the bench seat. The face of it is usually accessible from the front at the bottom of the bench seat. I am not familiar with your particular unit but it makes no sense to have 110 on the top and not have it on the bottom. Can you provide the forum some pictures of your unit; especially where your ac-dc converter is located?

Do you have any 110 volt outlets? Where are they located and do they have AC when the front cord is plugged in or if the top cord is plugged in?

I have never heard of a refrigerator that was not at least a 2-way; 110v and LP gas or 12v. Most usually they are 3-way. Does your refrigerator cool from AC, DC, or LP Gas?

You said the refrigerator plug was mangled, Can you provide a picture of it? I am having a hard time understanding how your refrigerator unit was wired.

I had a similar unit years ago and all the AC/DC wiring [with the exception of the upper AC unit] came from the bottom from the ac-dc converter and fuse panel located under the bench seat on the road side. Pictures would help.

Jerry Curtis
2406 T

 

[bofronado]

A/C

the unit I have does not have a converter, or if it does it is well hidden. The 110 goes into a plug in the top half of the unit. The mangled outet is one that is mounted in the bottom of the top half, but there is only about 1 inch of clearance between the top and bottom at the outlet. It appears that the outlet was mangled when the unit was lowered and the fridge was plugged in. At this point I am assuming that there is just no 110 in the bottom. I can only find wires and outlets for 110 AC in the top half. The unit has a coiled wire that gets the 12 volt DC from the bottom to the top. It also has 12 volt and 110 volt lights in the top.

I will scan and post the owner manual for the 1974 model to the forum tomorrow.