The Vintage Airstream E-mail ListDigest Archive Files
VAL Digest V1 #139
VAL Digest Monday, January 26 2004 Volume 01 : Number 139
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Topics in Today's Digest:
[VAL] Re: VAL Digest V1 #138 - Trailer parking brake
[VAL] 12 Volt Electrical Problem
Re: [VAL] 12 Volt Electrical Problem
Re: [VAL] 12 Volt Electrical Problem
Re: [VAL] 12 Volt Electrical Problem
Re: [VAL] 12 Volt Electrical Problem
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Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 03:23:55 -0600
From: waymark1@xxxxxxxxxx.com
Subject: [VAL] Re: VAL Digest V1 #138 - Trailer parking brake
The stabilizer wheel locks that wedge between the tires of twin axle
trailers will keep the trailer from shifting from wind but I wouldn't
trust them to hold on a steep hill. I know from personal experience that
they will not prevent the trailer from being towed away as I had a memory
lapse and did just that. The locks were thrown out from between the tires
and both had their pull screws bent or broken.
There are locking chocks that clamp onto the tires of single axle
trailers so that they won't slip out of place from wind, but they don't
look any more secure against towing than my locks.
The clamp-ons will keep the wheel from turning. The ones I've seen
advertised for trailer use will only work with non-braked wheels, though.
The ones some traffic and parking departments will work on braked wheels,
obviously, as they are used on parked cars. I suppose they are expensive,
though.
Al
> Without chocks or a parking brake mechanism the single axle trailer is
hard to park, depending only on the tongue jack for positioning. I know
there are better single axle chocks than the simple plastic chocks, but
they are fairly expensive and a pain to haul.
>
> Gerald J.
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Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:19:33 -0500
From: "Jim Greene" <drgreene@xxxxxxxxxx.net>
Subject: [VAL] 12 Volt Electrical Problem
A few weeks back another vintage Airstream owner in the Atlanta area
graceously volunteered to come over and help me track down a proplem we are
having with the 12 Volt DC system on our ' 68 Tradewind. The InteliPower
and Charge Wizard are keeping the battery charged up but I do not have 12V
anywhere in the trailer, Nothing 12 Volts works. I'm thinking it's a fuse or
circuit breaker or something but I haven't found the problem. Unfortunately,
I misplaced the name of the Airstreamer who volunteered to help me find the
problem and fix it. If that person would contact me again, I'd greatly
appreciate it.
Thanks,
Jim Greene
' 68 Tradewind (Atlanta)
(770) 491-6394
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Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 22:01:19 -0500
From: gillguy@xxxxxxxxxx.com
Subject: Re: [VAL] 12 Volt Electrical Problem
Jim
Just bring that sucker down here to Valdosta and I'll give you a hand with
it.
Bobby
----- Original Message -----
Wrom: RTNHGSWZIDREXCAXZOWCONEUQZAAFXISHJEXXIMQZUIV
To: valist@xxxxxxxxxx.com<mailto:valist@xxxxxxxxxx.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2004 4:19 PM
Subject: [VAL] 12 Volt Electrical Problem
A few weeks back another vintage Airstream owner in the Atlanta area
graceously volunteered to come over and help me track down a proplem we are
having with the 12 Volt DC system on our ' 68 Tradewind. The InteliPower
and Charge Wizard are keeping the battery charged up but I do not have 12V
anywhere in the trailer, Nothing 12 Volts works. I'm thinking it's a fuse
or
circuit breaker or something but I haven't found the problem.
Unfortunately,
I misplaced the name of the Airstreamer who volunteered to help me find the
problem and fix it. If that person would contact me again, I'd greatly
appreciate it.
Thanks,
Jim Greene
' 68 Tradewind (Atlanta)
(770) 491-6394
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Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 21:13:45 -0600
From: DL <dean@xxxxxxxxxx.net>
Subject: Re: [VAL] 12 Volt Electrical Problem
Look inside your Univolt.. I think you should find some fuses.
Use a simple volt meter with some of your load turned on
you will see a voltage across the open fuse.
See You On the Road
Dean & Kay
WBCCI 2486
IOWA
On Jan 25, 2004, at 3:19 PM, Jim Greene wrote:
> A few weeks back another vintage Airstream owner in the Atlanta area
> graceously volunteered to come over and help me track down a proplem
> we are
> having with the 12 Volt DC system on our ' 68 Tradewind. The
> InteliPower
> and Charge Wizard are keeping the battery charged up but I do not have
> 12V
> anywhere in the trailer, Nothing 12 Volts works. I'm thinking it's a
> fuse or
> circuit breaker or something but I haven't found the problem.
> Unfortunately,
> I misplaced the name of the Airstreamer who volunteered to help me
> find the
> problem and fix it. If that person would contact me again, I'd greatly
> appreciate it.
>
> Thanks,
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 20:25:57 -0800
From: Glyn Judson <glynjudson@xxxxxxxxxx.net>
Subject: Re: [VAL] 12 Volt Electrical Problem
All,
I've been following this thread with a bit of interest. I've also
talked back channel and on the phone with Jim Greene about our common woes.
All the interior 12v lighting on my 1969 Caravel works but none of the
exterior lights do.
Here's what I've done so far:
1. Checked the seven wires at the plug that goes to the automobile, all
good.
2. Checked the continuity between the plug and the wires inside the
inspection plate under the street side corner. The ground is good and so
are the connections between there and the plug.
3. I checked to see that all the fuses in the Univolt were not blown
and installed with good conductivity, they are all fine. The Univolt
appears to be working as it seems to be keeping the battery up and when I
progressively turn on more lights inside, I can hear the Univolt respond
with a slight increased hum as more lights go on inside.
I do not have a control panel in my Caravel as Jim says his 1968 and
1971 do, so can't check for a main fuse.
Can anyone offer thoughts as to check for next? If it were just one or
two lights, I might be able to understand but that all the outside lights
don't work has me stumped. When I say all, that's just what I mean. The
running and side lights don't work. As well, all the rear lights don't
work. That's the stop, tail, turning and license lights.
It occurs to me as I write this that I haven't checked the most obvious,
the bulbs. I'll check each and every one and the sockets they're in
tomorrow morning. The push button socket with light inside the rear
battery/Univolt door does work.
Do other 1969 Airstream Caravel owners have the elusive control panel in
the overhead above the front window?
By the way, my very neat burner grate springs arrived a few days ago. I
bent them to the proper shape at the hook ends and installed six of them on
the burners. They work just great and that's just one more item I can
scratch off my To Do list.
I will soon begin the replacement of all the curtain hardware that a
previous owner removed and threw away. I was the guy who bought those neat
aluminum curtain tracks on eBay the other day. They were offered as being
from a 1969 Airstream and I figured that I might be able to put them to good
use soon.
Later,
Glyn Judson
1969 Caravel
Santa Monica CA
> From: DL <dean@xxxxxxxxxx.net>
> Reply-To: valist@xxxxxxxxxx.com
> Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 21:13:45 -0600
> To: valist@xxxxxxxxxx.com
> Subject: Re: [VAL] 12 Volt Electrical Problem
>
> Look inside your Univolt.. I think you should find some fuses.
> Use a simple volt meter with some of your load turned on
> you will see a voltage across the open fuse.
>
>
> See You On the Road
> Dean & Kay
> WBCCI 2486
> IOWA
>
>
> On Jan 25, 2004, at 3:19 PM, Jim Greene wrote:
>
>> A few weeks back another vintage Airstream owner in the Atlanta area
>> graceously volunteered to come over and help me track down a proplem
>> we are
>> having with the 12 Volt DC system on our ' 68 Tradewind. The
>> InteliPower
>> and Charge Wizard are keeping the battery charged up but I do not have
>> 12V
>> anywhere in the trailer, Nothing 12 Volts works. I'm thinking it's a
>> fuse or
>> circuit breaker or something but I haven't found the problem.
>> Unfortunately,
>> I misplaced the name of the Airstreamer who volunteered to help me
>> find the
>> problem and fix it. If that person would contact me again, I'd greatly
>> appreciate it.
>>
>> Thanks,
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> When replying to a message. please delete all unnecessary original text
>
> To unsubscribe or change to a digest format, please go to
> http://www.tompatterson.com/VAC/VAList/listoffice.html
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 23:27:56 -0600
From: "Dr. Gerald N. Johnson, electrical engineer" <geraldj@xxxxxxxxxx.net>
Subject: Re: [VAL] 12 Volt Electrical Problem
The problem on the marker lights on my Caravel was the ground on each
light. The marker light base is plastic and the ground depended on a pop
rivet squeezing against the plastic. The fundamental definition of
plastic is that it gives way under pressure. One place I worked decades
ago wouldn't allow trying such an electrical connection even with hard
plastic. So I drilled out the rivets from each marker light. Then I
milled away the plastic post under the ground connection tab.
One some I could reach through a hole in the skin to put an aluminum
screw through the rivet hole from the inside. On that aluminum screw I
placed a stainless steel internal shake proof lock washer and a dab of
aluminum conductor grease. Then I put on a pair of aluminum nuts (in
this case 8-32 thread, bolts and nuts from a Reynold's do it your self
aluminum collection that had been here for decades) outside, then the
fixture, another dab of aluminum conductor grease, another shakeproof
lock washer and another nut. I used a stainless steel self taping screw
in place of the other mounting rivet where there wasn't a ground strap.
Where there wasn't a large hole behind a marker fixture, I drilled a
hole large enough to pass the head of the screw and the lock washer an
inch away from the old rivet hole, then with a 3/16" inch router bit in
my battery drill, I routed a slot to the rivet hole. Made a keyhole in
the skin so I could easily slide the bolt with lock washer and a nut on
the outside into place. The lock washer allows tightening the nut
securely and bites through the aluminum oxide that is always present.
I closed the keyhole slot and the larger holes with a blob of plumber's
putty, much like they had before. When caulking seams with Vulkem, I ran
a bead around the base of each marker lamp to give double protection at
those extra holes in the skin.
Three years hence, I've had no more work to do on the marker lights.
While they were off, I polished the contact surfaces, light sockets, and
lamp bases with some fine scotchbrite and then applied a film of
silicone dielectric grease (that Ford uses for lights and ignition
connections) to keep corrosion away. The stop/turn lights needed that
same cleaning and corrosion protection. Before I started this exercise,
I bought a supply of spare lamps. Haven't needed any lamps yet.
The stainless steel shakeproof lock washers came from McMaster-Carr,
actually I chose a metric size to fit my 8-32 screws because the box had
only 100 and buying those designated to fit 8-32 came in a box of 1000,
far too many compared to my needs.
Today, I'd probably have to use 6-32 screws because the standard 8-32
nuts would have been too thick, but those I had were perfect.
I have a drawing here somewhere of the hardware assembly, though its not
labeled to identify the parts.
The Univolt has absolutely nothing to do with the exterior lighting.
Likewise the control panel has nothing to do with the exterior marker
and signal lamps.
One would expect a problem with all the lights to be something in a
common circuit, but it my case it was a common failure for all the
lights. You can check easily, with the umbilical connected to the tow
vehicle and the tow vehicle parking lights turned on, pop a lens from a
marker light and wedge a flat blade screwdriver between the rivet and
the ground strap on the light. I think you will find light and that the
washer under the pop rivet is rattling loose.
The license plate light on my '68 Caravel was a blob of rust, not
salvageable. I carved a piece of 1/4" aluminum to cover its mountings
and used a more modern and lower cost Grote license plate light. NAPA
does show the exact replacement license plate light, but I decided that
if the original self destructed that badly, that a reproduction could do
no better.
Inside lights are NOT involved in the marker, turn, stop, tail or
license plate light circuits. These exterior lights are powered
exclusively through the umbilical by the tow vehicle. The interior
lights (and the white light at the door) are powered by the Univolt and
battery, not directly from the vehicle electrical system, though the
vehicle tow cable should charge the trailer battery.
One other problem I had was corrosion in the plug on the end of the
umbilical cord. Its hard to clean it up. For less than $8, I bought a
new plug at Walmart and changed the plug. Then I coated the contact
surfaces (and the wire ends) with more of that silicone dielectric
grease (Ford part number D7AZ-19A331-A). I've had no more plug corrosion
problems.
Gerald J.
- --
Entire content copyright Dr. Gerald N. Johnson, electrical engineer.
Reproduction by permission only.
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End of VAL Digest V1 #139
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