Re: [VAL] electrical woes

["chyde" <chyde@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Scott,

I just went out and checked the wiring runs on my completely gutted except
for the main ceiling panel of my 57 Sovereign of the Road. I am assuming
that your electrical system is run in a similar fashion to mine. First thing
is that all 115v connections are made inside outlet boxes or behind light
fixtures.The feeds for outlets and wall sconces run from junction points in
the ceiling fixtures. During the dissassembly of this trailer I noticed a
wire dropping next to the door for an outlet that had been stripped to the
copper. There appeared to be some intermitant arcing as there was some black
soot type residue on one of the ribs. The construction of this vintage of
trailer is rather crude from the electrical standpoint. The wiring is all
paper covered two strand copper. When it passes through ribs, a rubber
grommet is used however when it passes down one of the vertical "C" channel
ribs it sits inside the "C" channel. Every 18" or so there is a horizontal
rib that has a triangle cut off the end at the juction of the vertical rib
to allow the wire to pass by. These triangular cutouts do not have any anti
chaffing material on the sharp edges. They do however, tape the wire to the
exterior wall with masking tape to limit movement. Anyone seen masking tape
last 47 years? In my particular case I believe the damage occured while
running the wires at the factory in 1957 and then just waited for the tape
to dry out to allow the wire to dangle within the wall and eventually arc
occaisionally to the rib. I plan on upgradeing all of the wiring before
reassembly so it shouldn't be a big deal. In your case however I would
remove your ceiling fixtures and determine which wires are going to which
light, socket etc then try using an ohm meter (without 115v plugged in) and
test each black wire to find out which one and on which run is shorting to
ground. Once you find it you can either delete that circuit or pull a new
wire down through the ceiling using the original one as the puller.
You shouldn't have to completely gut the trailer to repair this although
there are probably a few more shorts just waiting to happen in there.

Good luck,

Colin