[VAL] Re: Caravel Electrics

[Steve Boyd <steve.boyd@xxxxxxx>]

Tony, fellow Caravel owners, etc.

I had the Univolt on my '68 Caravel switched out a couple years back, 
and recently had the ceiling light short out (zapping, smoke, molten 
copper, blown fuse!) while I was boondocking.  This required an in the 
field fix because I was at that remote site several more days.  Of 
course I didn't have a replacement for the blown fuse, thus discovering 
what essential item I forgot for that trip.  Normally I don't run many 
lights anyway, so I figured I could just combine the wire from the blown 
circuit to one of the others (I can see Dr. J. cringing now).  Of course 
before doing that I wanted to know what each of the other wires serviced 
so I could make this fix relatively safely and be sure to not overload 
the parasitized circuit.  I found, as you and Dr. J, that two wires 
serviced lights 12v DC outlets, and ceiling fan (one of those being the 
blown circuit), and one involved the battery charging.  The fourth 
seemed to only control the water pump.  I ended up coupling the blown 
circuit with the other light circuit, which controlled only the lights 
in the bathroom and the reading light on the wall between the bathroom 
and bed.  These are rarely used, whereas, I was relying on the 12v 
outlets installed up front and the overhead light, so the fix was made.

Aside from dealing with the converter wiring in the dark (of course), 
with a flashlight that could be made to shine on every possible surface 
but the one I needed to work on, that part of the fix went smoothly. 
Fixing the burned wiring on the overhead light fixture was another 
story.  although the fixture itself was ok, so much of the connecting 
wiring was burned that I needed to scavenge replacement strands from 
another fixture where there was excess available.  I also had to deal 
with the ragged, razor-sharp hole in the ceiling panel through which the 
wires ran, as I think this may have been the cause of the short which 
caused the whole trouble to begin with.

When I returned to civilization, I swapped out the ceiling fixture, an 
original four-bulb set-up with a three-way switch, with a nice on/off 
florescent fixture.  More light, less hassle.

Hope this helps, at least to remind folks to be sure you have your 
replacement fuses, some extra wire, and electrical tape IN your trailer 
at all times.

Best regards,
Steve Boyd; Riverside, CA
1968 Caravel (CA made; dinette up front)
2003 Hummer H2 (only one I've ever seen off-highway in 1000s of miles 
backroads boondocking)