Thanks all for the info. I'm leaning more toward an inside cable, since it saves having to drill a hole in the roof and no worries about water seeping into the receptacle, althought the kit includes a tight fitting receptacle that looks like it would keep water out well. Roy, I like the setup you have, I might try something similar. Thanks for posting a picture of that.
Sparkydave - Its pretty much straight foward - You will have to cut a 14 x 14 inch hole through the ceiling to sandwich the halves of the air conditioner. The inside section and the above roof section is only held inplace with the four long bolts between the two sections. You have to compress the 14-inch square large rubber seal just a 1/4-inch or so. This will be something to check again after you have it installed and the unit running. It may need some more tighting down after it has been compressed for awhile.
Then you just route the long 120VAC cable from the ceiling side to the back side wall. Mine was going through a couple of cable clamps attached to the ceiling but I didnt like that so I installed a short WIREMOLD section from LOWES from the ceiling mounted air filter / air conditioner control inside section. Looks much better seeing the White WIREMOLD instead of the Black air conditioner cable drooping across the ceiling to the back side wall.
Then at the back side wall which is behind my curtain valance the long Black air conditioner cable is attached to the down side of the ceiling 4-inch lip and continues on to the rear of the trailer and is attached again at that point. Then the air conditioner cable can just hang there and drop to the wrap-around seating area I showed in the picture. This long Black air conditioner cable can also be wraped back in the other direction for when you are packing up and getting ready for travel mode. My Cable is stretched tight up behind the curtain valance out of site and held in place with another metal clamp.
When mine is hooked up it just drops down to the seating area and goes under the cushions and through a small hole cut out in the corner of the storage lid and then goes inside the middle seat storage area and is plugged into the NEMA 5-20R 120VAC receptacle inside the seat storage area. This receptacle is then connected to the on-board Power Distribution Center 120VAC Circuit Breaker using ROMEX cable straped along the inside of the seat storage compartments. Everything is out of site and neatly installed.
Not sure what your install instuctions was relating too about drilling a hole in the outside wall to mount the 120VAC NEMA 5-20R receptacle ???. The only holes I have for my air conditioner install is the 14 X 14 - inch hole through the roof and then a small round hole through the inside center seat storage area compartment to mount the NEMA 5-20R 120VAC receptacle. There is another small hole along the inside seat storage area where the NEMA 5-20R receptacle ROMEX cable is routed to the on-board Power Distribution Ceneter unit where the Air Conditioner circuit breaker is installed.
My Power Distribution Center is a WFCO 8900 series unit and has five slots for full size 120VAC circuit breakers. The main circuit breaker is a full size 30AMP circuit breaker. the next position down is two 1/2-size circuit breakers with the air conditioner being one of those 1/2-size breakers and the other half size breaker is the on-board Converter/Charger 120VAC breaker.
I am guessing you are familar enough with electrical wiring to be able to mount the ROMEX cable coming from the new NEMA 5-20R receptacle and know where to connect the three BLACK-WHITE-GREEN or solid copper ground wires inside the Power Distribution Center. It should already have a ROMEX empty cable clamp on the back of the chassis you can use to route the ROMEX to the circuit breaker area.
Your new circuit breaker should just slip into position and snap inplace. Be sure to kill all of the AC power before working in this area. I am guessing this is where your RV.net name SparkyDave comes from...(Lets hope you dont spark anything)...
If it is possible I would move all the now installed circuit breakers down a position and allow the second circuit breaker down be the one for the air conditioner. If the one they provided is a full-size circuit breaker then it would look better being installed next the MAIN 30 amp circuit breaker. Then the remaining circuits are probably all half size circuit breakers from there on down...(Lowes carries all of the different brands of circuit breakers that will fit your Power Dist center positions - might be nice to have all of your circuit breakers the same brand ???)..
Just pull down from the top of each circuit breaker and it should un-stab and pivot and can be removed. You won't have to remove any wiring from the circuit breakers - just un-stab and move down a slot.
Also it is very important that you make a strong wiring connection of the air conditioner wiring. If this is not tight like specified then it will start getting hot when being used and burn up your inside wiring. (not good).. Your air conditioner will pull a pretty good current when being used.
Pretty easy task if you have a good opened up power distribution Center like the WFCO 8900 series unit. Just be sure you wire up the three wires to the proper terminal strips..
My Posts are IMHO based on my experiences - PM me Roy and Carolyn
RETIRED DOAF/DON/DOD/CONTR RADIO TECH (42yrs)
K9PHT (Since 1957) 146.52M
2010 F150, 5.4,3:73 Gears,SCab
2008 Starcraft 14RT EU2000i GEN
2005 Flagstaff 8528RESS
POPUP PHOTOs-Pg52-Pg56
Thanks for the write up Roy. The 14x14 hole in the roof is already there, the A/C unit just replaces the roof vent I already have. The hole I was referring to was for mounting the outdoor male (yes, male) receptacle in the side of roof. My PUP was already equipped for A/C, so there's a 20 amp breaker in the power converter, and a length of romex from that going to a junction box near the shore power entry. There's an extra cord access just like the shore power entry cover, and the "factory" way of doing the installation has a long outdoor cord with a female weatherproof end that mates with the receptacle in the roof before you crank it up. That cable gets wired to the existing junction box and goes through the extra cord access.
The parts I have consist of the A/C unit, the control panel/vent assembly, and the wiring kit. The wiring kit just has the outdoor receptacle, a length of romex to connect that to the A/C unit, a length of plastic channel (probably the same Wiremold stuff you were referring to) to mount to the ceiling, and the cord with the female end on it. Oh, and the kit came with Forest River's poorly worded and illustrated instructions on how to install it.
Can you post pictures of the kit spread out and maybe the instruction manual? I don't beleive any manufacturer would have you run power from outside the trailer roof, down the side, and then back into the trailer. That would be a safety hazzard.
Sparky, you might want to check with Forest River about the location for the A/C. Most Flagstaffs and Rockwoods use a different location than the original roof vvent location.
1995brave wrote: Can you post pictures of the kit spread out and maybe the instruction manual? I don't beleive any manufacturer would have you run power from outside the trailer roof, down the side, and then back into the trailer. That would be a safety hazzard.
I don't know how it's a safety hazard, and I've seen pop-ups with cables going outside from the roof mounted A/C units down to the cord access in the side. It's using an outdoor cable, an outdoor plug, and an outdoor receptacle to keep water out. The owner's manual for my 2004 Rockwood covers the part of pulling the A/C power cord from the cord access and plugging it into the roof receptacle before raising the roof, if the unit is equipped with air conditioning.
Maybe newer units have better ways of running power to the roof. A buddy of mine has a new Flagstaff, but his has the power cable permanently installed going through one of the lift posts, so he doesn't have to do anything about it.
Mike, I bought the kit from the Rockwood dealer where I bought the camper, and he assures me it replaces the roof vent. The installation instructions include the step of removing the roof vent.
Makes me wonder if your unit is the same as mine now... I have the COLEMAN 8333D SERIES MACH 3 PLUS RVP Products...
This is what the top unit looks likes
This unit connects to the ceiling mounted unit thru the 14-inch square hole which looks like this from the ceiling side... (This is shown upside down)
The two panels connect together using a small cable assy going thru the 14-inch square hole.
The 120VAC POWER CORD connects to the BOTTOM unit on the inside of the trailer. No additional holes required as for as the ceiling is concerned...
This is a photo I found that looks pretty close to what I have installed on bottom (inside) ceiling... Where it says WIRING COVER is the WIREMOLD I added to hide the long black 120VAC CABLE coming from the bottom unit to the side of the wall...
My installation also has two heavy duty metal support beams running from one side of the ceiling to the other that keeps the heavy air conditioner munted on the roof from doing damage to the roof/ceiling. There is a support beam (only one shown in the picture - I have two) that is on both sides of the bottom mounted cover (Supports both sides of the heavy air conditioner on the roof). The air conditioner unit on top must weight around 100lbs or maybe more... Hopefully you have these braces installed already - this is must have items...
sparkydave wrote: Mike, I bought the kit from the Rockwood dealer where I bought the camper, and he assures me it replaces the roof vent. The installation instructions include the step of removing the roof vent.
Glad to hear it. We've run into several Forest River's that had a rear fan mount and when replaced by the A/C make the trailer sway like crazy from too much rear weight. Those campers had a seperate mounting point more centered over the trailer axle.
As for the support bars. This is something you mostly found on Coleman/Fleetwood campers due to the roofing material problems that they suffered with for about 8 years.
It looks like I am way out in left field on your setup. Thought all of the different brands were much the same. About the only trailers I have been inside of were the Colemans, Starcrafts, and the Fleetwoods.
Would like to have your POPUP model number so I can take a look at your setup on google and your floorplans for future reference...
Hope I havent led you astray with the way my POPUP is layed out... Will delete my comments if you like...
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(This is shown upside down)
