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You got one of these? '74 Westfalia DC powersupply & fri
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coolerthanelvis
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 3:32 pm    Post subject: Re: You got one of these? '74 Westfalia DC powersupply & fri Reply with quote

So what is the transformer/power converter doing? I don't see it on your diagram.
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busdaddy
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 15, 2018 6:13 pm    Post subject: Re: You got one of these? '74 Westfalia DC powersupply & fri Reply with quote

A+ on the artwork Cool
Seems yours is wired like Pittwagen's, why the 12v side doesn't work is mysterious, my next step would be taking an Ohm meter to the switch.
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btripp
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 12:48 pm    Post subject: Re: You got one of these? '74 Westfalia DC powersupply & fri Reply with quote

Hey Busdaddy,

Thanks for the help. I traced all the wires, and this is how it's wired right now:

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I found this old thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=277458&highlight and his is wired the same way as mine, even with the same company transformer (don't worry, I checked and they have different serial numbers). Is it possible that some of them came this way? With everything wired for 12 volt? Maybe it was a 74 to 75 change or something? The pictures earlier in this thread show it wired differently.

I have not tried removing the splices and applying 12v directly to the heater element, or for that matter to the dangling disconnected wires. I guess trying that would let me know if the issue was a connection somewhere. It seems to me that even when it's plugged into shore power it's working off of 12 volts, right? If so, then it works on 12 volts and I'm just not getting power from that red and brown wire to the coil for some reason. I'd like to be able to power it from both the 12v leisure battery and from shore power. It's pretty dirty back there too, perhaps there's some corrosion at the connections. Thoughts?

I measured the resistance of the dangling wires as you suggested. I measured 183 on the 200 setting of my volt meter.

Thanks again for all your help.

-Ben
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busdaddy
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2018 7:04 am    Post subject: Re: You got one of these? '74 Westfalia DC powersupply & fri Reply with quote

The red and brown on the loose cable with the white plug sure look like 12 v in from the battery to me. But those Scotchlocs and the cut off heater wires say someone has been farting around in there, try an Ohm meter on those cut off heater wires and see if it has any resistance to start with.
Since the pics don't fully show some of the wires maybe you could roughly draw a diagram of how it's currently wired and post a pic of your artwork?
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2018 4:26 pm    Post subject: Re: You got one of these? '74 Westfalia DC powersupply & fri Reply with quote

Hello Everyone,

I’m resurrecting this old thread to ask some wiring questions about my 74/75 westy fridge.

My bus didn’t originally come with a fridge, but I picked one up along the way because I wanted a refrigerator but also wanted to keep a stock look. I’ve used it for a couple years now and it works great. Since the bus didn’t come with one I don’t have any of the wiring though. Usually I just use an air conditioner extension cord to plug it into the outlet under the beach, and then connect the bus to shore power. So far this has worked fine.

Recently though I wanted to run the fridge from 12v, but lacking the original wiring I’m not sure exactly how it was supposed to connect. I have tried applying battery power to the dangling wire in the foreground of the zoomed out pics below, but no luck.

The fridge definitely works, but only on a/c. Looking at the wiring, i think the transformer is wired to convert 110v ac to 12v dc, and the wires from both sides of the ac/batt switch seem to be spliced together. A second set of wires from the heating element is not connected.

Thanks in advance for your help!

-Ben

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SamboSamba22
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 3:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well I do believe I am one of the few...that owns a worn out and broken fridge. After doing the upside down and upright again dance for over a week, my fridge just gets hot on the back and has actually begun to minimally smoke (8-10 puffs a minute), causing me to believe it has a line leak though I haven't seem any liquids or smells. Well shucks, looks like it's not going back into the bus. Thanks guys.
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SamboSamba22
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Plugged up for two days, it was getting nice and warm and making dipping noise but wasn't getting cool. So I tapped it a few times, and flipped it over. I'll check back upright in a day or so. Thanks bus daddy.
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busdaddy
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SamboSamba22 wrote:
Ancient post, and I'm being wishful and trying to follow the guidelines and keep same topics to similar posts, so here it goes:
My question is, with my original fridge out of my 74 Westy, how prominent are these units to still work 30+ years later?
So far I have plugged it up for 2 days, no success. I hear liquid moving through the pipes but no cooling within the unit. So tonight, I have tapped coil and flipped it upside down for the next day or so. What's the success rate of the flip doing the trick of getting this electric ice box kicking again? I want to keep my stuff as close to original as possible but if the fridge is done I don't want to carry around dead weight.
Popcorn Popcorn

Likely it'll work after a couple days upside down, assuming the back was actually getting warm. Those fridges are very reliable, no moving parts aside from the thermostat and the only possible failures are the heater or the coils rotting out and releasing the ammonia mix.
I hope it's unplugged while upside down.
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SamboSamba22
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ancient post, and I'm being wishful and trying to follow the guidelines and keep same topics to similar posts, so here it goes:
My question is, with my original fridge out of my 74 Westy, how prominent are these units to still work 30+ years later?
So far I have plugged it up for 2 days, no success. I hear liquid moving through the pipes but no cooling within the unit. So tonight, I have tapped coil and flipped it upside down for the next day or so. What's the success rate of the flip doing the trick of getting this electric ice box kicking again? I want to keep my stuff as close to original as possible but if the fridge is done I don't want to carry around dead weight.
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Campmobile Chris74
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, I did some testing and here is what I found out.

Good news is the fridge works!! 34years old and its still kicking and it's probably been sitting not being used for just as long.

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So after reading the responses to this post, I went ahead and connected 110VAC directly to the fridge switch via pins 1 & 2. Within about 20 minutes the unit started to get cooler.

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After about 3 hours the cooler temp was below freezing!! Amazing!

Thanks for everyone's responses Laughing
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busdaddy
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Perhaps the PO couldn't get a replacement 110v element and used a 12V one as a redundant backup. Think twice about connecting it to 110V unless you can find some marking on it that says that's the voltage, no need to screw up a perfectly good element.
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74westy
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Definately two heating elements and two supplies, 12vdc and 110vac. My AC cable ran from the breaker box, behind the side panel and came out from behind the side panel, bottom right behind the sink unit. It then ran across the bus floor in front of the sub floor to behind the fridge. This cable is protected by plastic sleeving and is held down with metal "P" clips as it passes the floor air outlet near the walk through.

An AC cable also went from the breaker box behind the side panel back to the under seat area. This would have been for the DC power converter which I no longer have. Interestingly there is a pale green paint remaining on the plywood under the seat. Same as the colour or your unit!!??

As I said, all works real good. Just don't leave it switched to 12vdc if you don't have an auxiliary battery.

Craig
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://wetwesties.type2.com/




also i have the complete wiring diagram for a 1971, would this stuff be included in the diagram or not, i'm guessing not as camper stuff was added later by various companies, anyone have any thoughts on this, or have a diagram for this guy?
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Campmobile Chris74
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Busdaddy the previous owners wired the 110v side of the fridge directly to the DC output of the converter. Making the fridge run only using 12v. They also removed the circuit breaker panel. So I'm not positive on how it was originally wired.

I saw the schematic diagram and it says to me that there should be 110v at pins 1 and 2 but when I measured the voltage with my meter I was getting 12vdc where the AC should have been.

I will connect 110vac to pins 1 and 2 and hopefully the heating element will get hot and not blow the fridge up.
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Campmobile Chris74
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The heating element does work. With 12VDC on both sides it gets real hot fast! So I'm guessing its working right. The previous owners cut 12V side of the fridge and spliced it into the 110V line. Probably to avoid draining the main battery. I'm just trying to put things back the way it was.

I must check out the WetWesty group. Shocked I'm sure they have a website or something.
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busdaddy
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It should get 110v too, the answer is on that blue sticker behind your hand in your last pic.
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

plus it rains here alot, there's a reason we don't really use solar power in the state maybe a little wind turbine on the roof to charge while driving and those windy fall nights coming up soon, haha. i thought of doing the solar thing but like stated above it's not really viable for the pnw, cool but man, you should check out the wetwesties camp out coming up on october 3-5 @ Leavenworth, don't know if it's wired correctly i'd just say, does it work? is your bus on fire right now? yes,no.....your good haha,
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Campmobile Chris74
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Craig - I'm amazed. How did you know my Westy came from Canada?

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.



The previous owners of the Westy did alot of modifications to the camper (as most do). They got rid of the old circuit breaker panel and installed a junction box and an electrical outlet.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


So the way my Westy is wired is when its connected to shore power, AC feed the outlet inside the camper and AC feeds the DC power converter under the bench seat, that’s it. AC voltage never reaches the switch at the fridge. I have 12VDC at the wires for both heating elements.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


So what I’m trying to find out is : Is my Westy wired correctly? Or is there an 110vac line from the circuit breaker panel to the fridge switch?


P.S. Great photos ! itlives! Alternative energy is the way to go for sure. But I’m not sure how well it would work for me being up here in the Northwest. I camp in the woods a lot, under large tall trees.
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dreadnotmusic wrote:
Shocked I hope you realize that you're batteries are releasing explosive gases while they are charging! I can't imagine a worse place for them than inside the passenger compartment. Do you have a forced ventilation system installed somehow?


Those look like sealed batteries. Do they release gas as well? I was thinking of one day putting in one deep cycle battery, not underseat, but maybe in the cabinet where the spare tyre well is. I always thought that the newer gell-type batteries don't release gas...or do they? Confused

I can't put extra batteries anywhere else in my bus..
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Shocked I hope you realize that you're batteries are releasing explosive gases while they are charging! I can't imagine a worse place for them than inside the passenger compartment. Do you have a forced ventilation system installed somehow?
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