House to hood wiring?!?! 87 president 24’

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TracyDJMan
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Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:15 pm

House to hood wiring?!?! 87 president 24’

Post by TracyDJMan »

Hello! I’m trying to sort out 30 years of wiring. I’ve removed several, but I’ve come across about 6 wires that go to the rear from under the hood. Two of the have 12v and were connected to each other (one black and one white). A black wire with a fuseable link that is currently hot. A white wire that was connected to the black which is also hot. I broke the connection and everything still works.. just trying to figure out if anyone has the color codes for the wires from factory going from front to rear? One looks like a speaker wire, and the other end seems to go up into the shell by the stairs. We’ve got two pink wires that had a fuse in between but was missing, I removed the fuse and nothing has changed. And a yellow with black stripe that was going into my fuse box with a jumper thingy, next to the fuse marked engine. Maybe none of these have a purpose anymore, I’m not sure. There was a security system installed that was very shoddy, so some of them may have been for that. I’m guessing at least one of the wires have the ability to retract the stairs when engine is running, although I’m sure before I cut everything it wasn’t working as I could never “turn off” my stairs when engine was running, so clearly incorrectly wired. I’ve also got a heavy gauge red which goes to the rear “garage” but I know what that one is for. Thanks for any help!


I’m sure this is also important: no batteries under the hood. Plugged in to mains currently.
Last edited by TracyDJMan on Mon Jun 03, 2019 12:19 pm, edited 2 times in total.
‘87 President 24’ E350 6.9 Turbo Diesel
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whemme
Posts: 2110
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:05 pm

Re: House to hood wiring?!?! 87

Post by whemme »

Well, it will be almost impossible for anyone to help you without knowing the year and model of your coach.
Bill Hemme - Spencer, Iowa
E-mail: whemme@earthlink.net
2002 Born Free (Ford E-450 V10) 26' RSB
2016 VW Golf GTI - toad
TracyDJMan
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:15 pm

Re: House to hood wiring?!?! 87

Post by TracyDJMan »

Sorry, it’s an 87 president 24’
‘87 President 24’ E350 6.9 Turbo Diesel
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Roger H
Posts: 653
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 7:48 pm

Re: House to hood wiring?!?! 87 president 24’

Post by Roger H »

That's a tough one. There aren't too many coaches left out there that are older than yours, and at 32 years young, there could be a LOT of aftermarket stuff that was installed and later replaced or removed.

Your best bet is to do exactly what you're doing... trace the wires down as best you can and see where they terminate. It's not going to be an easy task. I don't envy you.
'06 Born Free 32 RQ Kodiak Chassis
(Former: '01 Born Free 23 RK)
Dinghy: '16 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon with a Blue Ox Aladdin tow bar.
Traveling with Sir Winston and Lady Rae (Cavalier King Charles Spaniels)
bornnorm
Posts: 161
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2018 7:43 pm

Re: House to hood wiring?!?! 87 president 24’

Post by bornnorm »

Tracy,

We bought an older 1993 Born Free 21, definitely not as old as yours but older than most. Our most difficult problem is disconnected wires, in our case caused by a rear tire blowout that took out some cabling. it appears I'll never figure it out yet I have managed to get most systems running though to this point I have not touched the jacks or the awning. Neither item has kept us off the road though I expect when we return from this at least 8 month trip to try both systems.

I do not intend to determine the function of each wire but have added wiring to bypass issues.

I admit I would be happy with a system wiring diagram but also do not have a source.
Norm Milliard
'93 Born Free 21' RB
'06 Scion xB
Escapee, Full timer
TracyDJMan
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:15 pm

Re: House to hood wiring?!?! 87 president 24’

Post by TracyDJMan »

bornnorm wrote:Tracy,

We bought an older 1993 Born Free 21, definitely not as old as yours but older than most. Our most difficult problem is disconnected wires, in our case caused by a rear tire blowout that took out some cabling. it appears I'll never figure it out yet I have managed to get most systems running though to this point I have not touched the jacks or the awning. Neither item has kept us off the road though I expect when we return from this at least 8 month trip to try both systems.

I do not intend to determine the function of each wire but have added wiring to bypass issues.

I admit I would be happy with a system wiring diagram but also do not have a source.

Yeah, everything on my rig appears to work, I don’t have jacks, and my display panel was gone when I got the unit. So the wires seem to be pretty useless, but it’d still be nice to know their original intent. I’ve heat shrinked the ends of them, and st least if I find the other end some day, I use it for its intended purpose or another.
‘87 President 24’ E350 6.9 Turbo Diesel
bornnorm
Posts: 161
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2018 7:43 pm

Re: House to hood wiring?!?! 87 president 24’

Post by bornnorm »

Though we haven't used our jacks, they certainly don't seem critical. We have a bumper box on our rig that rides on the rear bumper. We keep 4 pieces of 2x6 that we use if we're a little out of level, I would say once every 6 camping situations.
Norm Milliard
'93 Born Free 21' RB
'06 Scion xB
Escapee, Full timer
TracyDJMan
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:15 pm

Re: House to hood wiring?!?! 87 president 24’

Post by TracyDJMan »

Just to update for reference for all those with 32 year old units. The Black wire with the yellow stripe goes from under the hood to the converter battery connection. I cut this at the frame rail and wired it directly to my house battery. It appears it was running all the way to the front, just to go back again. It serves me no purpose, so all is well now. Lots of voltage drop the way it was run. It appears that when this unit was born, it used the engine battery as a house battery. No longer required.
‘87 President 24’ E350 6.9 Turbo Diesel
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