tidy Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Hello everyone. New to this forum so I hope I am following protocol here. We have recently bought a 2004 CI Carioca 15 Living. It seems to have become a project in removing and replacing rotten struts due to poor sealing in the past. A very tidy van otherwise. We have a manual but it is pretty vague. One thing I cannot fathom is the switch which activates when the rear nearside luggage/store hatch is open. At the moment it is not connected, and there is another switch or sensor further along the same wall next to where the table is located, both these are wired in parallel. I am assuming that the rear side hatch is to turn a light or lights on/off in the dark but it doesn't seem to have any effect at all. No idea what the device is near the table area - just a small black plastic round fitting protruding from the side facia at knee height. To the rear it has brown/blue cables in parallel with the rear hatch switch. The single cable to which both of these are attached vanishes under the water tank - white sleeve, like a 5 amp lighting flex. If anyone can shed light on this I would be really appreciative - I really hope someone out there knows the answer! Many thanks indeed Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Good morning Ian and welcome to the forum, I'll start the guessing off by suggesting they are temperature sensors for the heating system. The one by the table for sensing internal temperature and the one in the locker for sensing outside temperature as a frost prevention measure. What make of heating system do you have fitted? I may be wrong but that's my guess. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 As Keith suggests, your description of the device by the table sounds like it’s a remote temperature sensor for a Truma combination air/water heater. This sensor is a small rounded black push-fit ‘button’ that should have a couple of wires connected to its rear. An example is shown here. https://www.caravantech-shop.co.uk/products/spares-water--gas-electric-etc/truma-spares/truma-room-sensor#.X1d2-S3MxzA This sensor is connected directly to the heater. I’ve never heard of a secondary ‘switch’ being linked to the sensor and (to the best of my knowledge) Truma does not provide any outside temperature sensing capability for its heaters, while frost protection is provided by a specialised drain-valve that would not be activated by a locker-door being opened. Are you certain that your two switches/sensors are wired in parallel? I would have thought that the by-the-table thing is a Truma remote temperature sensor for the heater and the switch that is operated when the luggage locker-door is opened is completely separate and (as you’ve assumed) intended to turn a light on in the locker. Obviously the locker-switch won’t do anything at the moment because you’ve said it is not connected. It’s quite possible that CI chose to run the cable from the remote temperature sensor to the heater and the cable from a 12V power-source to the locker-switch within a single wiring-loom sleeve. However, I’m very wary of the idea that the temperature sensor and locker-switch might be wired together, so I suggest you recheck this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Or could it be, as Derek now reminded us that the sensor in the locker is disconnected, that CI originally placed the sensor in the locker and a previous owner (?) has relocated it to a new position below the table? Hence why the 2 appeared to be wired in parallel. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 In his/her inquiry ‘tidy’ refers to a “switch which activates when the rear nearside luggage/store hatch is open” and assumes (logically) that this is intended to turn a light on when the hatch is opened. Conversely, where the other item is concerned, ’tidy’ has "No idea what the device is near the table area - just a small black plastic round fitting protruding from the side facia at knee height.” From the two descriptions it’s evident that the two items are not the same - one is identifiably a switch and the other is not, and (as we both suspect) the latter is almost certainly a remote temperature sensor for a Truma heater. There’s an advert for a 2004 CI Carioca 15 Living here http://www.becksmotorhomes.com/vehicle/2004-ci-carioca-15-living and this shows an intake/exhaust outlet for a Truma C-series combination air/water heater above the front of the left rear wheel-arch. As well as potentially turning on a light, It’s possible that the ‘hatch switch’ may have been part of an alarm system, but either way I can’t think of any credible reason for it to be connected to a Truma remote temperature sensor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Derek, sorry I missed the comment on the switch on the locker door and wrongly assumed that Ian (tidy) had 2 sensors. So now thinking out loud, seen as the switch on the door was wired in parallel with the sensor, could it be that the switch was intended to over-ride the sensor and force the heating either to full power or off when the locker door is open? It might be worth reconnecting the wires with the door open and the heating on to see what happens. Just my thoughts... Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Keith When I began working as a systems analyst (many years ago) I rapidly learned to challenge statements that were confidently made but that I thought most unlikely to be correct. You have accepted Ian’s statement that the “small black plastic round fitting” and disconnected hatch-switch are wired in parallel, whereas - from Square One - I doubted this was so. Assuming that the black plastic fitting is a Truma remote temperature sensor (and in 2004 all Truma C-series combination air/water heaters had this sensor) it’s difficult to see why a supplementary switch should have been fitted anywhere - let alone involving the rear storage-hatch door - to override the sensor’s operation. While motorcaravanners undoubtedly do do peculiar DIY things, choosing to parallel-wire a locker hatch-door switch into the heating’s temperature-sensor circuit would be perverse. The simplest answer is that the sensor and hatch-switch are NOT wired together, which is why I suggested to Ian in my first post that he recheck the wiring. If the sensor and switch are not wired together, the switch is likely to be either for a light (and if this has been removed there may be signs of it having been present) or to trigger an anti-theft alarm. I don’t believe the sensor and switch are linked, but it’s up to Ian to dispute this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Derek, I like the style! Simple quote "Never expect the unexpected" :D We'll wait with baited breath for Ian to let us know what is connected to what. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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