Electric panel

Hi, I'm new to this, but need some assistance. We have 2014 40 foot Bighorn fifth wheel that was vandalized. I have replaced all the windows and do most all else to get it back in the condition it was, however they also tore out the panel (pictures below). Would anyone have a diagram of this, that I could get to help me out please? The molding was also damaged, would anyone know where I could purchase any of this as well.
We live in Newfoundland and would really appreciate any help.
Thank you,
Barry Rickert

I found it difficult t attach pics, you may have to right click and open in new tab.

Thanks again.

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danemayer

Well-known member
The molding probably can't be easily found for a 2014. The designs change over the years. It's possible, but low odds, of finding a match at an RV surplus location - there aCre some in Elkhart but that may not be close to you. You may have to replace with a close match, or replace all of the molding if getting it to look the same is a priority.

Rewiring the control panel will be challenging. Most of the switches look to be handling 12V DC. Two look like 120V AC. The awning recept is likely to switch 120V AC on and off at the receptacle on the front of the RV, door side. The 120V Water Heater switch might be switching 120V AC directly, or it might be 12V DC, operating a relay that switches the 120V AC.

Take a voltmeter set to read AC voltage and see if you can identify one or maybe two hot wires that read 120V AC. Once you find the wires, look at your circuit breaker panel and turn off the water heater breaker to see if it cuts power to one of those wires. That would identify the one that goes to the water heater switch. If a breaker is marked for the awning receptacle, same for it. Connect those hot wires to the appropriate switches. To find the wire that goes to the awning receptacle, you'll need a long wire for a continuity test to the hot (short) side of the receptacle. But, in testing, you need to first cut off the circuit breaker for the Power Converter, and set the battery cutoff to OFF so you don't do a continuity test and hit 12V DC hot wires. A continuity test on the water heater, assuming you found a 2nd 120V hot wire, would require cutting off all AC and DC power, and putting one lead on the heating element where the wire from the thermostat/ECO attaches (assuming a Suburban water heater). On an Atwood, you'd probably have to find where 120V AC goes into the water heater circuit board and put the lead there. These are probably 2 person tests.

Once ALL of the 120V AC hot wires have been connected and are out of the way, you can do continuity checks between the fuse box and individual wires (with all DC power OFF). to match fuses to loose wires to switches. You'll want to connect all of the wires getting power from the fuse box. That'll leave the wires that feed 12V to the various lights and other switched devices. With DC power ON, you should be able to touch and individual wire to a hot 12V wire on a switch to see what lights up. I'd expect you could identify and connect up the various light switches that way. If you do this with a faucet open, when you hit the water pump, you should hear it start up.

The awning retract/extend is trickier. Connecting that wire to 12V will cause the motor to run and you should hear that if the door is open. But rocker switches are wired differently so they can reverse polarity. Wiring is probably like this.
DPDT DC-motor-reversing-switch-schematic-wiring-diagram-285x275.jpg

In all of this, make sure to NOT apply 120V AC to a 12V circuit.
 

Bogie

Well-known member
Wow. What a mess! You might contact Heartland and ask if they have a diagram (Have your VIN number ready). My sense is however is that having a diagram won't make it a lot easier.

This reminds me of a time when the son of a friend of mine had a Le Car. Remember those??? They had a design that ran the exhaust pipe through the wheel well wall and ran it down behind the tire before heading to the rear. A really bad design. The problem was the exhaust pipe corroded there because of water. In their wisdom they also ran the main wiring harness for the entire care past the same point. So when the exhaust corroded, it burned through and melted 6 inches of the wiring harness. Oh, and all the wires were the same color (black). I was able to repair this for him but it took a volt meter and a lot of trial and error (time).

So I would suggest you arm yourself with a volt meter and a lot of spare fuses. You can probably identify positive versus negative wires in most cases by color. Also, the wires that are taped together are likely to be pairs. A volt meter can help here because you can test each wire for the presence of voltage. After that, you are going to have to be very meticulous. I noticed a lot of blackening around the enclosure and wires. Every set of wires needs to be thoroughly checked out to be sure there isn't damage to the wiring itself because of shot circuits.

If you are not comfortable with your ability to be doing all that, then it's time to get a pro to help you.

ON EDIT....Based on what Dan said about AC wiring, one of THESE may be really helpful in identifying wiring with AC power.
 
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