Toyhauler: 3 AC Unit system question

[hockinsonjohn]

We purchased a new Road Warrior RW420 Toy Hauler with 3 AC units. We currently can only get the living room and garage units to work at the same time or the bedroom and garage unit to work at the same time. I have tried about everything to get the bedroom and living room units to work at the same time with no luck. There is a light switch under the main control panel on the front door. When it is in the down position the living room and garage units will run together. When it is in the middle position no AC units will run at all. When it is in the upper position the bedroom and garage units will run together. This configuration does not make sense to me as the garage doors can all be closed up and you can get more cooling power running the living room and bedroom units together. Am I wrong or did the manufacture possible wire this up incorrectly? Any help or feedback would be greatly appreciated. it is 90 degrees outside and when we are watching tv in the bedroom and can only run into the bedroom and garage units it isn't being very efficient in my eyes. is there a way to run only the bedroom and living room units together and I'm just not doing something right? Our rig is only 3 weeks old and we are new to the RV world so I am not sure if its me or the rv or both .

 

[OEFVET]

Re: 3 AC Unit system question

Many toy hauler owners have reconfigured the switch so that you can run the bedroom and living room together. Mine was wired opposite of the way yours is. I was only able to run the bedroom and living room together. Or the living room and garage. I changed it so I could run the bedroom and garage together. I did this so when my son sleeps in the garage he can keep the door closed. It works best for us. All you need to do is rewire the switch.

 

[danemayer]

Re: 3 AC Unit system question

Hi hockinsonjohn,

Congratulations on the new Road Warrior and welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum.

The 3 A/C unit installations are limited to running two at the same time, primarily due to the limits when running on generator power. Depending on how you use your toy hauler, it might make more sense to have it set up the way it is in yours, or perhaps to set it up differently for other types of usage.

Yours appears to be set up to provide cooling for people sleeping in the bedroom and for people sleeping in the garage at night, and for living room/garage use during the day. That probably makes sense to a lot of people, but not everyone. Clearly if you want to watch TV in both living room and bedroom during the day, it doesn't give you what you want.

I think some owners have rearranged the wires on the back of the switch to support the arrangement they prefer. So if you want to cool the bedroom during day and night, and alternate cooling between living room and garage, that should be possible - but I don't know if that will really work better for you.

Some others have removed the switch from the circuit altogether - but that requires you to do some power management manually, making sure you don't trip breakers by trying to run too many appliances on the same power leg.

 

[hockinsonjohn]

Re: 3 AC Unit system question

Thank you for the warm welcome and quick response. we don't have kids or any real reason to need the back portion of the hauler to run ac. I played around with the switch some more and found no matter what postion the switch is in the garage ac unit seems to run no mater what in all three postions up,middle,down. I pulled the cover off the switch and found 3 110 cables in the socket 3 whites top mid and bottom and 3 blacks top mid and bottom. would i be right in assuming the middle postion is the garage since it stays on in all 3 positions? when the switch is down the living room comes on and when the switch is up the bedroom comes on. if this is correct I would think i could take the living room in the bottom position and move it to the middle and make it the main and move the garage to the bottom position so that the living room will be on at all times and i can toggle between bedroom and garage?

 

[danemayer]

Re: 3 AC Unit system question

I'm sure someone who's done it will chime in with specifics on rewiring.

 

[hockinsonjohn]

Re: 3 AC Unit system question

Thanks again I hope im correct in the wiring positions. I just dont want to rush in and mess anything up without someones help who has done it before.

 

[OEFVET]

Re: 3 AC Unit system question

You may be able to configure it that way but as I understand it the middle position is supposed to be an off position.

 

[DocFather]

Re: 3 AC Unit system question

There is some great suggestions and facts in THIS THREAD.

 

[hockinsonjohn]

if that is so and the middle is off then i'm pretty much out of luck as to wire it the way I would really like it to be. from what I found so far the garage has its own 20amp breaker. and no matter what position the 3 way ac switch is in the garage ac will run no matter what. when I cut off the front ac 20 amp breaker I can not run the bedroom nor the living room ac as it seem they are both on the same breaker. there are 3 sets of wires inside the 3way ac switch top for bedroom bottom for living room and i guess the middle is an off switch. makes alot of sense now. I hate they wired it up this way.seems the only thing i can do is bypass the switch and only run 2 of the desired ac units at any given time.

 

[avvidclif]

Assuming you have 50A service to the RV.

It would require a little more work but add another 20A breaker to the other leg of the 50A line in the breaker box and run one unit off of it. Then eliminate the switch. You can then run 1, 2, or 3 ac's. Depending on the mood... And of course 50A service.

Sooner or later mine will be wired this way.

 

[hockinsonjohn]

sounds good i finally understand the configuration. bad thing is there are no unused breakers slots to insert a new or extra breaker.

 

[iowaone]

Go back to that other thread. Use a replacement duplex breaker that is pictured there to get the extra breaker.

 

[iowaone]

I took a slightly different approach. in addition to adding a breaker so each AC has it own circuit, I also added another switch next to the existing one. I wired it so the bedroom and garage ACs each have switch. The both can be on or turned off. My reason is easier to make sure they are off if I have less than 50 amp service.

 

[avvidclif]

I took a slightly different approach. in addition to adding a breaker so each AC has it own circuit, I also added another switch next to the existing one. I wired it so the bedroom and garage ACs each have switch. The both can be on or turned off. My reason is easier to make sure they are off if I have less than 50 amp service.

I guess I'm not following. Each of my units has a thermostat to turn them on or off. Why a second switch?

 

[iowaone]

I guess I'm not following. Each of my units has a thermostat to turn them on or off. Why a second switch?

Pure convenience. I can see and change the status of all three from one location. If the slides are in I don have to go to the other door to chane the garage AC. I know I'm lazy but it wasn't much more work to add the switch and it is a reminder if I have less than 50 amp service.

 

[avvidclif]

Makes sense, sorta. Working with electronics I avoid extra switches or any other connections that are not necessary as they are a source of intermittents. Ideally one piece of wire from the breaker to the AC. Then the low voltage thermostat can turn it on. Just my personal preferences plus on mine I have 2 thermostats in the garage (main & garage) and one in the bedroom.

 

[pcardoza]

We told our dealer that the configuration was ridiculous and he agreed. He rewired the switch for us at no charge so that now we can run the LR all the time and the switch selects between the BR and garage. Makes way more sense IMO.