Foretravel Owners' Forum

New Lock/Unlock Switch Installation

Our entry door and bay doors can be locked or unlocked using the key fob or the driver's side panel switch. However, I often found myself standing in front of a locked bay door with the key fob inside the coach, forcing me to head back in and use the switch on the driver's panel just to unlock it.

I seem to recall that our 2003 model had a lock/unlock switch on the passenger side panel, unless I'm imagining it, but it's a memory that sticks with me.

Currently, the passenger-side panel features three switches: Porch, Step, and Interior:

• Porch: Turns on the exterior yellow entry light, similar to tapping the entry handle (Touchlite), but persistent.
• Step: Turns on the entry step light, plus the toe kick lights in the kitchen and bathroom.
• Interior: Controls one of the front ceiling lights.

The Step switch struck me as an odd place for controlling the toe kick lights, which made it a candidate for a redo.

The Plan

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We decided to replace the Step switch with a more useful function: controlling the door and bay locks. Having this function on the passenger panel makes it far more convenient to lock or unlock the bays without needing to retrieve the key fob or head to the driver's side.

To support the change:

• The entry step light was rewired to come on with the Porch switch (or Touchlite), so a single action now lights up the entryway.
• The toe kick lights were relocated to a switch in the kitchen, grouped with the other ambient lighting (under-cabinet, valance, etc.).

We had a Generator Auto/Manual switch near the Aqua-Hot (is this standard ?? - it wasn't labeled), water pump, and lighting controls, so I repurposed it for the toe kick lights. This felt like a more logical placement among the "mood" lighting controls and I did not need a second auto/manual switch for the genset.  We still have a (also unlabeled) generator "on/off" switch and "generator running" indicator light at that location in the kitchen.

Lock/Unlock Switch Wiring

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Schematic A-6209 outlines the power lock system. It shows a momentary SPDT switch (the one on the driver's console) that briefly grounds either the lock or unlock wire to trigger the action.

The wires in question are 194 and 195  They were easy to find, since they run to the keyless entry module located behind the panel in front of the passenger seat.

Adding a second switch was straightforward: I tapped into the above two wires and connected them to a new momentary rocker switch with the center tap connected to ground.

Our coach uses Carling R-Series Curvette switches (https://www.carlingtech.com/rocker-switches-r-series), but I couldn't find one in the configuration needed (momentary on - Off - momentary on.)  Instead, I went with an S341 from RV Designer (https://www.rvdesigner.com/prodview.asp?ci=16&pi=370). It's a close match, just slightly more angular, and required opening up the panel cutout about 0.050 inches, which can be accomplished with a few passes of a file.  Yes it says step but is really lock, anyone know where to get stenciled panels made?

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This is getting long, so I'll cover how we adjusted the toe kick lighting in a another post.

Is there something i am missing?  In viewing the panel you have which is exactly like mine, the momentary switch with the green light does nothing in my coach. Are you saying that if i left an i interior light in the on position ( found by trial and error i guess...) i could turn interior lights on?  Have asked before in the forum and have not got a correct/positive response...
Peter

Peter,

To answer your basic question Yes that momentary switch should operate one of the florescent light fixture in the kitchen. Most coaches of that age it is the fixture over the fridge.  If that don't work you most likely have a bad latching relay as that light fixture shouldn't have a switch on the fixture. The second switch that is tied to this relay should be over the sink.

Mike

Steve,

For future reference that switch should be a carling-technologies/rd221-mb-b-0-n unless Foretravel changed at some point.

Mike

This is a tiny part of your upgrade but this makes so much sense.  Even though I probably will not do all of the rewiring that you are doing, I do plan to make this small change in my coach.  Thanks for bringing it up. 

Thanks Mike, for some reason I could just not find the (on)-off-(on) configuration that I wanted when I went looking.
Glad I could give you a project :)

Steve
So tiu know wheee the latching relay is for that momentary switch?

2003 U320

Peter,

First place to look is above the micro. in that thin cabinet. There should be a removable wall panel that hides some of the electronics. Look there first

Mike

A sign company should be able to make a new switch panel. 

Steve - your write ups are fantastic!

But I'm incredibly disappointed that you haven't yet etched a new label on the switch.  ;)

LOL ... I'm working on something !

Did you make it or does FT have it?

And a new business is started.......

Great idea with the extra switch. While your doing that add another switch that is waterproof and outside the coach so you dont even have to go inside to activate. Nobody but you will know about it and you'll never get locked out.

Now it has been fabricated, above was just my CAD rendering.  I never checked with FT, last I knew they only had blank plates but ??

Old vs New.  As I looked at the existing plates, in our coach there were several variations.  Different gold color, letter sizing, letter positioning, even the Foretravel font was different from plate to place.  I chose a common ground that worked on 1,2,3,4 position switch plates.  Now that its been fabricated I'll make a few adjustments for some others that I need to replace (some with no labels, some with labels worn off) 

New plate in place :D  I did the LED bulb after the fact, just needs a 1/4" drill bit.  All in all I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  Since someone will ask ~$60 including tax/shipping.  Modeled it in Freecad and did the graphics in Photoshop.

I know this is an old question, and Pamela & Mike already gave the specifics, but I was doing some other work in that area and a picture is always useful, so here you go!  Its the thin cabinet above the microwave, left hand "wall"

Looks like you have the upgraded Finder relay rather than the old cube style LR-35. For those replacing the LR35 the Finder can be used but you will have to cut off the connectors for to make the change.

Thanks for the pic. as I never think about taking pics.

Mike