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Topic: A new find -- spare wiring loom? (Read 635 times) previous topic - next topic

A new find -- spare wiring loom?

You can all relate. Seems almost a year later I am still finding hidden secrets. Above the passenger seat -- in the cabinet above the side window, I found this wiring loom tucked up in the compartment.

Is this the spare loom previously mentioned in some posts? -- and if so, do all of these wires run the entire length to the engine compartment?

The red wire is of heavier guage than the others. I've not yet thought of a use for them other than maybe using a few for an audible and visual indicator for a engine bay fire-suppression system when I fit one.

Oh! -- another use may be when I fit a Cibie driving lamp I have laying around to the rear of the Coach for night-time illumination -- so I could turn it on from the cockpit.

Be careful out there,

Michael
Michael
1995 U300SE CAT 3176B Build # 4612 ("Marvin")

Re: A new find -- spare wiring loom?

Reply #1 –
Michael,

Suspect that is previous satellite wiring.

The "extra" Foretravel wiring is generally under the dash.
Brett Wolfe
EX: 1993 U240
Moderator, ForeForum 2001-
Moderator Diesel RV Club 2002-
Moderator, FMCA Forum 2009-2020
Chairman FMCA Technical Advisory Committee 2011-2020

Re: A new find -- spare wiring loom?

Reply #2 –
I have a similar wiring loom in the compartment over the driver's seat in my 1991 U300. The red wire has power to it all the time. I presumed it was from a previous owner but maybe it is a spare the factory left for future upgrades? I used it to power the little wooden swivel lamp separately from the "dome" light that's down by the driver's foot. The little wooden swivel light has its own built in switch. I was considering powering the roof spotlight with it also so I wouldn't have to turn on the ignition switch when I want to light up something outside at night.
Scott Cook
1991 U300 36' 6V92TA
Old Town Penobscot 16
1984 Honda VF1100C (V65 Magna)

Re: A new find -- spare wiring loom?

Reply #3 –
The beauty of buying a used coach, one never knows what is OEM or something created by a bright bulb, sone bright bulbs never reach full illumination and you find a mess.  :o :o
Beware & enjoy

Re: A new find -- spare wiring loom?

Reply #4 –
I found a similar bundle of wires in our 93 U300. The other end of them appears to be in the small lift-top compartment at the navigator's end of the dash. I say "appears to be" because I haven't actually put a meter on the wires. None of mine are connected. I found another bundle under the driver's end of the dash coming up from floor level and appearing at the left end of the dash. I haven't traced them back to the engine compartment yet, but I suspect that I'll find them back there somewhere.

Re: A new find -- spare wiring loom?

Reply #5 –
And I have one in my '94 U225.  The other end is in the engine compartment.  I imagine yours is too.
1994 U225
build #4514

Re: A new find -- spare wiring loom?

Reply #6 –
Our 95 has the same bundle. The wires are labeled "extra." As Dave suspected, they run down the pax wall to the driver dash area. Also, another bundle in there that probably runs to the rear.
jor
93 225
95 300
97 270
99 320

Re: A new find -- spare wiring loom?

Reply #7 –
We have the same bundle of wires. There is continuity between the overhead wires and the wires below in the small compartment. If they also go to the back, there would have to be some kind of bus bar under the dash top, upper compartment or other spot up front and I have not seen any. As Kent found, there is a connection between the extra wires on the driver's side and the rear but I have no clue what the others on the passenger's side are for.

Pierce
Pierce and Gaylie Stewart
'93 U300/36 WTBI
Detroit 6V-92TA Jake
1140 watts on the roof
SBFD (ret)

Re: A new find -- spare wiring loom?

Reply #8 –
I suspect it is just another example of the "forethought" that went into our coaches. The cost of putting those extra wires in the coaches as they were being built was probably less that $10 per coach, while the cost of putting in those same wires afterwards would be ten times that. The factory people didn't know what we might want them for, but just in case, they put them in. If we never need them, well, we have carried around a couple of pounds of extra weight all these years. If we do need them they are already there, ready for use. Should someone want a different kind of wire (coax or ethernet, for example) one of the wires could even be used to pull the new cable in.

Re: A new find -- spare wiring loom?

Reply #9 –
If your is like my 93, those wires run down into the dash to allow you to hook up to the overhead power from under the dash. The other end of the bundle was under the small lift up top on the passenger side as mentioned before.

The wires that run to the back of the coach come up from under the floor inside a plywood conduit (carpeted box) by the drivers left foot. They come out of that box and are tightly looped up under the dash in front of the drivers left knee. You really can't see the open wire ends without clipping the plastic wire ties and uncoiling all of those wires. The back spare wires on mine were up inside of a wire loom on the passenger side near my air drier. I had to open up the loom to find the open wire ends.
The selected media item is not currently available.Kent Speers
Locust Grove, OK
1993 U300 SSE 40' (Restored at FOT 2009) Build 4323
720 watts Solar
6V92TA DDEC Silver Engine
2014 Subaru Outback
 

Re: A new find -- spare wiring loom?

Reply #10 –
Foretravel puts an most new coaches 'extra' wires from dash to rear engine area and from dash to above dash cabinets. These are in the wiring list. Many have talked about the extra wires to the rear, but in the past few talk about the wires to cabinet. Usually several different wire sizes & colors are run. If one finds hot wires, someone in the past must have connected them at the dash.