need help with thermostat

[flipskid]

Hi everyone. I just found this site a couple weeks ago and i think its great. All kinds of great info for my camper. Some very creative owners here. I upgraded to the exterior helper struts this weekend. forgot to order 8 brackets, so 4 are on their way. Upgraded the holding tank drain to a pvc ball valve because mine broke. Next thing i was trying to do was change the thermostat to the programable one. I went to home depot, got the honeywell 20$ model and hooked it up. no workee! Called their customer asistance and they said it would not work with a 12 volt system! One of the senior members on here used the Hunter brand from Walmart. Any suggestions hints advice? I would like to get this done before this weekend, i leave on a 3500 mile trip and part of it will be in the high mtns. figured the programmable feature would be a nice amenity in the am! Gracias JR

 

[Jamesiam]

I can only give the basics but did the previous thermostat work, including warm blowing air? Also make sure there is a good charge on battery and that the gas valve is indeed on. When you say it didnt work was the unit completely dead, no LED at all?
I just noticed I'm a senior member as well, I thought that meant "an older person," when I saw it in the past.

 

[dsrtrat]

Hi everyone. I just found this site a couple weeks ago and i think its great. All kinds of great info for my camper. Some very creative owners here. I upgraded to the exterior helper struts this weekend. forgot to order 8 brackets, so 4 are on their way. Upgraded the holding tank drain to a pvc ball valve because mine broke. Next thing i was trying to do was change the thermostat to the programable one. I went to home depot, got the honeywell 20$ model and hooked it up. no workee! Called their customer asistance and they said it would not work with a 12 volt system! One of the senior members on here used the Hunter brand from Walmart. Any suggestions hints advice? I would like to get this done before this weekend, i leave on a 3500 mile trip and part of it will be in the high mtns. figured the programmable feature would be a nice amenity in the am! Gracias JR

 

[dsrtrat]

Most home systems are 24 volt input to the thermostat. Get one of the basic battery operated models that is powered by AAA batteries. I use a Honeywell RTH221. Use Lithuim batteries to insure good cold weather performance.
With the battery operated thermostat it is just acting as a switch to cycle the furnace and is not using the furnace power supply.
Hope this helps.
Dsrtrats

 

[pods8]

When you say not work do you mean the thermostat itself doesn't power up or it powers up fine but doesn't turn the heater on/off? I'm thinking you mean the thermostat doesn't power up based on the 12V comment and if so that likely means you bough a thermostat which is meant to be wired in for power which would be a mistake. All of us with digital thermostats are using battery powered ones.

If that isn't the case and it just isn't turning the furnance on/off then I don't get honeywells response since the thermostat just acts like a switch so it shouldn't matter if its 12V.

 

[BSS]

What pods8 said.

And make sure the type you buy has the temperature range you want. I usually set mine to kick on at 50 degrees during the winter, but some of the ones I've seen won't cycle the heat at that low of a temp. Just FYI.

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

I used a digital thermostat in my Six-Pac and it worked great.

Same style of camper and same 12 volt RV furnace inside the camper as the Four Wheel.

As long as your thermostat is powered by its own AA batteries, the 12v or 24v won't be a factor.

The AA batteries in the thermostat are supplying the power to connect the circut and start the furnace for you.

On an FWC, you should have 2 small blue wires sticking out of the cabinets where your old thermostat came off of ?

If you touch those 2 blue wires together (and your camper has 12v battery power), the furnace fan should kick right on.

If that works when you touch the 2 blue wires together, then you know the furnace is working OK (in theory).

If the furnace works, then you might just have the blue wires connected to the wrong terminals on the thermostat ?

Not sure what or how the thermostat terminals are marked on your thermostat ?

On my Six-Pac, I connected one of the furnace wires that came out of the cabinets to the thermostat screw that said "W".

For the other thermostat wire that came out of the cabinets, I connected to the screw that said "Rh".


Hope this helps.

Happy Camping !




.

 

[billharr]

I have a $20 Honeywell from HD, see picture it has a battery and works fine. It did not work when hooked to the terminal the manual said. I used a VOM to find the correct wires. I loved the programmable part. I set it to come on 15 minutes before I want to get up and I am warm and toasty in the morning

 

[leadsled9]

I sent to your email as well....here's the scoop.

Hunter Model 44155c purchased from Wally World for approximately $20.

Two wires from the camper, one blue and one white.

There is a jumper wire (red; but color doesn't matter....it's just a jumper) between "RC" and "RH".

The white camper wire goes to "RH", and the blue camper wire goes to "W/B".

There you have it.

It works great....totally programmable so you can set it to come on 1/2 hour before you are getting up....then you get up to a nice warm camper.

I took a couple of pics for you....a picture is worth....well, you know....









Hi everyone. I just found this site a couple weeks ago and i think its great. All kinds of great info for my camper. Some very creative owners here. I upgraded to the exterior helper struts this weekend. forgot to order 8 brackets, so 4 are on their way. Upgraded the holding tank drain to a pvc ball valve because mine broke. Next thing i was trying to do was change the thermostat to the programable one. I went to home depot, got the honeywell 20$ model and hooked it up. no workee! Called their customer asistance and they said it would not work with a 12 volt system! One of the senior members on here used the Hunter brand from Walmart. Any suggestions hints advice? I would like to get this done before this weekend, i leave on a 3500 mile trip and part of it will be in the high mtns. figured the programmable feature would be a nice amenity in the am! Gracias JR

 

[flipskid]

I sent to your email as well....here's the scoop.

Hunter Model 44155c purchased from Wally World for approximately $20.

Two wires from the camper, one blue and one white.

There is a jumper wire (red; but color doesn't matter....it's just a jumper) between "RC" and "RH".

The white camper wire goes to "RH", and the blue camper wire goes to "W/B".

There you have it.

It works great....totally programmable so you can set it to come on 1/2 hour before you are getting up....then you get up to a nice warm camper.

I took a couple of pics for you....a picture is worth....well, you know....

View attachment 14846

View attachment 14848

View attachment 14847



thanks for all the help! I had the battery powered one i am sure , needed 2 AAA batteries. I had the wires hooked to the RH and WB, but maybe they were turned around? i looked at the back of the old thermo and saw the R and W and just took it from there. Fan will cycle if i touch the two wires together. I will charge the batt manana before retrying. i was perplexed also, figuring the thermo was just a switch. It would not program correctly either, previous opened package, maybe that was it. i will find out after work. 12.5 hours makes a long day, so sometimes not all there when doing this stuff after work. thanks again, JR

 

[norcalhawk]

Hello to all, I am switching my thermostat out from the stock White-Rodgers to a Digital. When I took the old thermostat off, the blue wire was attached to the RH and the white wire attached to W. Does it matter one way or the other. I see in the photo above that the wiring is reversed from what I describe? Recommendation's on a good digital thermostat?
Thanks in advance.

 

[billharr]

Hello to all, I am switching my thermostat out from the stock White-Rodgers to a Digital. When I took the old thermostat off, the blue wire was attached to the RH and the white wire attached to W. Does it matter one way or the other. I see in the photo above that the wiring is reversed from what I describe? Recommendation's on a good digital thermostat?
Thanks in advance.

You can hooked either way and it will work. I go the honeywell below at Home depot on sale for under $20.00 just find the two wires that open and close with the temp change. I had this one on my old camper.

 

[norcalhawk]

Hi Bilharr,
Thanks for your reply. I got it figured out. Wired a programmable thermostat yesterday and it's working well.
I appreciate your note.