Coleman Thermostat

[Deric]

Hello All,

Out here on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State the sun decided to show itself on Sat/Sun, and so I decided to try out our air conditioner in the recent purchase of our 27.5 wilderness Fifth wheel (1993). Anyway I quickly discovered that the high low switch decided that it's life had come to an end. It fell apart. So I am in need of a replacement, either the exact same model or a digital to replace the old one. I bought a thermostat at our local RV Center, and discovered when I got it home that the voltage said
30 VAC, will this work for 12 VDC? I had read earlier somewhere of a hunter digital upgrade, any thoughts, ideas? I have been searching on-line for hours, and can't seem to come up with an exact coleman replacement, so I am leaning toward a new one. The old one has 6 wires, 2 (red and White) for the heater. And 4, green, yellow grey and blue that go up to the air conditioner. Of course the colors don't all stay the same to the conditioner. I would really like to use the thermostat that I just bought, it's a Robert shaw with a heat/off/cool sw, and a auto/on fan sw. Help!! Now I'm cold and hot with no control. Thanks in advance.

Deric Kettel
Forks Wa
dkettel@u.washington.edu (work)
dkettel@centurytel.net (home)

 

[Deric]

Coleman Thermostat

Hello again, this is Deric, I wanted to add to the post that I picked up another thermostat, and tried it today, it worked, but it only had 4 screws for the wires to go on. The white one that went up to the AC I left off, I guess it's a ground to the thermostat, My question is since the heater and the AC worked using only 4 wires, what is the white wire for, and will it hurt anything to leave disconnected? Thanks.

Deric Kettel
Forks Wa

 

[Deric]

Coleman Thermostat

It's Deric again,

I finally got impatient and bought a honeywell thermostat at the local true value, installed it in my trailer, leaving off the white wire to the AC, and the low fan speed wire and everything works great. This thermostat readsmax 30 volts. The only thing that I am concerned about is the Mercury Switch, Due to side movement, I am wondering if there will be early start/stop cycles. We'll see.

Thanks Again
Deric

 

[Ed H.]

Coleman Thermostat

The mercury contact is the best switch ever made, but it needs to be LEVEL to be accurate. In your trailer, it may never be level, and so the numbers on will only be vague reference points. A 30VAC thermostat should work on 12VDC alright IF the circuit current is wihtin its limits. This may or may not be the case. You need to check both the thermostat ratings (in the instruction sheet) and the specificaions on the appliances.