1993 Firan Covington wiring

[Oscar Pack]

I just bought an old '93 Firan Covington. Needs lots of tlc, there is a manual that came with it, but has very little about the wiring, I am looking for a wiring diagram for one, any help would be appreciated
Thanks
Oscar

[Josh]

Hi Oscar, welcome to the forum. I am not familiar with your Covington as our Europremier is pre-Firan so not sure how many similarities. Most of the work I've done has been without diagrams, our wiring and electrical panels are very well labeled. It's amazing that most of the print on the wires is readable after 26 years!

That said I will ask around and do some searching to see if I can help.

Example:


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[Josh]

I should add to that quite a bit of chasing with volt/ohm meter.. 🤓

Please post pics! Would love to see what you've got going! I'm very pleased that we are on Tapatalk now so posting from a smartphone is really easy!






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[Oscar Pack]

thanks for the reply, same here, seat of the pants with multimeter. It was not charging the rv batteries unless engine was running, finally figured the power converter was not charging the batteries, replaced that and all is working now.
Also had a problem with LP system, the shutoff valve on the tank leaked bad until all the way open as if back seating it, then the leak quit. But still no hot water, it would try to light but didn't. looking back up gas line noticed solenoid shut off valve in propane line had two wires goin to it nd both were cut, they had 12vdc so I hooked them back up.. Hot water tank lit and ran normally. Changed out shower valve and lavatory faucet in bath room and we took it out for test night out. While sitting outside at the lake we noticed hot water tank cycling on and off every ten to fifteen minutes, that's when discovered leak at faucet on hot water side. Turn off hot water tank at rocker switch, repaired leak and all is well. Come home hook up electrical and water and hot water tank has not worked since. Parked in shop to work on chassis a/c and while running both rv units it kicks a breaker in the shop, oh well just ran one after that, got a/c going, parked back in front of house, check hot water, nada, now refrigerator is not cooling. but light is on indicating it has power, try switching to a/c, au and lp, just doesn't cool, left it in a/c position and after couple of hours it started cooling, maybe due to start and stop when breaker tripped, I don't know. but still no hot water.all fuses on twelve volt side are good in power distribution panel and a/c breakers are good.
Looks like the wiring on your chassis side is well marked, but it is probably similar to mine, even though mine is chevy, in that there are two wiring systems, one for chassis and one for rv, and actually the rv side has two on it, ac and dc. The rv side is where I would like to find a schematic. At some point that has to all come together for me, I hope.
Thanks

[Josh]

Wow that's quite a goat rope you've got going on! Working on old electrical stuff seems to require some mix of perseverance and luck, lol!

Our LP valve has done that for years (not sure if that's ok, don't follow my lead). I open it all the way and it stops leaking, never leaks at all except for that couple seconds when it's between full closed and full open.

I've never figured out how the electric part of the Atwood hot water heater works. I replaced our anode rod and it still seems to use the propane even when electric is available. Does make some HOT HOT water!

Interesting about Chevy system, the Spartan chassis and Champion RV seem to have all the same type wiring.






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[Josh]

matt.ahern any chance you have a line on any of the Firan manuals?

[matt.ahern]

oscar what is your email address - mine is matt.ahern@gmail.com

[Oscar Pack]

I have a manual that came with the rv, it is really not much help, but I suppose I could scan it and share. I did see another link to one, when I opened it, it was the same as mine.
oscarpack@yahoo,com

[matt.ahern]

I have a few that spartan sent me and that I just forwarded to you.

[Oscar Pack]

Well the next day I pulled the rocker switch for water heater out, all seems normal, except that its just not working. four post, two hot, one ground and one when jumped illuminates red light in switch. But still w/heater doesn't light. took switch out, looked online for replacement, none were identical, but that may not matter, hooked it back up, turn on, red light illuminates for a second or so and goes out, w/heater lights, through course of the day I can't get it to fail again. Maybe the act of unplugging let it reset, I just don't know. there is that solid state control module on heater, maybe it just needed to reset?
Oscar

[Oscar Pack]

I have a few that spartan sent me and that I just forwarded to you.

I got them, thank you, but seems as they are all chassis related.

[Josh]

That red light on the switch is a warning to tell you the heater didn't light. It is supposed to come on for a second or two when you turn the switch on, that lets you know the light is working, then it should go out. So sounds like yours is working properly now.

We did have that switch fail. One day turned on and no momentary red light and no hot water. Tried new switch first since it was cheap and easy fix, sure enough it fixed problem.


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[Josh]

This is the common water heater switch, it's what ours takes. Cheap and easy fix or preventive maintenance and it comes in different colors too.



As you may know from reading the forum I am a huge fan of replacing old parts before they crap out, especially if they are affordable. 🙂


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[Oscar Pack]

thanks, that looks like it, all the ones I looked at post were configured differently, but guessing it doesn't matter. Suspect mine went to working when I unplugged it, and back in. Retired from a Kenworth dealership working in service for around forty years replacing an item such as this was a hard sell, if it was working. Now that said, if I had replaced it and it started working, no problem, but the cause would have gone unknown, and it still may.

[Josh]

I love the Kenworths! I always wanted to get an old one like a W900 style and make it a show truck. I used to stop in the dealer in Denver by the old airport and drool over the show truck they had in the showroom. Also loved all the big rig parts, always trying to figure out how I might use those on the motorhome. 🙃

Good point on not knowing real cause. That could be frustrating.



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