Penguin II Air Conditioner Install Advice?

[Dwight Lindsey]

Well my two Penguin II High Capacity Heat Pump air conditioners arrived last week.  Today we got the old Duotherm units off the roof and the new Penguin IIs up on the roof.

I could use a little advice from anyone who's done this before.

Now I need to get them wired up.  I have the CCII thermostat, which I purchased at the same time as the new units

The connectors from the coach are different and there's no junction box with circuit board inside the coach where the intake air comes in, as there was in the Duotherm assembly.  There's a circuit board in the unit on the roof, where the dip switches are, which I suppose takes the place of the one the Duotherm had in the air intake area.

The Duotherm had a 4 wire molex. The Penguin IIs came with a 6 wire molex attached to the unit and mating molex connectors with wires attached, in small plastic bags.  Tomorrow I'll cut off the 4 wire molex connectors and splice those 6 wire connectors on

The coach has a romex which was connected to the Duotherm with wire nuts, inside the junction box.  The Penguin II has a very cool 3 wire connector for the AC, but did not come with a connector for the other side.  What to do?  Should I try to get the mating connector?  Or just cut the connector off and use wire nuts?  I've googled for that AC connector and not come up with anything.  If anyone knows what that connector is and how to get it, I could use a pointer.

Now . . . what to do with the wires?  There's no junction box.  I don't want them loose and flapping around in the intake air side. There is a small cavity in the Penguin II where the wires were stored for transport.  Stuff all the wires in there as much as I can and tape it all up?  Suggestions welcome.

[hitechpete]

Dwight, If you are talking about the telephone type connector, you shouldn’t need to cut it off; the 4 way plug should plug into the 6 way socket on the new A/C circuit board.

[wamcneil]

No. On the Molex plug part he’s talking about the 12v and furnace connections. But he's mainly asking about a mobile home power connector that comes preinstalled on the new AC power cable.

The mobile home connector is classified as a junction box; used inside the wall to connect pre-wired mobile home wall sections. You could cut it off and splice in a regular junction box, or buy the mating plug.

It’s not easy to figure out what’s needed... I spell out the exact part number in this thread:

Cheers 

Walter

Edited December 14, 2020 by wamcneil

[Dwight Lindsey]

Thanks Walter.

The link to the connector was VERY helpful.  30 minutes of google yesterday did not come up with that.

I ordered the connectors from Mouser.  They will arrive on Wednesday

Meanwhile I've got the control wiring hooked up and the furnaces are working, which of course is what I need right now, since it's real cold here now . . . well . . . cold for Southern California . . .

I also ordered and received the CC2 Thermostat, which is a LOT nicer than the 5 button.  I did read Chris Throgmartin's post about a new Penguin II working with the 5 button.  So before I removed the 5 button I just tried it.  Thermostat lit up but furnaces would not come on.  I then put the CC2 on and the furnaces fired right up.

For anyone interested, here's the link from Walter's post for the connector:

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/molex/19045-1000/?qs=c7V%2bsbZfmqvqLYL%2bCrIKLw%3D%3D&countrycode=US&currencycode=USD

I've attached a picture of the connector that comes with the Penguin II.  The link above is for the mating part, which will go on the romex from the motorhome.

For anyone changing out their air conditioners, it would be useful to order this part in advance.

 

Dwight

[Dr4Film]

Dwight,

The Dometic Penguin II's that I installed back in the winter of 2019/20 did not come with that type of connector. I had ordered model number 651816CXX1CO from PPL in Texas.

What model number Penguin's did you order that came with that unique connector?

Mine were an exact replacement of the old Penguin's I removed, wiring harnesses and all.

[miacasa_2000]

That looks like a standard nonmetallic (romex) splice connector which a few manufacturers make now. About 10 bucks a kit so if anyone is doing a change out and gets stuck just get a kit and they are approved for in wall so no J box needed.

Roy 03 Dynasty

[wamcneil]

4 hours ago, Dr4Film said:

The Dometic Penguin II's that I installed back in the winter of 2019/20 did not come with that type of connector. I had ordered model number 651816CXX1CO from PPL in Texas.

The 651816HXX1C0-01 that I ordered from adventurerv.net in August came with the self contained power connector attached. Installation of the SCPC onto the romex was covered in the current dometic installation document, but there was no mating connector supplied with the unit and there's no mention in there of what kind of plug you need..

I'm not sure if that's just the way they ship them now... 

[Guest Ray Davis]

Hmm,  mine came with the connector and I guess both sides, can't recall exactly the hook up but I didn't need to buy additional elect parts.                                                  However mine didn't have the gasket attached.   BTW  I just gathered up all the excess wires into a bundle, wire tied it and stuffed the bundle into the cavity where they came shipped in.

One needs to be handy when working on these coaches because you never really know what to expect even with Dometic

[wamcneil]

Did you get printed instructions?  
I did not get any printed instructions with the unit, and thought the connector (if supplied) might have been in a bag with the instructions. 
I reached out to dometic to ask if I should have received printed instructions and the connector. They wouldn’t even answer the question... and told me to contact a distributor for support 😟

[Dwight Lindsey]

I ordered two 651816HXX1C0-01 Dometic Penguin II W/ Heat Pump High Capacity Low Profile Rooftop Air

I got them from rvpartscountry.com.  I ordered them on November 28. The website said 5 - 6 weeks for delivery, but they shipped right away and I had them in hand a week later.  They were likely quite recently manufactured.

There were no instructions inside the box.  I downloaded instructions from the Dometic website and the instructions I downloaded did not have any reference to the power connector.  There was a small plastic bag in each unit that had a 6 connector molex with wires attached, to which I spliced the control wires coming from the coach.  That was really easier than it looked at first.

Dwight

Edited December 15, 2020 by Dwight Lindsey

[wamcneil]

5 hours ago, Dwight Lindsey said:

I downloaded instructions from the Dometic website and the instructions I downloaded did not have any reference to the power connector. 

This document is from March 2019 and labeled as "Dometic CCC 2 LCD SZ 3314850.000 Electronic ADB Brisk Air Penguin HP"

https://documents.dometic.com/?object_id=54637

I downloaded it thinking it was installation instructions for the CCC2 specifically, but it's a full AC unit install manual. See pp 12-14 for instructions on the power connector. I'm not sure if this is now standard, but it's in their installation manual.

Cheers,

Walter

[herbstark]

19 hours ago, wamcneil said:

The 651816HXX1C0-01 that I ordered from adventurerv.net in August came with the self contained power connector attached. Installation of the SCPC onto the romex was covered in the current dometic installation document, but there was no mating connector supplied with the unit and there's no mention in there of what kind of plug you need..

I'm not sure if that's just the way they ship them now... 

My Blizzard I installed a few months ago had the above connector on the unit with a kit to install the matching connector on the coach wiring.

[amphi_sc]

22 hours ago, Dwight Lindsey said:

I ordered two 651816HXX1C0-01 Dometic Penguin II W/ Heat Pump High Capacity Low Profile Rooftop Air

I got them from rvpartscountry.com.  I ordered them on November 28. The website said 5 - 6 weeks for delivery, but they shipped right away and I had them in hand a week later.  They were likely quite recently manufactured....

Dwight

Interesting, I also ordered two from rvpartscountry.com, but I ordered mine Oct 24th and have not received them yet.  I did get the acknowledgement of the order and the charge card has been billed and paid. I wasn't in a big hurry as a couple of months fit my schedule.   Maybe I'll get notified soon.  So much for a FIFO queue....  I see other sites still advertising "backordered".

[Bob Nodine]

3 hours ago, amphi_sc said:

Interesting, I also ordered two from rvpartscountry.com, but I ordered mine Oct 24th and have not received them yet.  I did get the acknowledgement of the order and the charge card has been billed and paid. I wasn't in a big hurry as a couple of months fit my schedule.   Maybe I'll get notified soon.  So much for a FIFO queue....  I see other sites still advertising "backordered".

In March I ordered an oscilloscope that obviously was coming from China and it took over 4 months to arrive. COVID I guess.

[amphi_sc]

Dwight, did you order White or Black Penguin II heat pumps?  I was wondering if black was more available?  I ordered polar white and it looks like the same # as yours unless I missed something.

[Dwight Lindsey]

I ordered the ones with the white shrouds.

I just finished putting the power connectors on.  Once you've done it once it's easy the 2nd time . . .  They are really very nice connectors.

So my air conditioners are running now and cooling.  Haven't tried the heat pump mode yet, but I don't anticipate a problem.

Now I've got to get some aluminum duct tape and tape up the inside and put the ceiling back together . . . 

Dwight

[Dwight Lindsey]

OK, I've got the install done, but as far as I can tell, the Penguin IIs are only operating at high fan speed.  The CCII thermostat has settings for Auto, Low, Med and Hi, but setting low fan speed does not result in a change of fan speed.  Does anyone have any advice about this?

[Guest Ray Davis]

 Dwight,    I just tried mine and it does have a noticeable change in speed but it takes about 5 sec to react.

[wamcneil]

I just cycled my fan through lo/med/high a few times. The various speeds are not night&day different.

I'd be hard pressed to hear the difference between lo and med. Going from med to high is a bit more noticeable. Then the step from high back down to low is pretty easy to hear.

Cheers,

Walter

[Dalton07]

Learning how to replace your RV air conditioner gasket can help protect your RV's interior from water damage and contribute to a more comfortable night's sleep. The RV air conditioner has a visor or visor to protect it from flying objects, debris, and other particles. This cover usually has some screws or bolts to secure it to the roof of the RV.

Edited May 21, 2022 by Dalton07