johnfr Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 (edited) We have a 2007 Cayman 36PDQ. I am in the process of converting our Norcold fridge to a JC Refrigeration 12V Hvac compressor system. Today we pulled the fridge and made the changeover to the Hvac cooling system. I tested it with a separate deep cycle battery in the coach and the fridge is operational. The fridge resides in a cavity in the drivers side slide out. The current 12V wiring to the fridge cavity is 16 gauge which is inadequate to handle the 7.5 amps of run & peak currents that the fridge requires. I need to pull 10 gauge wire from the battery bay. I can see 2 separate telescoping plastic tube that all the current wiring for the slide out runs in. These tubes disappear into the bowels of the coach above the bays. I am curious if anyone has attempted this process and if so how they went about it? Edited May 13, 2021 by johnfr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rad4sand Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 16g wire is rated at 20a peak. You will be fine at 7.5a. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypoxia Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 (edited) 9 hours ago, johnfr said: We have a 2007 Cayman 36PDQ. I am in the process of converting our Norcold fridge to a JC Refrigeration 12V Hvac compressor system. Today we pulled the fridge and made the changeover to the Hvac cooling system. I tested it with a separate deep cycle battery in the coach and the fridge is operational. The fridge resides in a cavity in the drivers side slide out. The current 12V wiring to the fridge cavity is 16 gauge which is inadequate to handle the 7.5 amps of run & peak currents that the fridge requires. I need to pull 10 gauge wire from the battery bay. I can see 2 separate telescoping plastic tube that all the current wiring for the slide out runs in. These tubes disappear into the bowels of the coach above the bays. I am curious if anyone has attempted this process and if so how they went about it? I have run wires out of a slide through those tubes and into the bay overhead. If your invertor is closer than the battery's you can use it as your source assuming it has a large enough wire to the battery's. Be sure to fill the holes when you are done to keep the critters out. Edited May 13, 2021 by Hypoxia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6Wheels Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 Per NEC Ampacity chart 16 gauge copper wire rated 90 deg. is rated for up to 13 Amps continuous current. This is for an enclosed conductor, such as inside a conduit. If the conductor is Romex and has enough air around it to cool, then 16 gauge will support up to 22 Amp. I would venture to say all copper conductors used in a coach to conduct current is rated @ 90 deg. Just clean the corrosion off the ends and re-terminate, you are fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypoxia Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 10 hours ago, johnfr said: The current 12V wiring to the fridge cavity is 16 gauge The subject is 12 Volts DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ray Davis Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 Wondering if the instructions from JC Refrigeration calls for 10 gauge wire? 10 gauge certainly will not hurt but it does seem a little over sized. The Norcold has a 120v wire too ( don't know the gauge ) , that perhaps it can be converted to 12v. Actually it may have 2 120v wires ( mine does ) one is for the ice maker the other is for the frig cooling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnfr Posted May 14, 2021 Author Share Posted May 14, 2021 14 hours ago, Hypoxia said: I have run wires out of a slide through those tubes and into the bay overhead. If your invertor is closer than the battery's you can use it as your source assuming it has a large enough wire to the battery's. Be sure to fill the holes when you are done to keep the critters out. This afternoon I managed to get a snake though the tube and route the two #10 wires to the fridge location. Rest of the task will be much easier. Will enclose the wires in a loom to protect them from rubbing on surrounding metal edges. Thanks for the suggestion Hyposia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wamcneil Posted May 14, 2021 Share Posted May 14, 2021 10 hours ago, johnfr said: Will enclose the wires in a loom to protect them from rubbing on surrounding metal edges. Thanks for the suggestion Hyposia. And a fuse at the battery, right??? 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnfr Posted May 14, 2021 Author Share Posted May 14, 2021 3 hours ago, wamcneil said: And a fuse at the battery, right??? 👍 Absolutely! Purchased an inline fuse holder when I bought the wire along with some 15 amp fuses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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