Coleman Mach 3 thermostat retrofit
Hi gang, I'm considering a retrofit for my Mach 3 from its existing manual controls to using an external thermostat, like a Ecobee or some such. Ideally I want two relays, one for fan, one for c...
Forum Discussion
I went the route that RSL7201 went except I used a 40 Amp for the compressor and a 25 for the fan.
I didn't cut any of the Coleman wiring. Just unplugged existing wires from the manual controls and made jumpers to route them to the new relays. All were slide on spade lugs.
I put the fan relay on the low side only and still have a manually controlled high fan.
That worked great for us as we only need the high fan to cool it down when we first stop somewhere. Once cooled, we turn the manual control back to low cool and the thermostat takes control of both the fan and compressor.
Our camper is laminated polystyrene and I was able to make a flexible drill rod to make a path through the foam keeping the wiring in the ceiling and walls.
My cost, from ebay, was about $15 + a thermostat from Lowes.
I did the same to a neighbors Carrier unit, but had to removed his remote control hardware and had to run the thermostat wire across the ceiling using snap together wire hiding conduit that Lowes sells. It matched his ceiling well and isn't obtrusive.
As RSL7201 said, use the SSR-40DA or SSR-50DA for the compressor. The SSR-25DA is fine for the fan.
I didn't cut any of the Coleman wiring. Just unplugged existing wires from the manual controls and made jumpers to route them to the new relays. All were slide on spade lugs.
I put the fan relay on the low side only and still have a manually controlled high fan.
That worked great for us as we only need the high fan to cool it down when we first stop somewhere. Once cooled, we turn the manual control back to low cool and the thermostat takes control of both the fan and compressor.
Our camper is laminated polystyrene and I was able to make a flexible drill rod to make a path through the foam keeping the wiring in the ceiling and walls.
My cost, from ebay, was about $15 + a thermostat from Lowes.
I did the same to a neighbors Carrier unit, but had to removed his remote control hardware and had to run the thermostat wire across the ceiling using snap together wire hiding conduit that Lowes sells. It matched his ceiling well and isn't obtrusive.
As RSL7201 said, use the SSR-40DA or SSR-50DA for the compressor. The SSR-25DA is fine for the fan.
