[BusNit]

This is a two part thread. One is the accomplishment and the other is a question.  I found one available Penguin II 15k btu unit nearby at a small RV dealer. I paid probably $400 more than buying it online, but they had it and I took it home. Got the hole measured, cut and wired in 2 hours with the a/c on the roof the next morning with my neighbors forklift. It's hot as blazes out here. I am happy with the install but waiting on a wifi thermostat to arrive next week. In the meantime, I have the rear t-stat which is the ccc Dometic with the 4 pin RJ11 plug as a test mule. I ran a blue cat5 wire from the t-stat location to the roof air all fished through the ceiling. I need to convert the blue, blue white/ orange/orange white to the black, red, green, yellow of the phone plug that I cut off from a phone patch cord. Not sure how to wire that since Dometic shows the plug in opposite orientations. Can someone spell out how I need to wire the t-stat color code? I can decipher the dometic wiring to my cat5 colors.

[Richard]

do you have other info that would show the purpose of the wire colors? In other words, what color is fan, compressor, heat, ground? that way we can wire correctly to the tstat outputs

[BusNit]

I do not Richard. I’d have to open the unit up topside and look for the controller. I think Dometic uses a reverse wired phone cord which is what I am trying to decipher. I went ahead and ordered the Dometic data patch cord and will pin it out to my cat5. Won’t arrive until next week also. That’s ok. it’s too hot to do anything for another couple of weeks/months! Portable units are keeping interior at 90 which may sound hot, is actually comfortable. it will cool down to the 70’s interior at night. The sun just bakes the dark exterior.

[hypoxia]

The data wiring simply keeps each wire at the same orientation on the plugs, ie the black wire (and the other colors) is in the same position at both ends of the cable when you place the RJ11 plugs beside each other.  When you make a cable using your Cat5 wire you keep that same orientation so the finished product has the same colors when you put the two ends beside each other.  It doesn't really matter what the colors are as long as the end result is having those colors in the same orientation.

It is best to make the wiring extra long.  Those RJ11 connectors are susceptible to corrosion and will eventually have to be replaced if exposed to moisture/humidity.  I carry spare RJ11, RJ12 & RJ45 connectors along with the crimping tools to make those repairs.

[Jack Houpe]

We are in Surprise AZ visiting family for the 4th and went for a golf cart ride about 4pm it felt like having a huge hair dryer blowing on you. 

I didn't bring my laptop so the pictures on my phone are little but what did you find in layers on the roof? Just aluminum foam plywood and decorated material? Any type of structures like tubing wire chases? Man you tackle things head on, good job.

[BusNit]

Jack, I got lucky when you say I tackle things head on. Yes, aluminum skin, foam, 1/4" ply and vinyl ceiling. I say lucky since when I cut the hole open, there were two "C" channels. One on the right and one on the left. It was like I cut the hole exactly in between them. I was only expecting the hat channel at the front (Cross wise bow channel) but there were the longitudinal running channels as well. No wiring or other "obstacalia". I cut the aluminum skin with a 3" metal wheel on a mini saw set to a depth of 3/8". I was prepared to reroute wiring, cause' thats just my luck, but no, it all went smoothly. I cross drilled through two of those side runners for the concealed wiring path when my small auger drill bit worked its way up and outside the exterior of the roof. You can see where I cut a rectangular hole to clear the damage where the screwdriver and file sit. I have since made a patch piece and put it back. This is good, since it allowed me to remove sharp burrs in that bastardly offending "c" channel and helped me fish the cables into the now defunct airway over the fridge and down the pantry cabinet. (I used plastic panduit wire mold inside tucked nicely and completely out of sight) My wife is not a ladder or rooftop assistant so I was on my own. Keep in mind, as you said, I was doing this not only with the furnace blast of atmosphere, but the heat of tools soaking it all in. By 9pm, it was nice out but my body said "go to bed you ole' fool" I listened to it and did just that. Slept like a baby and didn't even wake up once to pee in my usual twice a night visit to the toilet. It's Monday morning and we are taking my father in law to the airport for his monthly jaunt to Portugal. I still am dealing with a headache. Of course we brought in a pair of Satinette pigeons from our loft due to the excessive who had two babies and they are in an office adjacent to the master bedroom. I didn't sleep well last night since "Buffster" the male decided to freaking "coo" at 3:30 am. After that the babies started chirping and "Pumpkin" the mother decided to eat and was spreading the seeds all over the place in their large temporary dog crate of a home. I can hear the seeds being kicked and spread as that little bitch is so picky on what seeds she likes! (Sorry I went off tangent here but figured I'll colorize my life a bit)


So yeah, back to the A/C data wire. I thought the same that pin to pin is how it needs to be but I don't see why they are saying the plugs have to fit in opposite orientations. Makes me think I need to reverse the pinning of the wires on one end. (See included pic from above post)

[Jack Houpe]

I make all my own cat5-6 cables there's the sequence for the color of the wires with the locking pin on the connector up as long as both ends have the same color combination with that locking pin up it's good to go.

As far as noise at night our guest bedroom has the central AC compressor on the wall behind the headboard. I don't hear very well but that was a distraction. 

Be careful dude it's crazy hot here.

[BusNit]

I stopped at the RV shop to confirm pin wiring. The plugs do get wired pin for pin. Their "upside down" reverse wiring is taken care of by their "coupler" which is already installed and was dangling at the roof air. I am working on a 12v power supply to run off the a/c's dedicated 120v circuit. I don't have a 12v supply where the old Dometic evap lives. No big deal. Yes, it's stoooooopid hot today. I turned on the garage air so I can prep the projects in there before crossing the property to the coach. I have to admit, it's kind of cool how hot it gets. This planet is amazing if you stop and think about it. Marie and I will enjoy the pool this evening for sure. Her dad flew off to Portugal today. Our house is "ours" again for a month!

[BusNit]

It’s alive. I had the worst time getting the old thermostat to power up. I am using the one from the bedroom to test this unit out. Someone had converted the rear bedroom to the new ten button style LCD Dometic unit which uses the 4 pin rj11 plug. The issue was the thermostat was not making good contact with the plug! I only figured it out when I used my Cat5 line tester which confirmed I had the wiring correct. A little jiggle at the t-stat and it’s all good. It’s blowing cold. I needed to run a 12v power source for the unit so I just put one of those small power supplies to the same circuit as the AC unit. It is installed in a metal box with cover in case it decides to let go. It will be contained. I left the old dometic unit in place and saved the control board and thermostat. I’ll use those parts to get the front ac working again. The test will be tomorrow when we hit 114°. Not sure if this single 15k unit is going to be up to the sole task of cooling the kitchen and salon area by itself. I’ll be impressed if it does. With two portable ac units and this one roof air running, I’m pulling 4067 watts or about 36amps. Our house electric bill came today at $494. This bus isn’t helping the situation nor is the 3 ton mini split I fired up for the garage. I have a few projects to do in there and it was close to 119 in there. Got it down to 79°. Next months bill will be over $600 if I don’t turn stuff off. Nothing is cheap anymore that’s for sure.