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Old 06-26-2018, 02:56 PM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Florida
Posts: 26
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Vista
Engine: T444e
Factory AC Questions. Carrier, Transicold, Thomas

Hi all, hope you're doing well. I have a 1998 Thomas Vista International, Florida spec and equipped with factory AC by Carrier/Transicold. There are 2 compressors in front of the engine, and 2 AC units in the bus, one front one rear. When we bought the bus, we were told that it has AC, but that the thermostat dial in the bus that adjusts the temp was removed for use on another bus, and that its all we needed to get the AC working again. In the bus, there are 2 fan switches, and one spot in-between for the thermostat that has been removed. I did some digging online and was able to kind-of find a diagram by Carrier showing how to plug it all in. The only problem is, I have 3 blue wires to plug in, and the thermostat only has 2 spots to plug them in to :/ In the diagram, the thermostat takes a blue wire from the wiring harness, and a blue wire from the fan switch. Most buses seem to either have 2 fan switches and 2 thermostat dials, but all the buses I'm seeing in FL that had this system around this era seem to have my set-up, a single thermostat dial for both units and 2 fan speed switches. Since I have two fan switches I'm not sure how to tie them all together in to one thermostat dial. I know this is a long shot but I'm struggling to figure out how to get the AC running. From what we can tell, there are no other parts missing from anything AC related and the wiring harness in the dash is in-tact. We used alligator clips together one time and got the fans to work inside the bus, but since there wasn't a thermostat to adjust, the compressors didn't kick on and the AC units only ran at one speed. Any help or guidance would be appreciated. I've tried finding other buses near me for sale that have this set up but its slim to none, AC on Florida buses was extremely rare in the 90s.

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Old 06-26-2018, 05:17 PM   #2
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Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Picton,Ont, Can.
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Year: 1997
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: GMC
Engine: Cat 3116
Rated Cap: 72
Any chance you can post the diagram you have found?

get yourself a multi-meter and trace out the compressor wiring and mark them so you know what is what. Set it up on the ohms scale and test to find the ends of each wire at the unit and at the t'stat. Do the same with the fan switches.

Identify the power wires also and then you have an idea as to how to connect for running.
You described it as best you could but without knowing what is what we can only guess.


John
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Old 06-26-2018, 05:42 PM   #3
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Florida
Posts: 26
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Vista
Engine: T444e
Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackJohn View Post
Any chance you can post the diagram you have found?

get yourself a multi-meter and trace out the compressor wiring and mark them so you know what is what. Set it up on the ohms scale and test to find the ends of each wire at the unit and at the t'stat. Do the same with the fan switches.

Identify the power wires also and then you have an idea as to how to connect for running.
You described it as best you could but without knowing what is what we can only guess.


John
2 of the 3 unplugged wires are from the fan switches. The remaining 1 is the one to the condenser I assume. The second picture is of the front fan switch, blue wire coming up from the dash (condenser?) and blue wire coming from the fan switch. These 2 would attach to the thermostat if I only had 1 AC unit but I've got 2. The first pic is of the fan switch for the rear unit, note there is no blue wire coming up from it's harness, just one from the fan switch. Both harnesses to each fan switch converge under the dash in a wrapped up harness that shows no signs of being tampered with.
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Old 06-26-2018, 05:59 PM   #4
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Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Billings, MT
Posts: 1,269
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: HDX
Engine: Cat C7
Rated Cap: 84 passenger
Was it REALLY necessary to quote the topic immediately before?
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Old 06-26-2018, 06:01 PM   #5
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Florida
Posts: 26
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Vista
Engine: T444e
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptSquid View Post
Was it REALLY necessary to quote the topic immediately before?
Yes. Thanks for your extremely helpful and valuable input on bus AC.
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Old 06-26-2018, 06:31 PM   #6
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Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Billings, MT
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Year: 2003
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: HDX
Engine: Cat C7
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Your sarcasm is duly noted.
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Old 06-26-2018, 07:04 PM   #7
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Picton,Ont, Can.
Posts: 1,956
Year: 1997
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: GMC
Engine: Cat 3116
Rated Cap: 72
Look at the drawing and see the freezestat, has two blue wires.



One comes as a feed for the freezestat from a CR, control relay, term #6 I believe.

The other blue wire goes to a junction on term #11 and from there up to feed the thermostat. From the other of the side thermostat to the switch.
So in your case, the front switch needs the feed from the t'stat firstly, then the jumper plugs into the rear switch which has a different spade lug which allows the connection to go together.

I may have this backwards as I got lost going back and forth thru the pics and forgot which was which.



If you ring these out before putting the unit in service, disconnect the battery so you don't blow up your meter, I would check for #6 and #11 on the terminal block, might be in the unit or remote but those should be the 3 wires you have that you are unsure of.


Have you even got a thermostat, the proper thermostat?




John
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Old 06-26-2018, 08:14 PM   #8
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Location: Dawsonville, Ga.
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Year: 1999
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Chassis: International
Engine: DT466/3060
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptSquid View Post
Was it REALLY necessary to quote the topic immediately before?
Yes, because inevitably while replying someone will beat you to the post and then the next post is answering one from before and makes it confusing. I will say that I will erase the whole previous message and only leave the pertinent question in the quote.
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Old 08-04-2018, 09:35 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by e90bmw View Post
Hi all, hope you're doing well. I have a 1998 Thomas Vista International, Florida spec and equipped with factory AC by Carrier/Transicold. There are 2 compressors in front of the engine, and 2 AC units in the bus, one front one rear. When we bought the bus, we were told that it has AC, but that the thermostat dial in the bus that adjusts the temp was removed for use on another bus, and that its all we needed to get the AC working again. In the bus, there are 2 fan switches, and one spot in-between for the thermostat that has been removed. I did some digging online and was able to kind-of find a diagram by Carrier showing how to plug it all in. The only problem is, I have 3 blue wires to plug in, and the thermostat only has 2 spots to plug them in to :/ In the diagram, the thermostat takes a blue wire from the wiring harness, and a blue wire from the fan switch. Most buses seem to either have 2 fan switches and 2 thermostat dials, but all the buses I'm seeing in FL that had this system around this era seem to have my set-up, a single thermostat dial for both units and 2 fan speed switches. Since I have two fan switches I'm not sure how to tie them all together in to one thermostat dial. I know this is a long shot but I'm struggling to figure out how to get the AC running. From what we can tell, there are no other parts missing from anything AC related and the wiring harness in the dash is in-tact. We used alligator clips together one time and got the fans to work inside the bus, but since there wasn't a thermostat to adjust, the compressors didn't kick on and the AC units only ran at one speed. Any help or guidance would be appreciated. I've tried finding other buses near me for sale that have this set up but its slim to none, AC on Florida buses was extremely rare in the 90s.
So buy another thermostat and drill another hole!
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