Wiring Diagrams

[Gary Wolfer]

Anyone know why SMC did not provide wiring diagrams in their Beaver briefcases like they did in their Safari's. Maybe they quit in later years but I had a full set of 110 and 12v wiring as well as other diagrams.

[Joel Ashley]

A previous owner likely removed it.  You are lucky to have any manuals passed forward.  There was one owner who gave his diagram book to a service facility that he'd gone to for repairs, and they "lost" it.

[Karl Welhart]

My 1997 Monterey and my current 2002 Patriot did not come with wiring diagrams.  I was told that these were considered proprietary....  At one time, copies were obtained from the factory prior to 8/2001.

[Gary Wolfer]

I have been reading thru the owners manual and suppliment manual and they are really pretty genaric with no info like how big are specific to the coach holding tanks or similar info.  I have a binder in the Safari that is over 2" thick with over 20 sections. service manuals for most add ons like sharp carousel to hot water heater to traveler toilet  even lubrication points on magnum spring chassis. I can go to Safari Friends and most are copied there. I was hoping I would find a dociument pages here on this forum where I might find wiring diagrams. Is there anything like that here? If others would copy their documents and put them on a file share site on this forum it would really be helpful. I know some get nothing when buying used coaches If there isn't a section here it should be available.

[Joel Ashley]

Via the Private BAC Members Only category of this forum you can link to the Coach Assist section where documentation for some coaches have been archived.  Unfortunately I don't think the specific diagrams you want are there (yet), Gary.

Yes we have the resource/archive, but digitally copying diagrams and manuals, especially oversized ones, can be a daunting task even for those of us with some inkling of how to do it.  I know I've been meaning for years to scan and submit my wiring diagrams and maybe even my basic owners manual, but it would take me hours if not days.  Tim has clued me into an app for that, and I found another on my own, where I can use my iPad to scan even oversized pages, and perhaps email them to him;  but neither app was as "point-&-shoot" as I'd hoped, so my lazy rear still hasn't tackled the job.

That causes a light bulb to flash over my head:  at the next international rally, or any rallies for that matter, why not include a service where those members with scan-and-save savvy copy members' diagrams and certain manuals?  Members volunteer documents not already recorded, and the guys with know-how scan and save them to the Coach Assist then and there, and hand them back to their owners.  A table could be set up just for that, with scanners, and the word put out and announced about the opportunity to contribute to Coach Assist.  What better place to increase the resource than at a major rally.  As part of the rally advertisements in Beaver Tales, a request could be made that attendees bring their coach diagrams and manuals for the purpose of recording them to the Coach Assist.

We've only attended a couple rallies, so forgive me if this idea has been broached and tried before.

Just my 2 cents
-Joel

[Gerald Farris]

Joel,
Your idea about scanning diagrams and manuals at an International Rally would work if we had enough volunteers to accomplish the task. The problem is that most of the BAC volunteers who regularly attend International Rallies are so busy with meetings, seminars, and other rally activities to make the rally enjoyable for all attendees as well as completing all of the necessary business activities that makes the club work for everyone, that there is no one left for your idea. I will be busy the entire rally at Hilton Head, and my I.T. department (my wife, who has four jobs in the club) will be even busier. So if we have a volunteer who would like to carry-out scanning documents at Hilton Head, I will be glad to set it up.

Gerald        

[Gary Wolfer]

If anyone wished to add oversized diagrams it is not hard not unlike photos of installation of parts or any other photos. Just take a photo of the document with a digital camera and possibly resize it. I have seen folks do that all the time. That is what I did on the Safari Friends site. Maybe folks could do that here if there was a way to upload them to a page. Just a thought.

[David T. Richelderfer]

A first try at organizing such a system:  A three-column listing needs to be made.  The first column would be a list of those folks who want or need access to a diagram and/or manual.  The second column would specify the diagram and/or manual desired.  The third column would be those who subsequently reference the list and wish to make their diagrams and/or manuals available for copying.  The list can then be referenced by those whose names appear so that those wanting and those having can get together to scan/copy and make the information available for placement on the BAC website.

The first phase of the list creation would look like this:

    Column 1           Column 2                                                            Column 3
---------------------  ------------------------------------------------------   -----------------------
1. Person A            2000 Tourmaline wiring schematics
2. Person B            2006 Patriot Thunder Keyless-Entry manual
    etc.

The second phase, or list completion, would look like this:
1. Person A            2000 Tourmaline wiring schematics                        Person X
2. Person B            2006 Patriot Thunder Keyless-Entry manual            Person Y
    etc.

Now Person A and Person X know to get together to scan/copy the 2000 Tourmaline wiring schematics and (hopefully) forward it for placement on the BAC website.  After the schematics are on the website, then this entry can be deleted from the list... because the information is available to everyone.

[Joel Ashley]

Gary, I've tried photographing documents numerous times over the decades, using top-of-the-line SLRs to high-rated digitals, including a 300 page family book last year.  But getting lighting and other parameters just right is almost always time-consuming, and the results are usually only adequate.  

A good modern scanner is much more capable of the job, and with the exception of mobile app scanners, lighting, angularity, and editing procedures aren't part of the effort.  A properly configured and used scanner can produce in a few clicks a nearly exact replica in a PDF or other format.  Copy that looks that good is what I prefer to see in Coach Assist to read or download.

Joel

[Frank Bannert]

There are some documents on Beaver Motor Coach Technical Documents. Not all but some.

Frank