I was thinking this week of starting a separate thread from the monster caravel owners discussion about my attempts at understanding the wiring and anatomy of the machine. I figured it might help others who are less electrically inclined. The machine is pretty simple, so why not learn a little about the circuitry and really get the know the machine inside and out.

Well I delayed that separate thread until today. To start out, I had been using boiling water to power the shots while I figured out what to do about a definitive electrical power source.

I have a transformer on the way but decided to see what it would be like at 110V.

Well I plugged it in twice into a non GFCI receptacle and it tripped all the other GFCIs on the same circuit - twice. The element never heated up before it tripped. Reset it and all is well - for now. * On another circuit the element heated up quite fast and didn't trip but I didn't push it further.

I suspect it is something in the wiring that is shorting out, or perhaps it is something about that circuit (though it has never given me trouble so I doubt it's the house wiring).

At this point, upgrading to 220 is not likely going to magically solve my problem. So I am starting this specific discussion - an electrical spinoff of the main V/C thread. I recall some particular posts about wiring early in the monster thread, so I will search for and paste them here to centrally boost the amount of accessible information concentrated in one place.

I am going to try and take good detailed pictures of the innards and, with help hopefully, figure out the anatomy of the wiring - and hopefully what may be the culprit of the short.

Off to grab the camera!

Watch out, the chassis may not be connected to the safety earth wire. It happens, mine was like that.
If you then connect it to an earthed wall outlet you will trip fuses and ground fault circuits randomly or maybe even constantly. If the heater is worn (as many are, to a degree), even more tripped fuses.
So before connecting the machine again I would say: open it up and check the earth + the other wires. If they are all connected, all is well and you can continue with the rest of the wiring.

Evan:

You could start by reviewing the monster thread and excerpting what others have said about the wiring and design here. That can even by accompanied by photos on other threads simply by copying the url and plugging that within the Img brackets here.

Francesco Ceccarelli shows how to fix the ground in the wiring here.

If you work at being very complete you'll run into the chore of tracing the evolution of VAMs and Caravels as the engineers cheapened construction without much or any sacrifice to functionality. As one example, earlier machines were more elaborate in spring tensioning so the kettle's heat expansion would trip a rocker on the back, activating a microswitch for thermostatic control. The reference to all of that already exists on Francesco's web site.

http://www.francescoceccarelli.eu/arrarex_eng.htm

Evan,

I think it is a great idea. I know I have fallen into the trap of being proud of the mega thread of Caravel users. But let's face it - it is darn inconvenient to find info. I support specific threads going forward. Maybe the mega thread can be for new "club members" complete with pictures.

Pete

Thanks for the advice and encouragement. I will try and collate electrical information from the larger thread. As a wiring novice, I think it's the one area where safety could be a potential issue (other than tipping it from a heavy hand on the lever!). While I say potential issue, added to that is the fact that these are old machines and European to boot.

I have what I think is a transitional machine (sphinx/VAM element but newer kettle/lid and caravel logo). I had thought that it was a hybrid, but another user has the same exact model so I think it's an in between. It only matters in that the machines evolved so perhaps they reflect a similar snapshot in time.

So, as one of my mentors once said "Start where you are". So here is my circuitry as I see it:


Here I labeled the wires on the terminal block. My ground wire is confirmed attached (thanks ZIX).



Here is are the white wire attachments to the heating element:



Here are the ceramic insulated wire attachments to the thermostat. (Hey what's with the rusty spring!?)



Here are the black wire attachments to the front light:




(My best attempt at a simplified wiring diagram was edited out since it has since been corrected below.)


All comments and corrections are welcome,and I will move pertinent info over to this subthread as well.

So, to the current issue at hand. Why am I tripping my GFCI? There are several outlets and appliances on that circuit, so I think that might be it? On another receptacle on a different circuit, the element gets blazing hot very fast.

Italyhound wrote:(please fill in the name of that black thing?)

You could call it a "terminal block."

Thanks!

I just checked another circuit and it tripped the GFCI. I am going to try the Francesco fix - thanks for that link DrGary.

drgary wrote:
Francesco Ceccarelli shows how to fix the ground in the wiring here.

Unfortunately that didn't work. It heats up for about 20 seconds and trips the GFCI. Both without and with the ground wire attached.

I was very hopeful since what Francesco desribes is spot on to what I am experiencing.

Allow me to reference the master thread here where there is some helpful information about finding a short and electricals in general.

I am going to get myself a multimeter and see if I can find the problem. Never used one of those ... yet.

Page 85-86 of The Arrarex Caravel thread

Italyhound wrote:My best attempt at a simplified wiring diagram<image>

Hi Evan. I think you simplified it a bit too much - it doesn't make any sense as a working circuit and doesn't quite follow the pics you posted of the wires on the terminal block. Based on your pic, I'm guessing this might be a diagram of your machine:


This one makes sense, and shows the wires coming out of the eight-terminal block ordered just like in your pic. The yellowish line I assume must be there even though I can't see it in your picture of the machine's underside. (this wire could possibly go through an on/off switch, but probably is just a very short wire connecting those two block terminals.) In this circuit, the lamp and the element are energized only when the T_stat is closed.

P.S.
There's a good drawing on HB of a later model caravel (with lighted switch in the front) posted here - The Arrarex Caravel