Thermostat wiring

[BabyHughie]

Yet again this hobby makes me realize just how ignorant I truely am.

I just got a digital thermostat to hook up to my A/C. I thought the wiring would be very straight forward. I was wrong.

The wiring diagram says I need to hook up a 'fan relay', a 'cool contactor', and a 'cool 24v supply'. WTF I dont' know what any of those wires are or where I would find them on my A/C.

I don't even know how to begin attacking this. Please help.

 

[MTF-Sandman]

Are you just replacing the thermo for a central AC or trying to wire it up to a portable/window unit?

 

[BabyHughie]

Are you just replacing the thermo for a central AC or trying to wire it up to a portable/window unit?

I am trying to wire it up to a window A/C.

 

[MTF-Sandman]

What's the make and model of the thermo and AC? I've seen it done before, but it's a PITA.

Damn...where's Spock2K when you need him

 

[BabyHughie]

damn so this is going to be pretty complicated then huh? I thought it would be plug and play.

Guess Ill just have to use the ghetto style thermostat (little nob with 5 settings) on my a/c then

 

[MTF-Sandman]

Yeah, I believe it's gonna be more trouble than it's worth. If memory serves me correctly, you have 1 wire from the thermo that goes to the condenser, 1 to the fan, and 1 that goes somewhere else in the window unit....you might be able to patch it into the built in controller, but without model numbers there's no way for me to tell...

 

[stonewall]

if you want to add an auxilary tstat to your window A/C you will need to get one with contacts rated for line voltage (120v or 240v depending on the unit). The low voltage tstat you have would take more circuitry than you have.

Here is an example of a electronic line voltage tstat, they are common and can be found locally at refrigeration supply houses like johnstone.
http://www.automatedaquariums.com/ranco.htm

 

[BabyHughie]

Stonewall its nice to have you around here watching our backs on the electical end. Much respect.