1996 coachman catalina, need help id'ing a switch

[Yarb86]

I bought a '96 coachman catalina 241FK, previous owner let it leak and rot. I have it all fixed up now but in the kitchen below the water pump panel, there is a switch that is missing. (its just a hole in the wall with black and white wires) Can anyone help identify what the switch was originally? I have combed the internet for interior pictures hoping to find one and the closest I got was a youtube video and they had a vase covering the switch! Does anyone have this same trailer and can tell me what kind of switch goes there? I know its a long shot. Thanks in advance!

[turbojimmy]

Hot water heater?

[ron_dittmer]

If all your fuses are present and good, check the voltage to ground on each wire.

If one is 12V and the other is ground, then you can install a 12V outlet or other 12V item like a switched night light for example.

If one is 12V and the other is neither 12V or ground, then it operates an appliance of some kind. If that is your case, it is possible a switch located there once controlled your black and gray waste tank heaters. It seems most people are perplexed over their "mystery" switch, which most often is the tank heater switch. Being as old as your trailer is, it is also possible a previous owner removed the tank heaters because with age heaters can give-way and hang down. So adding a switch there would do nothing for you.

A built in switched LED night light might be a nice means to utilize the hole assumed you have a hot 12V wire there. You might have to fish in a ground wire from a nearby ground to complete it.

[DrewE]

What kind and size of wire do you have? If it's reasonably heavy stranded wire, maybe 12 gauge or so, it's a 12V DC circuit and probably a switch for a light (but it could be a location for a 12V lighter receptacle). If it's 12 or 14 gauge solid wire from Romex cable, it would probably be for a 120V outlet, and there should also be a ground wire.

On my '98 Coachmen motorhome, they consistently use white wire for 12V ground leads and various colors of wire for the positive leads, the colors generally being sorted out by circuit. If you find the corresponding color of wire at the 12V fuse panel you could perhaps find out what sort of label it has for the fuse, which may or may not be helpful.