new 28A owner needs HELP

[popdaddy]

wow.. thanks.. now thats what Im talkin about.. thats stuff no newbie would know. THANK YOU.

Ok - went to the camper again. Keep in mind it is not on my property, so electric hookup is not an option unless I tow it to a campground. Im going to buy the 30amp cord and take my generator down to see if that will work.

I do not see any reset buttons under the chassis of the camper .. I fololowed the line back from the battery as I was told - there is a grey box with capped wiring inside, but no buttons at all. I traced it all the way back to where it goes up into the camper under the stove. Im still getting no power. I have 2 switches on my wall next to my door that say on/off. NO IDEA what they turn on or off tho. WHY DONT THEY LABEL THESE??? Anyway - are these for main power? Ive tried them both on and off, no luck. Its not for the slide out - there is a slide out button right next to it. Also, there is a box on the wall that says fresh, battery, tanks, etc.. with led indicators, but they do nothing no matter what is pushed or switched elsewhere

[popdaddy]

PS - I checked thru the camper. There are no hoses, or cords, or anything. The square bumper has no end caps on it - looks as if they already took the stuff out. When I say I got nothing, I mean nothing. Theres not even a spare tire!! lol.. the curtain is gone from the master bedroom inside.. lol.. I also looked under the camper and there are 2 black containers and 1 clear container. Im assuming the clear is for storge of fresh water? And the black would be for grey water and black water, correct?

[popdaddy]

1) I have leveling jacks on each corner and a level bubble.
2) what in the world are dirt daubers?? lol.. Ive camped in tents for years and I never heard this term before..

[Len & Cheri]

Not sure about 05's, but my 03 Cherokee had the cord built into the trailer. Did you look behind all the exterior doors? Could be a small round one were the cord hides.

[mike06081969]

Good point, Len. I had an 05 Coachmen that had the power cord built in. It had a small flapper that snapped shut on the left hand side of the trailer and you had to stuff the cord up in there.

Dirt daubers (northerners call them mud daubers, rednecks like myself call them dirt dobbers) look almost identical to a wasp except they don't sting. They build tubular nests out of mud. Most RV stores also sell various sized screens to cover your refrigerator vents, hot water heater vent, and furnace vent to prevent dirt daubers from being able to get inside and nest. They can be a pain the neck.

If you are checking for AC power, you may not have any at the power outlets with just the battery, depending on what type converter or inverter you have. I need to study up more on the electrical, but if your battery is charged, connected properly, and no fuses are blown then you should be able to turn lights on inside the camper. You should have a fuse/breaker panel located somewhere inside your camper. Most are located near or adjacent to the power converter/inverter. The fuses will most likely be automotive type fuses. Stop by a parts store on your way and pick up an assortment of 10/15/20 amp automotive push in type fuses. You can tell if they are blown by pulling each fuse out one at a time and visually inspecting it. If it is blown, the silver colored conductor inside the plastic fuse housing will be severed. If it is good, it will be solidly connected. Usually, a blown fuse will also be discolored a bit or black inside the plastic housing of the fuse. This same panel should also have breakers for all the AC functions like the air conditioner, TV, power outlets, power converter, etc. There will also be a main breaker that shuts off all AC power to the trailer. Make sure none of those breakers are tripped. Most campers fuse/breaker panel has a metal or plastic door with a plastic latch you need a quarter or a screwdriver to turn to open the door. Most trailers will have the breakers/fuses either individually labeled or have a diagram inside the panel door. It just depends on the camper where this panel is physically located. Most will be somewhere in the kitchen or main living area of the camper.

[Dodge Guy]

They sell an adapter so you can conect the 30 amp cord into a 15/20 amp outlet.

[popdaddy]

Hello all... just thought I'd update on what my first weekend experience was and what we found out.. ok first a recap.. we knew nothing and had nothing. Caught up? Cool.. lol..

It was 90% great! Had a fiasco with the electric cord.. apprently my campers connection box has a 30 amp twist lock? Which was different than what was in stock.. blah blah we fixed that. Air works.. fridge, microwave, heat. Hot water tank will not work.. and the water pump. We tried everything. My uncle thinks that they might have burnt out or something.. the pump was working when we arrived, so WE did something. We also ran the heater prior to it being filled with water i guess, because the shut off valve seems to be under our bed and it was bypassing. We got the tank flushed out of the pink slime, but it will not flow. We checked the overflow valve and the bottom valve and there is hot water i the tank.. just wont go out to the camper. Now the heater button will light up when turned on, but that little white light next to it is supposed to light then go out, and it does not. Cold water - awesome. Water pressure - awesome. Overall experience - pretty good. There may be an electrical issue with the camper.. i hooked up the 6 plug adapter for the power brakes, but the wiring isnt matching up to the camper for the lighting system. Its odd - I matched the colors to the prongs on the end of the 6 plug when assembling.. we checked, rechecked.. multimetered.. the hazards flash when a turn signal is on.. I know it sounds dumb, because its only green, yellow, brown/stripe, and black.. but i must have the wrong 6 plug adapter, because it is not working. I powered in the blue and red for the brake adapter, and that works just fine - no issues there. But the lighting - eh, another issue. Also my uncle thinks the inverter (or CONverter) is bad.. we cant get a darn thing off the battery, which is showing fully charged from the panel. We also DO have the converter switched on - we had ALL breaker on and every single fuse multimeter checked.

So for the hot water - is there another fuse or breaker that Im missing? I pushed in the reset buttons on the heater, and I only can find 1 valve from the tank to the camper. There is no valves anywhere else that I can see - not near the pump or water inlets, not in the bathroom, not under the sink or under the bunks..

Im thinking, in retrospect - my uncle gave me a cord that HE had for his 97 f-150 4.6l. I have a 97 expedition 5.4l. But the connectors to the brake and trailer system under my truck was different. So i cut them and wired directly. My thought is maybe the color marked wire spots are marked for a f-150, and maybe my 6 plug wire placement around the plug is not the same? So in essence - im putting brown where it says brown, but maybe thats brown for f-150.. maybe not for my expedition. Maybe that spots green for MY specific plug? Just a thought.

[Terier]

Originally Posted by popdaddy

Ok, ok,, Im an idiot.. lol.. I guess I deserve that. I honestly didnt see it tho, and its weird if that button is there why you can still go under site tools or furom tools and choose new thread that way. I guess getting poked fun at is part of the newbie initiation..

Its common in computer apps & software programs to have more than one method to do something. For example some people like "lists" better than images/buttons. Often it comes down to what you are used to.

PS
Just read up on the remaining posts and looks like you got a good head start with your follow up to the information & suggestions provided.

[MilCop4523]

Originally Posted by mike06081969

Here are some basic things you'll need to start camping. Most of it you can get at Wal Mart, a hardware store, Camping World, or any RV dealer:

4. 2 or 3 lengths of sewer hose. (Your camper should have a 4"x4" square bumper on the back with rubber or plastic end caps that come off. Your sewer hoses will store neatly in there. You might look and make sure they aren't already there.) You'll also need the 90 deg fitting to connect your sewer hose to the park sewer or dump station.
Good luck!

Unless your rig has a tighter fit than 99% of everyone elses I would advise not putting 2 or 3 sections of sewer hose into the bumper.
There is nothing worse than loosing your end caps -unless you are flapping about 40 feet of sewer hose behind you onthe highway...

I've lost 3 caps and had one with the safety clip swinging behind me for about 20 miles. Had a buddy loose 2 hoses as well.

[pmsherman]

Tow vehicle wiring - There's no real standard for wiring harnesses. Every manufacturer has their own idea of what wire should go where and a multimeter is your best friend here. Once you've identified the ground, a 12V battery and some alligator clips should help you figure out what wire in the connector goes where.

The battery on the tongue should go through a master disconnect switch. If you have the converter running, you'll have 12V power even if the battery is disconnected. You need to locate the master disconnect because you won't be able to charge the battery with the converter until it's set to the ON position. The large + lead from the battery should have the disconnect as its first destination. If this is an enclosed box; then it's probably a heavy duty relay that has a control switch you haven't yet located. Battery disconnect control switches can be anywhere but are usually reachable from outside the trailer or are just inside the door.

Water pumps are almost always on a separate fused power line. once you can get power from the battery, find the water pump, unplug the wires going to it (there should be a connector at the pump) and use your meter to check for power at the connector. A fused jumper cable between the battery and the water pump will verify the condition of the pump. Inline fuses (and circuit breakers) are only a few bucks at auto parts stores.

I'd NOT turn on the water heater until after you've gotten water flowing through it to the faucets. If the tank was full of "pink slime" aka RV antifreeze (non-poisonous) then the prior owner winterized it before it was sold. The hot water tank should have a drain, probably with a sacrificial anode rod attached to it. Always use teflon tape when inserting this and tighten it just enough to not leak. You'll hate to have to replace the tank ($$$) because you tightened the plug too much and it rusted into the threaded fitting. The anode rod needs to be inspected regularly and replaced before it's all gone. Antifreeze in the hot tank is an indication that you don't have (or the prior owner didn't use) a hot water bypass for winterizing. This allows you to winterize the water lines without filling the hot tank with antifreeze, which saves you buying 6 gallons of the stuff to fill the water tank.

If you can't get hot water at the sinks, you can try back flushing them. Shut off the water going to the hot tank. Remove the aerator from the sink fixture and replace it with a hose adapter purchased at any hardware store. Remove the drain from the hot water tank. Hook a hose up to the faucet and turn on the hot water handle or use the city water inlet to the trailer, put a hose cap on the adapter attached to the spout, and open the hot and cold handles. You should have water coming out of the hot water tank drain. Do this at each faucet in the trailer. Once water flows from the faucets to the tank, it'll flow the other way too. Connect your hose to the city water connection and open up the water inlet valve to the hot water tank. You should get water flowing out of its drain. Shut the inlet valve and install the drain plug. Turn the inlet valve back on and you should hear some water flow into the tank. Open up a hot water faucet and let it run until you have water flowing from it.

Your trailer should have a CO detector in it. Depending on how it was designed; if you don't have power to the detector, you may not be able to get propane to any of the devices that run on propane. This is a safety feature to prevent CO poisoning. CO poisoning just ruins a camping trip and tends to make your beneficiaries wonder what you ever saw in camping.

Phil

[popdaddy]

wow.. thanks pmsherman.. and everyone for that matter. I will try those things.. i DO have water flowing thru the hot water side of the spicket.. its just cold. after the heater drained out of all of the pink slime, it never turned on again.

*The battery didnt seem to have any switch. Yes it goes to a juntion grey box under the tongue. Then i follow it all the way to the axles, then it shoots across and up into the camper floor (where the breaker box is.)

*understood about the bumper storage.
*understood about the backflushing.
I am going to use the meter for wiring the 6 plug this week, because we're off camping again the weekend. I really hope I can get the hot water tank working, my mother is coming with.

The CO comment - VERY helpful - because our propane will work (tried stove), but that CO2 tester is DISCO'd, and when I connect it, it keeps going off. (probably why the previous owners disco'd it.) Could it be bad? Because we stayed in the camper, used the A/c and the furnace,and no issues. If its going off, does it ALWAYS mean somethings wrong?

Also, that converter - how do I tell if its bad? My uncle says its under the breaker box, which is under my stove against the floor. (Darndest place for a 6'4" guy to be.)

Its pretty awesome - 1 trip with another camping couple and we figured out most stuff, with your prior help, of course! lol.. not bad, just the 6 plug and the water heater left.

[pmsherman]

A quick check for the converter would be to measure the battery voltage (at the battery) then plug in to shore power. Measure the battery voltage again. The second reading should be around 14V, maybe even higher. What you're looking for is an increase in voltage when plugged in to shore power.

The increased voltage is an indication that the converter is producing something to recharge the battery. If you can get to the converter, make a note of the manufacturer and model number so you can go online and hopefully get manuals for it.

CO detectors have a limited life span. When they've failed, they will constantly trip and sound off. The only cure for this is to replace it. The CO detector is a critical safety device, especially when using the furnace at night. CO detectors usually also trip if the supply voltage gets too low but I doubt that's the issue with yours.

You might want to try contacting Forest River to see if you can get the owner's manual for your trailer.

Phil