New owner of 28DBUD with a couple questions

[Phenom]

Out on the road now. Question on the power stabilizers. Front wouldn't come down. Screw jack was just spinning. I was able to easily move the stabilizers up and down by hand. After that, they worked as normal. What is going on there?

[Phenom]

Tell me if this sounds like a spent converter......

Woke this AM to dim lights and the battery on E. Couldn't even get the awning in. Reset the post numerous times. Tried with and without my surge protector. Reset the 30 amp breaker on the converter, and only heard the fan on the converter come on momentarily. Only way to charge my battery was to plug into the truck and run it for a while.

[stevensmith2859]

Originally Posted by Phenom

Out on the road now. Question on the power stabilizers. Front wouldn't come down. Screw jack was just spinning. I was able to easily move the stabilizers up and down by hand. After that, they worked as normal. What is going on there?

They may have gotten hung up a little bit. In all honesty, I am not that impressed with the power stabilizers they put on our campers. Did it correct itself?

[stevensmith2859]

Originally Posted by Phenom

Tell me if this sounds like a spent converter......

Woke this AM to dim lights and the battery on E. Couldn't even get the awning in. Reset the post numerous times. Tried with and without my surge protector. Reset the 30 amp breaker on the converter, and only heard the fan on the converter come on momentarily. Only way to charge my battery was to plug into the truck and run it for a while.

ld you have a bad fuse in general at the post? Bad power happened to my sister and brother in law, the campground installed a new breaker an voila, it corrected the issue. I would hope that your converter hasn't taken a sh*t already. Seems like you are close to lemon law and make the dealer give you a new one.

[rdm757]

It certainly sounds like a bad converter, but I'd definitely do some more troubleshooting before you go any further. Using a digital multimeter, check the actual voltage at the battery with the camper connected to the pedestal. It should be at least 13.2v. If it isn't, the converter isn't charging the battery. If that's the case, next thing would be to check fuses. There could also bea wiring issue.

[Phenom]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Sorry for the late reply. No cell where we camped and lots of driving after that.

First, the stab issue.... If I help it with one hand while pushing the button with the other, it seems to catch and works fine from there. Moved sites 4 times the past week and it always worked after a little help.

As to the converter, I first noticed the issue at a state park I was at. I did the whole breaker flipping routine etc. never got to the bottom of things there as we moved to an area with no services anyway.

At the RV "resort" where I woke to a nearly dead batter, also tried all breaker flipping I could. No dice. With the ac running, the battery was losing ground fast.

Rather than spend a day looking for a FR dealer to help me, we high tallied it to a great campground at 8000' with no services. Truck charged the battery enough enroute to cover what we'd need. AC wasn't needed, so we we're good.

I also notice the fan on that converter just doesn't run. Wien I first got the camper, I plugged in, and had only lights I worked on a few things. That fun was running almost nonstop. Now, I hear only silence.


So, that's where I'm at. 550 miles of driving to get home and avoid camping potentially without AC. I've got an appointment with the dealer on the 17th.

[rdm757]

When you say AC, do you mean air conditioning or AC electrical power?

The air conditioning doesn't require the converter to run. As long as you are plugged into 120V AC electrical power, the air conditioning should work.

The 12V DC system is completely separate and operates off the battery and/or converter. If the battery is weak and you plug the 120V AC shore power cord into the pedestal, you should hear the fan on the converter running. Also, once you are plugged in, if you press the battery monitor button, it should show all 4 lights because the battery is charging.

If you have confirmed that the battery is not being charged when the shore power is connected, then you either have a bad converter or it could just be a bad fuse. You mentioned resetting the circuit breakers but not checking the fuses. I would definitely recommend checking the fuses.

[Phenom]

Originally Posted by rdm757

When you say AC, do you mean air conditioning or AC electrical power?



The air conditioning doesn't require the converter to run. As long as you are plugged into 120V AC electrical power, the air conditioning should work.



The 12V DC system is completely separate and operates off the battery and/or converter. If the battery is weak and you plug the 120V AC shore power cord into the pedestal, you should hear the fan on the converter running. Also, once you are plugged in, if you press the battery monitor button, it should show all 4 lights because the battery is charging.



If you have confirmed that the battery is not being charged when the shore power is connected, then you either have a bad converter or it could just be a bad fuse. You mentioned resetting the circuit breakers but not checking the fuses. I would definitely recommend checking the fuses.

We have a winner. Two 40 amp fuses on the board that go to battery reverse. Both blown. Guessing that's to charge the battery of the converter.

I'm guessing that was it. Not sure what would cause it though. Always use a surge protector. I also had a blown fuse on my radio. We drove through and parked briefly during nasty lightning before all this happened. Any chance I took a little hit? Never heard of that happening.

[Phenom]

I hope this was the problem. Guess I won't know for sure till I can hook up to 30amp again.

The guilty party

[Phenom]

Did some more research. I caused this issue. It just took 5 nights to manifest itself due to a couple long drives allowing the battery to charge, and one night dry camping using nearly no DC power. The night before my trip when I picked up my trailer, I was in a hurry and initially hooked up the battery backwards as indicated by some sparks and the slide switch being reversed. Didn't think much of it at the time. I just corrected the cables and pressed on. I'm sure that blew these two fuses. Lesson learned. Take your time. Usually my battery cables rest near the correct terminal when unplugged, but I must've moved them out of the way at some point and they got mixed up. Now, I pay attention to that.

[Asrabbit]

Phenom have you had your camper back to Fun Town for service? If so what was your experience? I purchased my camper from Fun Town in February of this year as well and I also love in the Dallas area.

[Phenom]

Originally Posted by Asrabbit

Phenom have you had your camper back to Fun Town for service? If so what was your experience? I purchased my camper from Fun Town in February of this year as well and I also love in the Dallas area.

Sorry for the delayed reply. For some reason I don't get notified when people post on this thread.

I did just drop it off last week. Took them through the trailer noting all the things I've found since buying new. They were very receptive to all I mentioned. Told them I couldn't pick up again till the 13th, so time will tell how it go's.

[Asrabbit]

The reader's digest version of my issue was I could never get a call back from them and it was never ready each time they promised it would be. It was very frustrating to deal with them.

[Phenom]

Originally Posted by Asrabbit

The reader's digest version of my issue was I could never get a call back from them and it was never ready each time they promised it would be. It was very frustrating to deal with them.

Hope I have better luck. I had a appointment with United RV in Fort Worth as they're closer, but figured going through the dealer for this first run of warranty items, may be quicker. Hope I don't regret that decision. United said they could do any of the work, just takes longer to communicate with the OEM's since not a FR dealer.

[Asrabbit]

Hoping the best for you.

[stevensmith2859]

My 28DBUD is a 2015 and I just had it back in for warranty work under the extended warranty. I would first like to shout out to Bens RV Center in York. Both trips for work have been nothing short of pleasurable.

For this trip back, my awning and power jacks would only work on the remote. Apparently there was some type of recall on the switches, as they were bad. I also noticed my awning really straining to retract my awning. My service tech said even though the motor isn't totally bad, it was on its way out so he put a new one on it to save me another trip back. Other than that, she's been pretty good to my wife and I.

[Phenom]

Originally Posted by stevensmith2859

My 28DBUD is a 2015 and I just had it back in for warranty work under the extended warranty. I would first like to shout out to Bens RV Center in York. Both trips for work have been nothing short of pleasurable.



For this trip back, my awning and power jacks would only work on the remote. Apparently there was some type of recall on the switches, as they were bad. I also noticed my awning really straining to retract my awning. My service tech said even though the motor isn't totally bad, it was on its way out so he put a new one on it to save me another trip back. Other than that, she's been pretty good to my wife and I.

Glad to hear you've had good luck with you unit. I'm pretty happy with mine overall too. If the dealer can fix all these little issues that popped up over the last few months, I'll be good to go. Some of it, I would've addressed myself, but it's under warranty and I'm busy with work for a month.

[Phenom]

Well, I just picked up my unit from Funtown in Cleburne, TX. I have to say the folks there were friendly and good to work with. I brought the unit in with small laundry list of items. Here's what they did and looked at.

Reinforced my lazy Suzan floor

Fixed some drawer glides

Replaced the stove vent

Reattached the backside of my dinette to the wall with thicker longer screws.

Added a screw to the dinette legs where they go into the floor.

Fixed the curtain attachments on each window.

I'd asked them to address the grey leak when completely full. Apparently it's a small pipe into a larger opening on the top side of the grey and when super full it'll purge a little up around the smaller pipe. It was a very small amount and I saw it only once when so full the kitchen sink was filling up, so..... I'll buy that.

Could not duplicate my converter issue since I replaced the 40amp fuses before I dropped it off. Must've been user error(reversed polarity when hooking up the batt), or some other random thing.

I mentioned some play In the front stab jacks. Apparently just a function of the stabs ability to come down unevenly on uneven surfaces. They do work as they should once down, so again.....ok

Lastly, the skirting around the "fender" on the slide side seems to stick out in the wind. No way to really reinforce it unfortunately. Just bad engineering.

Overall, I'm happy. Fixed what was broken, and explained the rest to me. Also, had it ready when they said they would. The only negative about the experience was the mud on my inside switches, and caked on the tires. Also the tape residue on the front I had to scrub off from whatever paperwork was taped on the trailer.