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Old 11-08-2017, 01:46 PM   #1
TxCory
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Default Looking at a TM tomorrow - Question

Hello - I'm going to look at a 3023 tomorrow and one of the things I'm not sure about is the current owner indicated he never used the furnace or the battery and he has had it for a few years. What advice would you have about testing it without a battery that is charged?

Thanks
Cory
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Old 11-08-2017, 01:50 PM   #2
Shane826
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Bring a jumper cables to hook to your car battery or a jump box just for testing purposes. Also make sure you can plug it into at least a 20A (supposed to be 30A) AC supply just to be able to rest the air conditioner, etc.
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Old 11-08-2017, 04:02 PM   #3
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it may or may not be obvious, but keep your car/truck running when you attach the cables. Make the last connection to a ground away from the battery. (In rare cases, a battery may have produced hydrogen gas which could explode if you create a spark near the battery). Also, make sure you connect the negative to the true negative of the trailer battery. I haven't checked mine recently, but I heard that the black on the trailer battery may be the 12V using the color convention of AC wiring, and white on the ground.
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Old 11-09-2017, 08:08 AM   #4
TxCory
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Larryjb View Post
it may or may not be obvious, but keep your car/truck running when you attach the cables. Make the last connection to a ground away from the battery. (In rare cases, a battery may have produced hydrogen gas which could explode if you create a spark near the battery). Also, make sure you connect the negative to the true negative of the trailer battery. I haven't checked mine recently, but I heard that the black on the trailer battery may be the 12V using the color convention of AC wiring, and white on the ground.
I'm not quite sure I'm following everything here. I would do the following:
1 - RED to positive on TM battery
2 - RED to positive on TV battery
3 - BLACK to negative on TV battery

Here is where I'm not sure what you are instructing:

4 - BLACK to ?? on the TM - where is the true ground?

Thanks again for the advice.
Cory
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Old 11-09-2017, 08:49 AM   #5
Bill
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In a 12-volt DC vehicular system, which includes the TM, the standard color code is
Black = positive
White = negative
Therefore the battery positive post is connected to black, and the negative post is connected to white.

In addition, in almost every* 12-volt DC system, negative is ground, and ground means the trailer frame. I think this is what Larry means by "true ground". This connection is often made with a bare (uninsulated) wire. In my TM, and I'm sure in all TMs as they come from the factory, the negative battery post is connected to two wires - a white wire which runs to the power distribution panel in the converter, and a bare wire which runs to a nearby screw driven into the trailer frame.

There are three changes that are commonly made to the TM battery connection, always at the positive post.
1. The OEM fuse holder may have been (and should be) replaced with an automotive flat fuseholder, and one or both of the wires on this holder can be red. Don't let this confuse you - just treat it as black. Picture at
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...&pictureid=760
2. The owner may have added an optional electric tongue jack. The wire that powers the jack runs directly to the positive battery post. It is probably black, but certainly not white.
3. A solar panel system will bring a wire directly to the positive battery post. The color of this wire is red or black, but not white or green (negative or ground).

*The exception is some antique motor cars, especially British cars, which have a positive ground system. No American car since (my guess) the 50's has had a positive ground system.

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Old 11-14-2017, 06:20 AM   #6
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If I am not mistaken, every device should work when connected to 120V shore power, even if no battery is installed. Easy to test the furnace, assuming the propane is turned on, just turn on the thermostat and wait a couple minutes for the heat.

If some of the 12V devices, like the radio, act faulty with shore power ON, then try disconnecting the camper battery and try again. We discovered recently that having a bad battery connected can interfere with a couple of the 12V devices even with shore power connected.

Once you see everything work with shore power, then the only remaining test would be to see if all the 12V items (lights, water pump etc.) work from the battery alone. This is where you would unplug the shore power and connect jumper cables as others mentioned above. Unless the unit already has a good working battery.

I personally wouldn't even bother with that. If I already saw every thing work on shore power, then most likely any problems from the battery would simply be the battery wiring or fuse, etc.
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